Bill Text: CA AB958 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 958 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Peace officers: law enforcement gangs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2021-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 408, Statutes of 2021. [AB958 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB958-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 958

Introduced by Assembly Member Gipson

February 17, 2021

An act relating to peace officers.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 958, as introduced, Gipson. Peace officers: law enforcement gangs.

Existing laws defines those persons who are peace officers, the entities authorized to appoint them, and the scope of their authority. Existing law prescribes certain minimum standards for a person to be appointed as a peace officer, including training requirements, moral character, and physical and mental condition, and certain disqualifying factors for a person to be employed as a peace officer, including a felony conviction. Existing law requires a department or agency that employs peace officers to establish a procedure to investigate complaints by members of the public against those officers.

This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to address the issue of law enforcement gangs, as described.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Law enforcement gangs have been identified within California law enforcement agencies, undermining California’s movement to enhance professional standards of policing throughout the state. Law enforcement gangs have been recognized by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department as damaging to the trust and reputation of law enforcement throughout California.

(b) A law enforcement gang is a group of law enforcement officers within an agency that engage in a pattern of rogue on-duty behavior that violates the law or fundamental principles of professional policing, including, but not limited to, unlawful detention, use of excessive force, falsifying police reports, fabricating evidence, targeting persons for enforcement based solely on protected characteristics of those persons, theft, use of alcohol or drugs on duty, protection of other members from disciplinary actions, and retaliation against other officers who threaten or interfere with the activities of the group.

(c) Building and preserving trust between California communities and law enforcement agencies, and protecting the integrity of law enforcement as an institution will require agencies to proactively root out “bad apples” including those who participate, formally or informally, in this type of behavior.

(d) Law enforcement agencies must support and promote peer intervention in instances of officer misconduct, including reporting officers suspected of involvement in law enforcement gangs, and must hold those officers accountable through proportionate disciplinary measures when misconduct is proven.

(e) Trust between our communities and law enforcement is dependent on an institutional reconciliation of the historical traumas perpetrated by law enforcement gangs.

SEC. 2.

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that requires and empowers law enforcement agencies to address the issue of law enforcement gangs.