Bill Text: CA AB504 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Peace officers: training.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-2)

Status: (Vetoed) 2010-01-14 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB504 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB504-Enrolled.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 504	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 25, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 1, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Furutani
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bill Berryhill, Eng, Fong, Galgiani,
Gilmore, Ma, Skinner, and Yamada)
   (Coauthors: Senators Liu and Yee)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2009

   An act to add Section 13515.45 to the Penal Code, relating to
peace officers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 504, Furutani. Peace officers: training.
   Existing law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards
and Training within the Department of Justice. Under existing law,
the commission is required to develop and implement training programs
for peace officers relative to certain areas of criminal law or
procedure.
   This bill would require the commission to create and make
available to all law enforcement agencies training content on how to
recognize and interact with persons carrying a kirpan, as specified.
The bill would require that the training content include instruction
on how arrests of Sikhs carrying a kirpan have historically been
treated and the alternatives to those arrests and detentions that
have successfully been used. This bill would define a kirpan as a
blade that resembles a sword and is required to be carried as an
integral part of the practice of the Sikh faith.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) The United States was founded on the core principles of
religious freedom, diversity, and equality for all.
   (b) Sikh Americans form a vibrant, peaceful, and law-abiding part
of the United States community. California was one of the first
places that Sikhs settled in this country over 100 years ago. Today,
California is home to a large number of the nation's 500,000 Sikhs.
   (c) Sikhs are mandated by their religion to keep five articles of
faith on or as part of their person at all times. These articles of
faith are physical manifestations and reminders of core Sikh
spiritual values including honesty, remembering God, and providing
service to humanity.
   (d) The five Sikh articles of faith include the kirpan. A kirpan
is a religious article resembling a sword, which is integral to the
practice of the Sikh faith. The kirpan is carried in a shoulder strap
known as a gatra, as mandated by the Sikh Code of Conduct. The
kirpan acts as a constant reminder to its bearer of a Sikh's solemn
duty to protect the weak and promote justice for all. The kirpan is
also an allusion to spiritual knowledge that cuts through ignorance
and sin.
   (e) In the years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, Sikhs
have experienced an unprecedented increase in arrests for carrying
the kirpan.
   (f) State and local resources are unnecessarily burdened when law
enforcement officers detain law-abiding Sikhs for carrying a kirpan,
when its possession is in accordance with their faith.
   (g) It is the responsibility of the Legislature to protect
religious freedoms, while ensuring public safety. Keeping those
obligations in mind, it is the Legislature's goal to promote
education and awareness of the carrying of the kirpan by Sikhs in
California when its possession is in accordance with an integral part
of the recognized religious practice of the person carrying it and
there is a benign intent in carrying it.
  SEC. 2.  Section 13515.45 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
   13515.45.  (a) The commission shall, upon the next regularly
scheduled update of training content relating to weapons violations
and cultural diversity, create and add training content on how to
recognize and interact with Sikhs possessing articles of faith,
including a kirpan. The training content shall be designed for, and
made available to, peace officers employed by law enforcement
agencies that participate in training that complies with training
standards set forth by the commission.
   (b) For purposes of this section, "kirpan" means a blade that
resembles a sword and is required to be carried as an integral part
of the practice of the Sikh faith.
   (c) The training content shall include instruction on how arrests
of Sikhs carrying a kirpan have historically been treated by the
criminal justice system in California, including the alternatives to
arrest and detention that have been successfully used by law
enforcement officers when contacting a Sikh carrying a kirpan with a
benign intent and in accordance with an integral part of his or her
recognized religious practice.
   (d) The training content shall be developed by the commission in
consultation with appropriate subject matter experts. The commission
shall make the content available to California law enforcement
agencies that participate in, and comply with, training standards set
forth by the commission.
   (e) In addition to the duties contained in subdivisions (a) and
(d), the commission shall electronically distribute, as necessary, a
training bulletin on the topic of the kirpan to law enforcement
agencies participating in the commission's program.