21st Century Policing

**The information provided below is based on preliminary details regarding an ongoing investigation, which may continue to evolve** 

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced that the California Department of Justice, pursuant to Assembly Bill 1506 (AB 1506), is investigating and will independently review an officer-involved shooting (OIS) that occurred in an unincorporated community of Alameda County, CA, at approximately 2:00 AM on Monday, July 3, 2023. The OIS incident involving the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol resulted in the death of one individual.

Following notification by local authorities, DOJ’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team initiated an investigation in accordance with AB 1506 mandates. Upon completion of the investigation, it will be turned over to DOJ’s Special Prosecutions Section within the Criminal Law Division for independent review.

More information on the California Department of Justice’s role and responsibilities under AB 1506 is available here: https://oag.ca.gov/ois-incidents.

Amidst surge in reported hate crimes, Attorney General urges local partners across California to recommit themselves to taking action 

Issues updated Law Enforcement Bulletin highlighting new laws and guidance to assist in investigation, prosecution, and prevention of hate crimes

LOS ANGELES – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today released the 2022 Hate Crime in California Report, and highlighted information and resources to support ongoing efforts across the state to combat hate. Overall, reported hate crime events in California increased 20.2% from 1,763 in 2021 to 2,120 in 2022. Reported hate crimes targeting Black people remain the most prevalent and increased 27.1% from 513 in 2021 to 652 in 2022, while reported anti-Asian hate crime events decreased by 43.3% from 247 in 2021 to 140 in 2022, and reported hate crime events involving a sexual orientation bias increased, rising 29% from 303 in 2021 to 391 in 2022. Amidst this surge in reported hate crime offenses and events, Attorney General Bonta urges local partners and law enforcement to review the resources highlighted today and to recommit themselves to taking action.

As part of those efforts, Attorney General Bonta today issued an updated Law Enforcement Bulletin to all district attorneys, chiefs of police, sheriffs, and state law enforcement agencies with an updated summary of the multiple California criminal laws that prohibit hate crimes or provide enhanced penalties for specified hate-related acts, as well as guidance related to the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. The Attorney General continues to convene law enforcement, elected leaders, and community organizations at the local level across the state to help increase awareness around available resources and strengthen responses to hate crime in California.

“This report is a stark reminder that there is still much work to be done to combat hate in our state. I urge local partners and law enforcement to review these findings and recommit to taking action,” said Attorney General Bonta. "Our office continues to work with law enforcement, elected leaders, and community organizations across the state to increase awareness and bolster responses to hate crimes. An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us. The alarming increases in crimes committed against Black, LGBTQ+ and Jewish people for the second year in a row illustrates the need for our communities to join together unified against hate. It takes all of us working together to combat extremism and foster a safe and inclusive environment for all Californians. Now, more than ever, it is critical that we stand united — there is no place for hate in California.”

The California Department of Justice remains committed to collecting and reporting this vital data on hate crimes, which has been ongoing since 1995. Hate crimes are distinct from hate incidents, which are actions or behaviors motivated by hate that may be protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Examples of hate incidents include name-calling, insults, and distributing hate material in public places. If a hate incident starts to threaten a person or property, it may become a hate crime. Historically, hate crime data has generally been underreported and the California Department of Justice recognizes that the data presented in its reports may not adequately reflect the actual number of hate crime events that have occurred in the state. Reports of hate incidents can also be made to the California Civil Rights Department CA v. Hate hotline and online portal at any time in 15 languages or by calling (833) 866-4283 or 833-8-NO-HATE, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and talking to a trained civil rights agent in over 200 languages. Outside of those hours, people can leave a voicemail or call 211 to report a hate incident and seek support from a professional trained in culturally competent communication and trauma-informed practices.

