Legislation
Policy best practice is continually developing in the field of police oversight. There have been barriers in the way of civilian agencies to gather information and be heard.
CCOA highlights California's role as a national leader in civilian oversight through ongoing updates to policy. We aim to provide a resource to oversight in California by sharing relevant and up to date changes to existing law.
California is uniquely positioned to take the lead in police oversight due to state-level provisions to increase public transparency and police accountability. Senate Bill 1421 is a 2019 law that made certain categories of previously confidential investigation records now available to the public. Senate Bill 16, enacted in 2022, expands the disclosable categories of officer conduct. Senate Bill 1421 and SB 16 work together to allow increased public access to previously protected police records. SB 1421 allows for records to be released in peace officer conduct cases that involve discharge of a firearm, use of force resulting in great bodily injury, sexual assault, and dishonesty. SB 16 increases that scope also to include sustained peace officer misconduct findings of biased and discriminatory behavior, unlawful search and seizure, excessive or unreasonable use of force, and failure to intervene when another officer uses excessive or unreasonable force.
Senate Bill 2, set to come into effect in 2023 will increase accountability for misconduct by peace officers through several changes to existing law. The bill creates a process to decertify police officer professional certification through POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) for serious misconduct, expands the list of circumstances that will disqualify an officer from employment as a peace officer, requires police agencies to continue to investigate officers even if they resign or leave the agency, and will require law enforcement agencies to report to POST all complaints and findings of serious misconduct. Lastly, the bill also removes some immunity protections for peace officers and their employing agencies.