Bill Text: CA AB21 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Peace officers: training.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB21 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB21-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 21
| Introduced by Assembly Member Gipson |
December 05, 2022 |
An act to amend Section 13515.28 of, and to add Section 13515.285 to, the Penal Code, relating to peace officers.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 21, as introduced, Gipson.
Peace officers: training.
Existing law requires specified categories of law enforcement officers to meet training standards pursuant to courses of training certified by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). Existing law requires POST to require field training officers who are instructors for the field training program to have at least 8 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training to better train new peace officers on how to effectively interact with persons with mental illness or intellectual disability.
This bill would require the commission to revise that training to include instruction on how to effectively interact with persons with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The bill would specify that a field training officer who completed the training prior to January 1, 2025, or who is exempt from completing the training, is not required
to take the updated training, but would require a field training officer who has not completed the training on or after January 1, 2025, or who is not exempt from completing the training, to complete the revised training. The bill would exempt jurisdictions that, prior to January 1, 2024, develop a training that meets the same requirements.
This bill would also require the commission, upon the next regularly scheduled review of a training module relating to persons with disabilities, to create and distribute electronically a course on how to recognize and interact with persons with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The bill would require peace officers appointed on or before July 1, 2029, to complete that course by January 1, 2030, and peace officers appointed after July 1, 2029, to complete that course within 180 days of being appointed, as specified. The bill would exempt jurisdictions that, prior to January 1, 2024, develop a training that meets the same
requirements. By creating new duties for local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 13515.28 of the Penal Code is amended to read:13515.28.
(a) (1) The commission shall require the field training officers who provide instruction in the field training program to have at least eight hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training to better train new peace officers on how to effectively interact with persons with mental illness or intellectual disability. This course shall include classroom instruction and instructor-led active learning, such as scenario-based training, and shall be taught in segments that are at least four hours long.(2) If a field training officer has completed eight hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training within the past 24 months, or if a field training officer has completed 40 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training,
the requirement described in paragraph (1) shall not apply.
(b) The crisis intervention behavioral health training shall address issues relating to stigma, shall be culturally relevant and appropriate, and shall include all of the following topics:
(1) The cause and nature of mental illnesses and intellectual disabilities.
(2) (A) How to identify indicators of mental illness, intellectual disability, and substance use disorders.
(B) How to distinguish between mental illness, intellectual disability, and substance use disorders.
(C) How to respond appropriately in a variety of situations involving persons with mental illness, intellectual disability, and substance use
disorders.
(3) Conflict resolution and deescalation techniques for potentially dangerous situations.
(4) Appropriate language usage when interacting with potentially emotionally distressed persons.
(5) Community and state resources available to serve persons with mental illness or intellectual disability, and how these resources can be best utilized by law enforcement.
(6) The perspective of individuals or families who have experiences with persons with mental illness, intellectual disability, and substance use disorders.
(c) Field training officers assigned or appointed before January 1, 2017, shall complete the crisis intervention behavioral health training by June 30, 2017. Field
training officers assigned or appointed on or after January 1, 2017, shall complete the crisis intervention behavioral health training within 180 days of assignment or appointment.
(d) This section does not prevent an agency from requiring its field training officers to complete additional hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training or requiring its field training officers to complete that training earlier than as required by this section.
(e) (1) The commission shall revise the training described in this section to include instruction on how to effectively interact with persons with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. A field training officer who completed the training described in this section prior to January 1, 2025, or who was exempt from completing the training
pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), shall not be required to take the updated training. A field training officer who has not completed the training described in this section by January 1, 2025, or who is not exempt from completing the training pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), shall complete the revised training.
(2) A training developed by a jurisdiction prior to January 1, 2024, that meets the same requirements as this subdivision shall be deemed to be compliant with this subdivision.
SEC. 2.
Section 13515.285 is added to the Penal Code, immediately following Section 13515.28, to read:13515.285.
(a) The commission shall, upon the next regularly scheduled review of a training module relating to persons with disabilities, create and distribute electronically a course on how to recognize and interact with persons with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. This course shall be designed for, and made available to, peace officers.(b) The training course shall be developed by the commission in consultation with the California Department of Aging and appropriate community, local, or other state organizations and agencies that have expertise in the area of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The commission shall make the course available to law enforcement agencies in California.
(c) (1) Peace officers appointed on or before July 1, 2029, shall complete the course developed pursuant to this section by January 1, 2030. Peace officers appointed after July 1, 2029, shall complete the course developed pursuant to this section within 180 days of being appointed.
(2) Peace officers shall be allowed to complete the course developed pursuant to this section remotely.
(3) The requirement described in this subdivision only applies to peace officers described in Sections 830.1, 830.2, with the exception of those described in subdivision (d) of that section, and 830.33.
(d) A course developed by a jurisdiction prior to January 1, 2024, that meets the same requirements as this section shall be deemed to be compliant with this
section.
