Two new laws aim for greater law enforcement officer accountability - Benitolink: San Benito County News

SB 16 grants better access to police records and SB 2 enables broader disciplinary actions.

Two state Senate bills, SB 2 and SB 16, designed to increase police officer accountability, were signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, took effect on Jan. 1.

Both bills were supported by wide majorities in the Assembly and Senate, including District 30 Assemblyman Robert Rivas and District 12 Senator Anna Caballero.

SB 2, the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act of 2021, creates a Peace Officer Standards Accountability Division to investigate accusations of misconduct. It also provides for broader grounds to decertify police officers, removes some immunity provisions, and makes the records of investigations leading to decertification available to the public for 30 years.

The American Civil Liberties Union was a co-sponsor of SB 2. In its statement of support, the ACLU noted that California was one of only four states that had no process to decertify police officers, which ensures that they could not be hired as police officers in other places.

While Hollister Police Chief Carlos Reynoso agrees that having a decertification process is important, he said he feels parts of the bill did not take into account existing regulations.

“Many of the restrictions on hiring were already in place,” he said. “It says you can’t hire an officer who is a felon? Well, you already can’t. They have to pass a background check and people don’t understand our background checks are very intensive and a lot of people don’t make it through. I have never heard of someone leaving an agency under a cloud and being picked up somewhere else.”

SB 16, Peace Officers: Release of Records, removes a five-year limit on access to records of misconduct complaints and disciplinary proceedings against officers. It also allows the use of older disciplinary records in court cases involving police officers, extending the current five-year access period.

In her statement on the bill’s passage, SB 16 author and District 3 Senator Nancy Skinner said, “Bad behavior goes unchecked when police operate in secret. We have the right to know if a local officer engages in misconduct. SB 16 provides an essential tool to restore public trust.”

San Benito County Sheriff Eric Taylor agrees that the two bills serve a useful purpose.

“In law enforcement, if we keep sitting back and saying we are about transparency and the community, I can’t see how anyone in law enforcement could be against either of these bills,” he said. “Historically in law enforcement, we have been very protective of our criminal investigations and personnel records. But the public has a right to see what we do when we have complaints against our deputy sheriffs and police officers.”

Taylor said he thinks that more transparency might resolve local concerns that issues with law enforcement are “swept under the carpet.”

“When people see the lengths that we go to in investigating complaints against our officers and deputies, I believe they would be pretty satisfied that we really leave no stone unturned.”

Local activist Elia Salinas said the two bills were a long time coming.

“I can assure you that 99% of police officers are responsible and want accountability,” she said. “I don’t think they will have a problem with it. But there should be greater transparency and accountability in all agencies, and it is about time the people are keeping track of the police.”

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source: https://benitolink.com/two-new-laws-aim-for-greater-law-enforcement-officer-accountability/

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