Report 2021-105 Recommendation Responses
Report 2021-105: Law Enforcement Departments Have Not Adequately Guarded Against Biased Conduct (Release Date: April 2022)
Recommendation for Legislative Action
To ensure that law enforcement departments properly identify and respond to possibly biased conduct by their officers, the Legislature should amend state law to do the following:
- Create a definition of biased conduct that law enforcement departments must use when investigating any bias-related complaint or any incident that involves possible indications of officer bias. At a minimum, the definition should specify that biased conduct can include conduct resulting from implicit as well as explicit biases; that conduct is biased if a reasonable person would conclude so using the facts at hand; that an officer need not admit biased or prejudiced intent for conduct to reasonably appear biased; and that biased conduct may occur in an encounter with the public, with other officers, or online, such as conduct on social media.
- Require law enforcement departments that analyze officer conduct based on this definition to reach one of the existing formal determinations in state law about whether an allegation is true, and to document a rationale for reaching the determination.
- Require DOJ to develop standard investigative protocols that law enforcement departments must follow when evaluating whether an officer has engaged in biased conduct.
- Require POST, in consultation with DOJ, to develop training on how to properly conduct investigations of biased conduct. State law should require officers who handle complaints or other misconduct investigations to attend the training at least once every two years.
Description of Legislative Action
AB 2547 (Nazarian, 2022) would have required POST to establish a definition of biased conduct and include minimum descriptions for that definition. This bill would have also required that POST use this definition in any investigation into a bias-related complaint or incident. Additionally, this bill would have required POST to develop guidance for local law enforcement departments on performing effective social media screenings for officer applicants. This bill died in the Senate on August 11, 2022.
AB 655 (Chapter 854, Statutes of 2022) requires, among other things, the Department of Justice to adopt and promulgate guidelines for the investigation and adjudication of complaints of a peace officer being engaged in membership in a hate group or participation in any hate group, by local agencies. This bill was signed by the Governor on September 30, 2022.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: October 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented
Description of Legislative Action
AB 2547 (Nazarian, 2022) would require POST to establish a definition of biased conduct, and includes minimum descriptions for that definition. This bill also requires that POST use this definition in any investigation into a bias-related complaint or incident. Additionally, this bill would require POST to develop guidance for local law enforcement departments on performing effective social media screenings for officer applicants. As of August 25, 2022, this bill was pending in the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
AB 655 (Kalra, 2022) would require, among other things, that the Department of Justice adopt and promulgate guidelines for the investigation and adjudication by a public agency or oversight agency of complaints of a peace officer being engaged in membership in a hate group or participation in any hate group. As of August 25, 2022, this bill was pending in the Assembly.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: August 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Legislation Introduced
As of August 25, 2022 AB 2547 (Nazarian, 2022) was pending in the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and AB 655 (Kalra, 2022) was pending in the Assembly.