BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1454
Author: Gaines (R)
Amended: 5/27/14
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/29/14
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Knight, Liu, Mitchell, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: De Le�n
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/23/14
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
SUBJECT : Fish and Wildlife: enforcement: patrol mounted
vehicle video
and audio systems
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Department of Fish and
Wildlife (DFW) officers to have dashboard cameras in their
vehicles, as specified.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Charges the DFW with the administration and enforcement of
the Fish and Game Code.
2. States that all employees of the DFW designated by the
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director as deputized law enforcement officers are peace
officers, as specified.
3. Makes it a crime for a person, intentionally, and without
requisite consent to eavesdrop on a confidential
communication by means of any electronic amplifying or
recording device. (Penal Code Section 632.)
4.Exempts from this crime a number of law enforcement agencies
from the prohibition in Penal Code Section 632, including the
Attorney General (AG), any district attorney, or any
assistant, deputy, or investigator of the AG or any district
attorney, any officer of the California Highway Patrol, any
chief of police, assistant chief of police, or police officer
of a city or city and county, any sheriff, undersheriff, or
deputy sheriff regularly employed and paid in that capacity by
a county, police officer of the County of Los Angeles, or any
person acting pursuant to the direction of one of these law
enforcement officers acting within the scope of his/her
authority.
This bill:
1.Allows DWF to install vehicle mounted video and audio systems
in patrol vehicles used by wardens. The warden may use the
system to record communications and other actions involving
the warden acting within the scope of his/her authority.
2.Requires DWF to adopt a policy to establish standards
regarding the activation of the video and audio system and the
preservation and retention of recordings subject to the
following requirements:
A. Once a patrol vehicle mounted video and audio system
has been activated, the patrol vehicle mounted video and
audio system shall record the duration of an encounter.
B. DWF shall retain a recording from a patrol vehicle
mounted video and audio system for a minimum of 90 days
and a maximum of one year, except if the recording is
necessary for a pending, or reasonably foreseeable civil
or criminal action, or for training or administrative
purposes.
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C. DWF shall provide access to a recording from a patrol
vehicle mounted video and audio system in accordance with
all other provisions of law.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, cost
pressures, in the low millions of dollars, to the General Fund
and various special funds to DFW, for dashboard cameras and
associated support equipment and staffing.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/27/14)
California Fish and Game Wardens' Association
California Fish and Game Wardens' Supervisors and Managers
Association
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/27/14)
American Civil Liberties Union of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
Although other law enforcement agencies have
increasingly installed dashboard mounted dashboard
cameras in their patrol vehicles, it is unclear
whether California law authorizes their use by
Wildlife Officers employed by the Department.
Recording communications between Wildlife Officers,
suspects, and witnesses creates an unbiased record of
these contacts that leads to more accurate and
complete information being included in investigative
reports and made available to attorneys in civil and
criminal proceedings.
Recording law enforcement contacts is also an important
tool in preventing misconduct on the part of officers,
training officers in proper safety and constituent contact
procedures, and defending Wildlife Officers and agencies
from frivolous lawsuits.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : American Civil Liberties Union
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states, that this bill falls short of protecting Californians in
that it is silent on when peace officers may turn the cameras on
and off. One presumes then that the decision on powering the
camera is left to the individual peace officer. This place a
great deal of control in the peace officers' hands and leave
Californian's rights vulnerable to creative editing of video.
This is not hypothetical. In Seattle in 2010, two men filed a
claim of excessive force and wrongful arrest. Part of the
arrest was captured by a dashboard camera; however, critical
moments of the arrest were mysteriously missing from the video.
In Oakland in 2011 an officer powered off his colleague's
body-mounted camera during an encounter with protestors. SB
1454 needs amending to ensure that patrol vehicle mounted video
and audio systems are being used at all times during all
encounters with the public and the peace officers cannot engage
in creative editing.
This bill falls short in other ways as well. This bill is
silent on Californians' access to video of incidents involving
themselves and delineates no requirements on data retention.
JG:d 5/27/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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