COMPLIMENTARY COPY
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VOL. 7, , NO. 13
TRANSPARENCY AND THE POLICE: NEW STATE LAW ALLOWS MORE PUBLIC ACCESS TO POLICE PERSONNEL RECORDS
Our society depend on peace officers’ faithful exercise of authority. - Photo by Terry Miller/Beacon Media News
Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
I
n California, accounts of police personnel activities have been closely fortified— that is, until recently. Reaction, in general, is positive but some police unions and associations are opposed to disclosing personal records of their rank and file members. The new state law- SB 1421 - is said to give the California news media and public access to police personnel records under certain circumstances, including when there is a “sustained finding” of sexual assault or dishonesty committed by a police officer. Local police have been grappling with how to respond to these requests due to an ongoing argument made by police unions about whether Senate Bill 1421 applies to records from before the law took effect Jan. 1. The legislation opens to the
public certain misconduct and use-of-force records. Additionally, AB 748 requires agencies, effective July 1, 2019, to produce video and audio recordings of “critical incidents,” defined as an incident involving the discharge of a firearm at a person by a peace officer or custodial officer, or an incident in which the use of force by a peace officer or custodial officer against a person resulted in death or great bodily injury, in response to CPRA requests. The City of Pasadena is already ahead of the curve on this one and has released body-cam footage of critical incidents in recent years. Of the 1,147 people who were killed by police in 2017 – 92 percent were killed by police shootings. Tasers, physical force, and police vehicles accounted for most other deaths, according to a report posted on policeviolencereport.org. In many countries, police routinely disarm people who have knives without shooting them. For example, police in the United Kingdom encounter knife attacks at a similar rate as U.S. police but handle these situations without using firearms in all but four
cases this year - each an extreme case where firearms were used to stop a terrorist attack. Consistent with international law, police in the UK are prohibited from using firearms except where strictly necessary after considering non-violent and less lethal options. The new state law, Senate Bill 1421, broke down “a wall of secrecy built up since the 1970s that blocked public access to the most serious police misconduct and deadly use-of-force information.” Locally, we’ve been fortunate enough to have relatively few major incidents that would warrant the publicity that has driven some communities apart and led to distrust of their police. Senate Bill 1421 and Assembly Bill 748 garnered mixed reactions from area police departments. However, all seem to say the same thing: they respect the laws in place and at the same time respect transparency. Monrovia Chief of Police, Alan Sanvictores, spoke with SEE TRANSPARENCY PAGE 14