Bonta to lead in probing deadly police shootings
Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday outlined the role his office will play in investigating deadly police shootings in California, part of a historic shift intended to help mend trust between communities and law enforcement agencies sworn to protect them.
Assembly Bill 1506, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last year, enlists the California Attorney General’s Office to investigate all incidents of fatal police shootings involving an unarmed civilian.
Bonta laid out how his office plans to enforce this legislation, which will apply to an estimated 40 to 50 cases a year. Strategies for doing so include stationing investigative teams across California, establishing outreach services for affected families, and enacting department policies requiring that both the DOJ and public be immediately notified of such shootings.
“These critical incidents are never going to be easy,” Bonta said. “But the new tools and procedures we are announcing today are a chance to insert more transparency and more accountability into these investigations.”
Bonta said his office is formally launching two investigative teams based in Southern and Northern California, with 27 agents placed throughout the state. The teams will work with crime analysts, forensic experts and local law enforcement and be deployed immediately to the scene following a fatal police shooting.
After their investigation is complete, the teams will turn over their findings to a special prosecutions section within the criminal law division, Bonta said. The section will then either file charges or issue a written report on why charges aren’t appropriate.
“The final charging decisions will be up to this office, and nobody else,” Bonta said.
Local law enforcement agencies will still be responsible for administrative investigations, including those involving internal disciplinary actions.
The law, which took effect amid a national reckoning on police brutality against people of color, was rooted in the notion that police shouldn’t be entrusted to properly investigate their own ranks in cases of such public importance. And while criminal charging decisions are handled by local district attorneys, critics say the often cozy relationships police have with prosecutors warrants outside investigations to ensure impartiality.
Unlike county prosecutors, officials at the Attorney General’s Office don’t regularly work handinhand with local police. Supporters of the law say it’s an important distinction that should help reassure the public that such cases will be handled without bias.
Bonta, who coauthored AB 1506 as a member of the Assembly, said the effort was personal to him.
“I heard firsthand the hurt and the pain that so many families and communities feel in the moments after these incidents, and I’ve witnessed the lack of trust that these investigations will be treated fairly by our criminal justice system,” he said.
The measure, authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, was the Sacramento Democrat’s third attempt in five years to move investigations of police shootings out of the hands of local prosecutors. His earlier efforts sputtered under previous attorneys general, who were reluctant to intervene in investigations they believed should be handled locally.
Statewide law enforcement groups also opposed the measure.
But the bill gained fresh traction this year amid nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice. Supporters held up last June’s fatal Vallejo police shooting of Sean Monterrosa as a testament to its necessity.
An officer responding to a call of a looting said he mistook a hammer in Monterrosa’s sweatshirt pocket for a handgun, prompting him to open fire through the patrol car’s windshield. The Solano County district attorney tried to hand off the investigation to former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, but Becerra rejected the request, stating there was no conflict of interest with the local authorities.
Now, final charging decisions in fatal police shootings will be left to the Attorney General’s Office. Other incidents, such as nonfatal shootings or police encounters that leave a civilian dead without the use of a firearm, will still be handled by local authorities.
Tony Montoya, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, said police shootings in San Francisco already undergo “a transparent and exhaustive investigative process, including civilian review.”
“It is absolutely critical that this new process be grounded in evidence, based on the law, and not swayed by political pressure to ensure a fair process for everyone,” he said.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said he supports the new measure, and commended Bonta for his commitment to investigating and prosecuting officers when necessary. Boudin added that his office will still, however, investigate officers for use of excessive force.
“For that reason, our office’s Independent Investigation Bureau investigates and reviews for prosecution every single incident of an officerinvolved shooting,” he said.