Some of the key findings from the 2022 Hate Crime in California Report include: 

• Overall, reported hate crime events increased 20.2% from 1,763 in 2021 to 2,120 in 2022. A hate crime event is a single occurrence but may involve more than one hate crime offense. For example, a person may be threatened and assaulted at the same time; this would involve multiple hate crime offenses within the same hate crime event.  
• 2,589 hate crime offenses were reported in California, increasing by 16.6% from 2021.
• Hate crime events motivated by a sexual orientation bias increased 29% from 303 in 2021 to 391 in 2022.
• Anti-Black or African American bias events increased 27.1% from 513 in 2021 to 652 in 2022.
• Anti-Hispanic bias crimes rose from 197 in 2021 to 210 in 2022.
• Anti-Asian bias events fell from 247 in 2021 to 140 in 2022, a decrease of 43.3%.
• Anti-Jewish bias events increased 24.3% from 152 in 2021 to 189 in 2022.
• Anti-Protestant bias events rose from 2 in 2021 to 12 in 2022. 
• Anti-Islamic (Muslim) bias crimes rose from 18 in 2021 to 25 in 2022.
• Anti-transgender bias events increased from 38 in 2021 to 59 in 2022. 
• Anti-gay (male) bias events increased 28.4% from 211 in 2021 to 271 in 2022
• Anti-lesbian bias crimes rose from 27 in 2021 to 33 in 2022.
• From 2021 to 2022, the number of hate crimes referred for prosecution increased 5.9% from 610 in 2021 to 647 in 2022. Of the 647 hate crimes that were referred for prosecution, 456 cases were filed by district attorneys and elected city attorneys. Of the 122 cases with a disposition available for this report, 43.4% were hate crime convictions and 45.9% were other convictions.

Attorney General Bonta has issued a series of reports, guidance, and resources to help the public and law enforcement better understand and address hate crimes in California. Given the ongoing challenge presented by hate crime, the Attorney General urges leaders across the state and members of the public to review and make use of these important resources, which include an updated law enforcement bulletin summarizing applicable civil and criminal hate crime laws, guidance to prosecutors to help strengthen prosecution and enforcement, and brochures and fact sheets in more than two dozen languages to assist Californians in identifying and responding to hate crime events. In 2021, Attorney General Bonta also released a special report on anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, which offers important context and analysis regarding increases in anti-Asian hate crime events in 2020.

Attorney General Bonta launched the Racial Justice Bureau, which, among other things, supports the California Department of Justice’s broader mandate to advance the civil rights of all Californians by assisting with new and ongoing efforts to combat hate and bias. In 2021, the Attorney General began proactively engaging with local city leaders in the 13 biggest cities in California through roundtables in San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, Riverside, Long Beach, Santa Ana, San Jose, Stockton, Anaheim and Bakersfield. More broadly, the Attorney General is deeply committed to responding to the needs of historically marginalized and underrepresented communities and, in July 2021, also launched the Office of Community Awareness, Response, and Engagement to work directly with community organizations and members of the public as part of the effort to advance justice for all Californians. In June 2022, a hate crimes coordinator was appointed within the California Department of Justice’s Criminal Law Division in order to further assist state and local law enforcement efforts to combat hate crimes.

Members of the public are encouraged to explore the most recent hate crime data on OpenJustice. 

If you believe you or someone you know has been the victim of a hate crime, notify local law enforcement and consider taking the following steps: 

• If you are in immediate danger, call 911 and if needed, seek medical attention.
• Write down the exact words that were used and take note of any other relevant facts.
• If safe to do so, save all evidence and take photos.
• Get the contact information for other victims and witnesses.
• Reach out to community organizations in your area that deal with hate crimes or incidents.

The full 2022 Hate Crime in California report is available for review here.

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in accordance with Assembly Bill 1506 (AB 1506), today released a report on the death of Leonel Chavez. The report is part of the California Department of Justice's (DOJ) ongoing efforts to provide transparency and accountability in law enforcement practices. The report provides a detailed analysis of the incident and outlines the DOJ's findings. After a thorough investigation, DOJ has concluded that criminal charges are not appropriate in this case. However, DOJ recognizes that there are still important lessons to be learned from this incident. As required by AB 1506, the Attorney General has issued specific policy and practice recommendations related to the incident.

