Q: Help me understand the Police Bill of Rights and how these laws impact transparency and constitutional policing reform.
A: In 1976, California adopted “the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act,” Govt. Code § 3300-13, which provides peace officers with certain substantive and procedural protections. Perhaps most significantly, the Act establishes limits on how officers may be questioned, investigated, and disciplined. Such laws have been criticized for making it excessively difficult to discipline offices for misconduct. Regardless of one’s position on that issue, the right of public access to law enforcement records is governed by other laws, such as the California Public Records Act and the so-called Pitchess statutes controlling peace officers’ personnel records. Historically, those laws made it difficult if not impossible for the public to obtain records of police misconduct. As discussed in FAC’s police transparency guide, they were amended in 2019 to provide for disclosure of records relating to certain uses of force or forms of misconduct. In September 2021, the Governor signed SB 16, expanding available records to include sustained findings of unreasonable or excessive force or failure to intervene against another officer using such force, sustained findings of prejudice or discrimination, and sustained findings of unlawful search or arrest.
– David Loy, FAC legal director