Are state leaders serious about police reform?
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators soon will reveal whether they’re serious about police reform in the post- George Floyd era.
Real reform begins with transparency. That means full disclosure about bad cops and a process for getting rid of them.
Now that President-elect Joe Biden has tapped state Attorney General Xavier Becerra as U.S. secretary of health and human services, Newsom will have an opportunity to replace him with someone who actually believes in police transparency.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers, who dropped the ball on two key police reform bills in the final hours of the last legislative session, get a do-over. This time they need to get it right.
They should back state
Sen. Nancy Skinner’s bill to strengthen California’s police records disclosure laws and state Sen. Steven Bradford’s push to set up a police certification system as 45 other states already have done.
For decades, police in California enjoyed wide-reaching protections against disclosure of their misbehavior. Then a 2018 state law, enacted with the passage of Skinner’s SB 1421, started to pry open the door. The law requires police agencies to release documents pertaining to cops’ discharge of firearms, use of major force, sexual assault and dishonesty.
The records disclosures that followed were eye-opening: Stolen drugs and bullets. A potentially deadly chokehold. Falsified reports. A person’s face smashed into the floor. Sexual assault in jail. Cavorting with sex workers. Domestic violence complaints against an officer ignored.
Equally disturbing was the resistance to compliance with the disclosure law. It was predictable that some local police agencies would try to protect their own. What was shocking was Becerra’s foot-dragging.
When Becerra suddenly started calling for police reforms in June, in the wake of the Floyd killing, it was laughable. Up until that point, he had been the leading obstructionist to transparency.
He had even threatened legal action against reporters who had legally obtained, through a public records request, a list of criminal convictions of nearly 12,000 people who had been law enforcement officers in California or applied to be one.
The list informed an indepth investigation that found that more than 80 law enforcement officers working in California were convicted criminals. Not only did the articles expose bad cops, they also helped unmask a system that shields them.
Becerra was appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown as state attorney general in 2017 to fill the post vacated by Kamala Harris when she went to the U.S. Senate. Becerra won election to a full four-year term in 2018. Now, Newsom will be able to select someone to fill out the rest of Becerra’s term.
Let’s hope the governor doesn’t repeat Brown’s mistake. Newsom’s pick will indicate whether he really wants to see police transparency and reform.
Meanwhile, the findings from the records that have been released in the past two years and the resistance to disclosure demonstrate that SB 1421 must be broadened and toughened. Bradford, D-Gardena, has introduced SB 2 to establish an independent, civilian certification process for holding police accountable.
And Skinner, D-Berkeley, has introduced SB 16, which would impose civil fines on government agencies that refuse to release records and entitle a member of the public who must file a lawsuit for police records to recover twice reasonable attorney fees and costs.
The bill would expand the police records subject to disclosure to include allegations of excessive force and sustained findings of prejudicial conduct or unlawful arrests or searches. And the bill would require police agencies to permanently retain records of sustained misconduct.
The two bills would help ensure that officers with histories of misconduct can’t just quit their jobs, keep their records secret and go work as cops in other jurisdictions.
The time for transparency and accountability is now. It’s up to the governor and Legislature to make sure it happens.