"The loss of life is always a tragedy. We understand that this incident was difficult for everyone involved, including the family of Mr. Chavez, law enforcement, and the community at large," said Attorney General Bonta. "We hope that this report will provide some clarity and help us move forward together towards a safer, more just California. The California Department of Justice remains committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure that our justice system is fair, transparent, and accountable to all Californians.”

On September 28, 2021, officers from the California Highway Patrol responded to a call regarding a vehicle collision shortly after 3:00 p.m. During the course of the incident, Mr. Chavez was fatally shot. Pursuant to AB 1506, which requires the California Department of Justice to investigate all incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian in the state, DOJ conducted a thorough investigation into this incident. As part of its investigation, the DOJ has identified several policy recommendations that it believes will help prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

These recommendations include:

• Updating training for law enforcement officers on use of force policies.
• Increasing transparency and accountability in critical incidents involving law enforcement officers.
• Equipping all CHP officers with body-worn cameras.

DOJ believes that these policy recommendations will help improve public safety while also promoting trust and accountability in our justice system.

A copy of the report can be found here. 

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that her office’s first-of-its-kind “Principled Policing: Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias” Train the Trainer course, designed to help law enforcement officers overcome barriers to neutral policing and rebuild the relationship of trust between law enforcement and the community, will be offered in Sacramento to California Highway Patrol (CHP) personnel on October 11 and 12.

“Every human being has implicit biases,” said Attorney General Harris. “We need to have an honest conversation that includes addressing the way implicit bias in policing undermines the public’s trust and has devastating effects on the safety and well-being of our communities. Through our principled policing course, we are bringing together law enforcement, community organizations, and leaders in academia to address bias, build trust and improve public safety.”

“For the CHP, public trust has been a cornerstone of our training since 1929.  As a statewide organization with jurisdiction in diverse communities across California, we look at every encounter we have with a member of the public as an opportunity to foster the public’s trust,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow.  “We appreciate Attorney General Harris’ initiative to develop this training to enhance the public’s trust in us and to provide effective and impartial public safety services to the people of California and its visitors.”     

The training course is certified by California’s Peace Officers Standards Training (POST) Commission and was created last year in partnership with renowned social psychologist and Macarthur Genius, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt of Stanford University.  It has previously been offered in both Los Angeles and Sacramento to command staff from 28 law enforcement agencies from across California. In response to the overwhelming demand following the November 2015 course for law enforcement command staff, last month, Attorney General Harris’ office led the first “train the trainer” version of the course for officers from 15 different California agencies, as well as community members from across the state.

“POST will infuse the tenets of Procedural Justice, Police Legitimacy and Implicit Bias throughout the entirety of the Regular Basic Course (Academy) and Field Training Program.  By weaving these concepts throughout the entry level peace officer training programs by means of a comprehensive service delivery model, POST hopes to enhance student learning outcomes, and reinforce the public service commitment that will serve as a catalyst for mutual trust and confidence between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve,” said POST Executive Director Manny Alvarez.

The “train the trainer” version of the course was developed by the Attorney General's office in partnership with the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training, Stanford SPARQ (Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions), and the Oakland and Stockton Police Departments. The two-day (16-hour) course provides a “how-to” on teaching policing approaches that emphasize respect, listening, neutrality, and trust while also addressing the common implicit biases that can be barriers to these approaches.  The “train the trainer” curriculum was designed to enable officers from law enforcement agencies to gain the knowledge and skills to effectively teach the concepts of procedural justice and implicit bias to others within their departments and to tailor the training to their specific needs and community history.

The 2017 budget, signed by Governor Jerry Brown, allocates $5 million for POST to develop and offer the principled policing course in collaboration with the Attorney General’s office.  This funding will defray the cost for participating agencies, making it possible for many more officers throughout the state to be trained in procedural justice and implicit bias and fund opportunities for evaluation of the course.

As part of the course, all participants must complete a pre- and post-course survey, which Stanford University will compile and analyze in order to assess the effectiveness of the course. The evaluations of the first course showed that the training advanced police officers’ knowledge of procedural justice and implicit bias and the leaders who participated said they believed the training could help increase trust and decrease tension among police and members of the community.

