Below is the text of California Senate Bill 1019 which would allow public access to disciplinary hearings regarding police officer misconduct investigations. Such information would be made available upon request by any citizen pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Government Code sec. 6250 et seq).
Note: On the face of it, the bill purports to open police officer disciplinary proceedings to the public. However, a close reading reveals that this bill is permissive, rather than mandatory. Police officer associations will surely be gunning to kill the bill. A vote is expected in July.
Ask yourselves: Why should evidence and investigation into police officer discipline be more protected than disciplinary hearings regarding any other paid civil servant's misconduct? Sustained disciplinary actions of state legislators, doctors, lawyers and teachers are all open to public review. So it should be for the boys in blue who carry guns and are sworn to uphold the law.
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE SB 1019
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses
|1020 N Street, Suite 524
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) 327-4478
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1019
Author: Romero (D)
Amended: 3/26/07
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 3-2, 4/17/07
AYES: Romero, Cedillo, Ridley-Thomas
NOES: Cogdill, Margett
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Peace officer records
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill (1) provides that public disclosure of
investigations or proceedings concerning the conduct of
peace officers or custodial officers will extend to those
conducted by a civilian review board, personnel board,
police commission, or civil service commission, expressly
abrogating the decision of the California Supreme Court in
Copley Press v. Superior Court , 39 Cal.4th 1271 (2006), (2)
provides that any charter city may elect, as specified, to
follow the practices it followed before the Copley Press
decision with respect to the release of limited information
regarding certain personnel investigations, (3) permits
departments or agencies employing peace officers or
custodial officers to release specified information with
respect to disciplinary matters, as specified, (4) permits,
in cases in which a governmental body outside the
department or agency makes a find adverse to an officer, as
specified, and the finding is overturned or the
recommendation is not followed by the department or agency
that employs the peace officer, the department or agency,
in its discretion, to release any information already
released by the outside body, as well as a summary of the
grounds for overturning the outside body's findings or not
following its recommendation, and (5) provides that
information disclosable pursuant to this section shall be
made available pursuant to the Public Records Act.
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