BILL NUMBER: AB 2489	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 26, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Romero

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2000

   An act to add Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 13720) to Title 5
of Part 4 of the Penal Code, relating to crime prevention, and
making an appropriation therefor.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2489, as amended, Romero.  Crime prevention:  Family Violence
Emergency Response Team.
   Existing law contains various family violence prevention programs.

   This bill would authorize the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department to expand and augment existing Family Violence Emergency
Response Teams to operate on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis,  and
would require the San Francisco Police Department to use any funds
provided by the bill to support a Nighttime Repeat Offender Inspector
assigned to the department's Violence Response Unit, the duties of
which would be to respond to calls for police services that involve
repeated crimes against women; to conduct in-depth interviews with
victims, witnesses, and suspects; and to collect physical evidence,
 as specified.
   The bill would appropriate  $4,000,000  
$3,000,000  from the General Fund to the Controller for
allocation to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to
establish the pilot program described in these provisions  , and
would appropriate $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Controller
for allocation to the San Francisco Police Department to establish
the program described in these provisions .
   Vote:  2/3.  Appropriation:  yes.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 13720) is added to
Title 5 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 3.  FAMILY VIOLENCE EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM ACT OF 2000

   13720.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) In 1997, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department developed
an emergency response team pilot program called Safety Through Our
Perseverance (STOP) in an effort to curb the escalating problem of
family violence.
   (b) The STOP intervention team was designed to strengthen the
quality of community police service to families in crisis by
providing them with immediate intervention, resource referral
services, victim assistance, threat assessment, and safety planning.
   (c) The STOP intervention team is the most comprehensive
victim-oriented community policing project in this state and is
currently operating in three of 19 sheriff's stations in Los Angeles
County.
   (d) The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is interested in
providing training to other agencies to create their own STOP teams.

   (e) Since 1990, the San Francisco Police Department has
participated in a multifaceted and coordinated effort by every
component of the criminal justice system to address violent crimes
against women.  This partnership has enhanced victims' ability to use
the criminal justice system to prosecute batterers and extricate
themselves from the cycle of violence and dependency.  The
partnership includes the Police Department's Violence Response Unit
(DVRU), the courts, the district attorney, the Commission on the
Status of Women, the Mayor's Criminal Justice Council, the Probation
Department, as well as various nonprofit organizations. 
   13721.   (a)  The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
may expand and augment existing Family Violence Emergency Response
Teams to operate on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis.   In
 
   (b) The San Francisco Police Department shall use any funds
provided by this act to support a Nighttime Repeat Offender Inspector
assigned to the department's DVRU, the duties of which shall be to
respond to calls for police services that involve repeated crimes
against women; to conduct in-depth interviews with victims,
witnesses, and suspects; and to collect physical evidence.
   (c) In  order to qualify for funding under this chapter, the
 department   Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department and the San Francisco Police Department  shall agree
that participants in  the program   their
respective programs  be trained for a minimum of 40 hours in a
domestic violence course approved by the Commission on Peace Officers
Standards and Training as set forth in subdivision (c) of Section
13519, and domestic violence advocates shall meet the minimum
requirements set in Section 13823.15.
  SEC. 2.  The sum of four million dollars ($4,000,000) is hereby
appropriated from the General Fund to the Controller for allocation
 according to the following schedule:
   (1) Three million dollars ($3,000,000)  to the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department to establish the pilot program described
in  subdivision (a) of  Section 13721 of the Penal Code.

   (2) One million dollars ($1,000,000) to the San Francisco Police
Department to establish the program described in subdivision (b) of
Section 13721 of the Penal Code.