The training is divided into five modules, recognizing the tenets of procedural justice: voice, neutrality, respect, and trustworthiness. Throughout the training participants learned by reviewing research findings, watching video clips and PowerPoint presentations illustrating key points, hearing from officers who shared personal experiences with community members, participating in group exercises, and engaging in frank and honest dialogue. The training also included discussions about the goals and motivations of police officers, the sources of stress and cynicism in policing, the historical and generational effects of policing, and finally, strategies for simultaneously enhancing police-community trust and improving the health and safety of police officers.

The training was first developed as part of the California Department of Justice’s 90-Day Review of its own special agent training programs on implicit bias and use of force which were announced in April 2015.

Since early last year, Attorney General Harris has taken several steps to strengthen the trust between law enforcement and California communities. These actions include:

• Convening and appointing members to the first-ever Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board to help address the issue of profiling by law enforcement.
• Directing the Department of Justice’s Division of Law Enforcement to conduct a 90-Day Review of its special agent trainings on implicit bias and use of force.
• Instituting a body camera policy for all DOJ special agent personnel conducting field operations.
• Convening law enforcement, youth and community organizations to focus on trust and transparency.
• Creating the 21st Century Policing Working Group to foster discussion regarding implicit bias and building community trust.
• Launching OpenJustice, a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that publishes unprecedented data in an interactive, easy to use way.  The tool spotlights key criminal justice indicators and embraces transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy.
• Releasing OpenJustice 1.1, which enriched the Web portal’s initial data sets with city, county, and state level context including population and demographic information, unemployment rates, poverty rates, and educational attainment levels.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the establishment of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, including the community and law enforcement leaders who will comprise the board membership. The board, as mandated by Assembly Bill 953 authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), is tasked with helping to eliminate racial and identity profiling in law enforcement.

"Keeping our communities safe requires a strong relationship of trust between law enforcement and those they are sworn to serve.  The existence of bias in our criminal justice system is destructive to that trust and harms our ability to deliver justice,” said Attorney General Harris. “I look forward to working with these dedicated Californians, who represent our state's rich diversity, to improve policing and restore the trust needed to ensure that our justice system is truly just.”

In October 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 953, known as the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015. The Act includes requirements regarding a number of significant law enforcement issues, including: 1) Collection of data regarding citizen complaints alleging racial and identity profiling; 2) Collection of data regarding law enforcement stops and detentions; and 3) Creation of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board.

Under the law, Attorney General Harris is responsible for establishing the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, which is tasked with:

·         Advising the Department of Justice in drafting regulations to govern the collection and reporting of pedestrian and traffic stop data;

·         Annually reviewing and analyzing the stop data submitted by law enforcement agencies;

·         Working in partnership with state and local law enforcement agencies to review and analyze racial and identity profiling policies and practices across California; and

·         Conducting evidence-based research on intentional and implicit bias.

The board is comprised of current and former law enforcement officials, attorneys, community and spiritual leaders, university professors, and civil rights activists, including: Angela Sierra, Oscar Bobrow, Chief Edward Medrano, Sheriff David Robinson, President Michael Durant, Commissioner Joe Farrow, Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, Sahar Durali, Tim Silard, Mariana Marroquin, Timothy Walker, Reverend Ben McBride, Pastor J. Edward Boyd, Honorable Alice Lytle, Alex Johnson, Andrea Guerrero, Douglas Oden, and Honorable Micah Ali. Full biographies are included below.

The first meeting of the board will be held on Friday, July 8, 2016 at 10 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Ronald Reagan State Building (300 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013). This meeting is open to the public and the meeting notice and agenda have been posted on the Attorney General’s website. The meeting will also be livestreamed and made available on the Attorney General’s website at https://oag.ca.gov.

More information about the implementation of AB 953 can be found at: https://oag.ca.gov/ab953

Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board Member Biographies

Angela Sierra is the designee of Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. Ms. Sierra is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the California Department Justice and leads the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section. She has been a lawyer in the Department of Justice for over 29 years, focusing on police practices, voting rights, housing and employment discrimination, civil prosecution of hate crimes, discriminatory and unlawful business practices, disability access, immigration consultant fraud, reproductive rights, Native American cultural protection, and safeguarding essential access to education. 

