AB 284: Department of Justice: officer-involved shootings: report.

Session Year: 2017-2018
House: Assembly

Version:

Existing law requires each law enforcement agency to annually furnish to the Department of Justice, in a manner defined and prescribed by the Attorney General, a report of all instances when a peace officer employed by that agency is involved in any of specified incidents, including an incident involving the shooting of a civilian by a peace officer or an incident involving the shooting of a peace officer by a civilian.

This bill would, contingent upon the appropriation of funding by the Legislature, require the Department of Justice to conduct a study of all or a sample of peace officer-involved shootings resulting in death or serious injury that occurred in California between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2016. The bill would require the department to prepare a written report describing its findings and recommendations and make the report available to the public.

Existing law authorizes a peace officer who has reasonable cause to believe that a person to be arrested has committed a public offense to use reasonable force to effect the arrest, to prevent escape, or to overcome resistance.Existing law requires each law enforcement agency to annually furnish to the Department of Justice, in a manner defined and prescribed by the Attorney General, a report of all instances when a peace officer employed by that agency is involved in any of specified incidents, including an incident involving the shooting of a civilian by a peace officer or an incident involving the shooting of a peace officer by a civilian.This bill would require the Department of Justice to create an independent review unit, to be known as the Statewide Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Team, within the office to investigate officer-involved shootings, but only to the extent that the Legislature appropriates funding for that purpose. The unit would consist of 3 teams located in 3 regions of the state. The bill would require the unit, upon request from a local law enforcement agency or the district attorney, to investigate and gather facts in incidents involving officer-involved shootings and to prepare and submit a written report, as specified. The bill would also require the Attorney General to post and maintain on the Department of Justices Internet Web site each written report prepared by the Statewide Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Team unless information in the report is required by law to be kept confidential.

Discussed in Hearing