Bill Text: CA AB2236 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 2236 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Peace officer training: hate crimes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 25-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-06-03 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2236 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB2236-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly May 07, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2236

Introduced by Assembly Members Gabriel and Chu

February 13, 2020

An act to amend Section 13519.6 of the Penal Code, relating to peace officer training.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2236, as amended, Gabriel. Peace officer training: hate crimes.

Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to develop and implement a course of instruction and training for specified peace officers on the topic of hate crimes. Existing law requires that training to be implemented into the basic course and requires, as specified, all state and local law enforcement agencies to provide the training to all peace officers they employ.

This bill would require the basic course curriculum on the topic of hate crimes to include the viewing of a specified video course developed by POST. The bill would also require POST to make the video available via the online learning portal, and would require all peace officers to view the video no later than January 1, 2022. The bill would require POST to develop and periodically update an interactive refresher course on hate crimes for in-service peace officers, and require specified peace officers to take the course every 3 5 years.

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

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

SECTION 1.

Section 13519.6 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

13519.6.

(a) The commission shall develop guidelines and a course of instruction and training for law enforcement officers who are employed as peace officers, or who are not yet employed as a peace officer but are enrolled in a training academy for law enforcement officers, addressing hate crimes. “Hate crimes,” for purposes of this section, has the same meaning as in Section 422.55.

(b) The course shall make maximum use of audio and video communication and other simulation methods and shall include instruction in each of the following:

(1) Indicators of hate crimes.

(2) The impact of these crimes on the victim, the victim’s family, and the community, and the assistance and compensation available to victims.

(3) Knowledge of the laws dealing with hate crimes and the legal rights of, and the remedies available to, victims of hate crimes.

(4) Law enforcement procedures, reporting, and documentation of hate crimes.

(5) Techniques and methods to handle incidents of hate crimes in a noncombative manner.

(6) Multimission criminal extremism, which means the nexus of certain hate crimes, antigovernment extremist crimes, anti-reproductive-rights crimes, and crimes committed in whole or in part because of the victims’ actual or perceived homelessness.

(7) The special problems inherent in some categories of hate crimes, including gender-bias crimes, disability-bias crimes, including those committed against homeless persons with disabilities, anti-immigrant crimes, and anti-Arab and anti-Islamic crimes, and techniques and methods to handle these special problems.

(8) Preparation for, and response to, possible future anti-Arab/Middle Eastern and anti-Islamic hate crimewaves, and any other future hate crime waves that the Attorney General determines are likely.

(c) The guidelines developed by the commission shall incorporate the procedures and techniques specified in subdivision (b), and shall include a framework and possible content of a general order or other formal policy on hate crimes that all state law enforcement agencies shall adopt and the commission shall encourage all local law enforcement agencies to adopt. The elements of the framework shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) A message from the law enforcement agency’s chief executive officer to the agency’s officers and staff concerning the importance of hate crime laws and the agency’s commitment to enforcement.

(2) The definition of “hate crime” in Section 422.55.

(3) References to hate crime statutes including Section 422.6.

(4) A title-by-title specific protocol that agency personnel are required to follow, including, but not limited to, the following:

(A) Preventing and preparing for likely hate crimes by, among other things, establishing contact with persons and communities who are likely targets, and forming and cooperating with community hate crime prevention and response networks.

(B) Responding to reports of hate crimes, including reports of hate crimes committed under the color of authority.

(C) Accessing assistance, by, among other things, activating the Department of Justice hate crime rapid response protocol when necessary.

(D) Providing victim assistance and followup, including community followup.

(E) Reporting.

(d) (1) The course of training leading to the basic certificate issued by the commission shall include the course of instruction described in subdivision (a).

(2) Every state law enforcement and correctional agency, and every local law enforcement and correctional agency to the extent that this requirement does not create a state-mandated local program cost, shall provide its peace officers with the basic course of instruction as revised pursuant to the act that amends this section in the 2003–04 session of the Legislature, beginning with officers who have not previously received the training. Correctional agencies shall adapt the course as necessary.

(e)(1)The commission shall, for any basic course commencing on or after June 1, 2021, incorporate the November 2017 video course developed by the commission entitled “Hate Crimes: Identification and Investigation,” or any successor video, into the basic course curriculum.
~~(2)The commission shall make the video course described in paragraph (1) available to stream via the learning portal.~~
~~(3)Each peace officer shall, on or before January 1, 2022, be required to watch the video described in paragraph (1) via the learning portal.~~
~~(4)~~

(e) (1) The commission shall develop and periodically update an interactive refresher course of instruction and training for in-service peace officers on the topic of hate crimes and make the course available via the learning portal. The course shall cover the fundamentals of hate crime law and preliminary investigation of hate crime incidents, and shall include updates on recent changes in the law, hate crime trends, and best enforcement practices.

~~(5)The~~

(2) Commencing on January 1, 2024, the commission shall require the refresher course described in paragraph ~~(4)~~ (1) to be taken ~~by in-service peace officers every three years.~~ every five years by each peace officer below the rank of supervisor who is assigned to patrol duties.

(f) As used in this section, “peace officer” means any person designated as a peace officer by Section 830.1 or 830.2.