Oscar Bobrow is serving as the representative of the California Public Defenders Association. Mr. Bobrow is the Chief Deputy Public Defender in Solano County, and previously served as a public defender for 25 years in Contra Costa County’s felony division. He has extensive experience litigating claims of racial bias in the criminal justice system due to the underrepresentation of minority populations in county jury venires.

Edward Medrano is serving as the representative of the California Police Chiefs Association. Chief Medrano has served in law enforcement for over 27 years and was appointed Chief of the Gardena Police Department in 2007. He currently serves as the California Police Chiefs Association’s (CPCA) 1st Vice-President. He also collaborates with the University of Illinois at Chicago as a national trainer and subject matter expert in the field of procedural justice.

David Robinson is serving as the representative of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, and is the Sheriff of the Kings County Sheriff’s Department. He attended the College of the Sequoias Kings-Tulare Police Academy and has worked in law enforcement for over 18 years, including serving as a District Attorney Investigator for the Kings County District Attorney’s Office as a correctional officer in the Kings County Jail.

Michael Durant is the President of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, representing more than 66,000 public safety officers. Durant is a Senior Deputy Sheriff with Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department. During his more than 29-year career in Law Enforcement, he has been assigned to Patrol, Field Training Officer, Investigations, Custody, Transportation, Canine Handler and Public Information Officer.

Joe Farrow is Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol and is the first Japanese-American appointed to lead the agency in its 81-year history. He served as a police officer with the Pacific Grove Police Department before he entered the CHP Academy in 1979. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the California Peace Officers’ Association, and the National Asian Peace Officers’ Association.

Jennifer Eberhardt, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a professor at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology.  She investigates racial inequality using a wide-ranging array of methods. She has been named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.  She partnered with the California Department of Justice on its Principled Policing course and published a white paper assessing the effectiveness of the course in educating police officers about procedural justice and implicit bias, as well as shifts in perceptions about police-community relations.

Sahar Durali, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is the Directing Attorney of the Delano office of California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. in Kern County. In this role, she combines litigation, community lawyering, and direct legal services to represent low-income clients in education, civil rights, housing, and employment matters.

Tim Silard, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is President and CEO of the Rosenberg Foundation and has led the foundation’s efforts to make criminal justice reform and public safety a core grant-making focus. He chairs Funders for Safety and Justice in California, and co-chairs the national philanthropic Executives Alliance to Expand Opportunity for Boys and Men of Color Justice Reform and Public Safety Collective Action Table. Previously, he served for 12 years in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Mariana Marroquin, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a Guatemalan actress, community advocate, and Program Manager of The Anti-Violence Project at Los Angeles LGBT Center. For more than 15 years, she has worked not only for the LGBT community but also with other underserved populations in the field of HIV prevention, domestic violence, victims’ rights, substance abuse, immigration, advocacy and community organizing. 

Timothy Walker, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a rising sophomore at San Francisco State University, where he plans to major in Political Science. He has served as a mentor at the Community Coalition, based in South Los Angeles, for the past 6 years. During his time there as a youth he helped lead educational based campaigns, and is now the Leadership Development Director for the Black Student Union at San Francisco State University.

Reverend Ben McBride, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a long-time advocate for peace and justice through spiritual and community-based leadership. Serving as an executive director of non-profit organizations and a religious leader for nearly 15 years, he moved into one of Oakland’s difficult neighborhoods and became an instrumental partner in re-launching Operation Ceasefire, leading to a 35% reduction in homicides over two years. He serves as the primary civilian trainer for the department’s Procedural Justice & Police Legitimacy Course and partnered with the California Department of Justice on its Principled Policing course.

Pastor J. Edgar Boyd, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is the Pastor of the 142-year-old First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles (FAME), the oldest African American church in the city. As the Chief Executive Officer of FAME, he conceived the recent formation of the South Los Angeles Community Development and Empowerment Corporation to address social and economic issues impacting South Los Angeles. Prior to his assignment at FAME, he served as Pastor of the historic Bethel A.M.E. Church in San Francisco for 20 years. 

Honorable Alice Lytle, appointed by Governor Brown, served as presiding judge at the Juvenile Court in the Sacramento County Superior Court from 1995 to 1996, where she was master calendar judge for landlord-tenant cases from 1989 to 1992. She served as presiding judge at the Sacramento Municipal Court from 1988 to 1989, deputy legal affairs secretary in the Office of Governor Brown in 1979, chief of the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Fair Employment Practices from 1977 to 1979, and secretary at the California State and Consumer Services Agency from 1975 to 1977.

Alex Johnson, appointed by Governor Brown, is the Executive Director for the Children's Defense Fund-California and leads the organization’s statewide advocacy, policy, program and organizing efforts to ensure access to quality affordable health coverage and care for children and low income families, reforming the juvenile justice system, promoting educational equity, and ending child poverty. He previously served as Assistant Senior Deputy for Education and Public Safety to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx, New York where he advocated for victims of domestic violence.

Honorable Micah Ali, appointed by Senate President pro Tempore De León, serves as Vice President (and Past President) of the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees. He is President Emeritus of the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association and serves on the Boards of Directors of Friends of the Ballona Wetlands. Mr. Ali has demonstrated his leadership over a broad range of public policy issues, including education, environmental protection, and public health and safety.

Andrea Guerrero, appointed by Assembly Speaker Emeritus Atkins, was born in Mexico City and came to the US in time to start kindergarten. She has worked in San Diego as an attorney and policy advocate, focusing on the issues of immigrant rights and educational equity for the past 10 years. She is currently the Executive Director of the Equality Alliance of San Diego County, a non-profit organization pursuing strategic policy reforms at the local, state, and national level to improve the condition of immigrants, low-income communities, and communities of color.

Douglas Oden, appointed by Assembly Speaker Emeritus Atkins, is currently the Senior Litigation attorney with the law firm of Oden & Greene and has been very active in the legal community on the local, state and national level. He is a former President of the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association and a Past President of the California Association of Black Lawyers.

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Assemblymembers Reggie Jones- Sawyer and Rob Bonta have introduced legislation to expand Principled Policing training to law enforcement agencies across the state to address issues of implicit bias and community trust.

The legislation, AB 2626, would require the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to create and offer a course for peace officers on procedural justice and implicit bias. The new law enforcement training would be modeled on the POST-certified course created by Attorney General Harris last year, the first of its kind in the country.

“Bias in policing undermines the public’s trust and has devastating effects on the safety and well-being of our communities,” said Attorney General Harris. “AB 2626 will establish a critical new law enforcement training that leads with the community policing principles of respect and dialogue, and directly addresses the crisis of confidence between peace officers and the communities we are sworn to protect.”  

"As Chair of the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in California, I was proud to introduce AB 2626 with Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer to address implicit bias," said Assemblymember Bonta. "AB 2626 will strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the community and help ensure better outcomes during police-community interactions. We know that working with the community, and truly understanding the community’s experiences, can reduce crime and promote respect for the rule of law. AB 2626 will help rebuild community trust in law enforcement, stop the disproportionate flow of boys and men of color in to our criminal justice system, and ensure that every Californian experiences real, unfettered justice."

Procedural justice is an approach to policing that emphasizes the importance of treating everyone equally and with respect. Implicit bias, which is thoughts or feelings about social groups that can influence decisions or actions, can be a barrier to procedural justice. The training proposed in AB 2626 would work to create statewide awareness of both procedural justice and implicit bias in order to build trust and improve public and officer safety.

In addition, AB 2626 would require POST to develop guidelines and trainings enabling peace officers to teach the course to other officers in their agencies. If passed, the bill will require POST to offer the basic principled policing course and the trainer course beginning in June 2017.

“It is undeniable that racial profiling continues to exist within policing and the criminal justice system,” said Assembly Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer. “In order to reduce incidents of police brutality it is critical that law enforcement receive training on how  to overcome implicit racial bias.”

“On behalf of POST, we are proud to join Attorney General Harris in offering this innovative course on Principled Policing.” said Bob Stresak, Executive Director of POST.  “The high enrollment in this course is a testament to California's law enforcement leaders recognizing that California's communities deserve the highest levels of professional service and that they are  committed to making every effort to accomplish this goal.”

In November 2015, the California Department of Justice held the first trainings of its POST-certified course, Principled Policing:  Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias. The trainings were conducted in partnership with the Stanford University Center for Social Psychology Answers to Real World Questions (SPARQ), Stanford Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, Reverend Ben McBride from the Empower Initiative, the Oakland and Stockton Police Departments, and the community organization California Partnership for Safe Communities.

A white paper evaluating the Principled Policing training, published jointly by the Department of Justice and Stanford University Center for SPARQ, assessed the effectiveness of the course in educating police officers about procedural justice and implicit bias, as well as shifts in perceptions about police-community relations. According to this evaluation, the course unearthed tremendous hidden potential for the principled policing training to build greater understanding between law enforcement and communities.

This training was developed as part of the California Department of Justice’s 90-Day Review of its own special agent training programs on implicit bias and use of force which were announced in April 2015.

Since January 2015, Attorney General Harris has taken several steps to strengthen the trust between law enforcement and California communities. These actions include:

• Directing the Department of Justice’s Division of Law Enforcement to conduct a 90-Day Review of its special agent trainings on implicit bias and use of force.
• Instituting a body camera policy for all DOJ special agent personnel conducting field operations.
• Convening law enforcement, youth and community organizations.
• Creating the 21st Century Policing Working Group to foster discussion regarding implicit bias and building community trust.
• Launching OpenJustice, a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that will release unprecedented data while being interactive and easy to use. The tool spotlights key criminal justice indicators and embraces transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy.
• Creating a POST-Certified Training on Implicit Bias and Procedural Justice.

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the release of OpenJustice v1.1, the next version of her criminal justice transparency initiative, which seeks to make public an unprecedented amount of data in easy-to-use and digestible ways so that we can hold ourselves accountable and improve public policy to make California safer. The OpenJustice v1.1 rollout includes new features focused on allowing Californians to better understand how the criminal justice system is working in their specific communities.

Now at a city, county, and state level, the OpenJustice Dashboard shows crime, clearance, and arrest rates, as well as arrest-related deaths, deaths in custody, and law enforcement officers killed or assaulted. Because public safety is also impacted by many societal factors outside of law enforcement, the Dashboard incorporates important contextual data such as population and demographic information, unemployment rates, poverty rates, and educational attainment levels. Through interactive maps, charts and tools, everyone – from communities to law enforcement to policymakers – will be able to identify where our system is doing well to promote public safety and equity in the justice system, and in what areas we must continue to improve.

“OpenJustice adds accountability and transparency to California’s criminal justice system – helping to rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the communities we are sworn to protect,” said Attorney General Harris. “This data helps clarify a simple truth: too many boys and young men of color are being arrested and killed by police. By releasing vast amounts of criminal justice data, OpenJustice v1.1 adds numbers and facts to the national debate on police-community relations. Law enforcement agencies across the nation should embrace data-driven policy changes to improve our criminal justice system and make our streets safer.”

In September 2015, Attorney General Harris launched OpenJustice by publishing three data sets at a statewide level, and committing to continue to release additional criminal justice data collected by the California Department of Justice. OpenJustice v1.1 delivers on that promise by releasing new data and at a more detailed level.

For each data set, anyone can use the Dashboard to look at overall trends, and also sort by race, gender, and age to better understand how different demographic groups are impacted by the justice system. The updated site also enables users to see the types of crimes (violent and property) and arrests (felonies and misdemeanors) across jurisdictions, compared to the California and national averages, and over time. In addition, the site continues to highlight the real danger that law enforcement personnel face everyday to keep our communities safe.

The OpenJustice initiative builds on Attorney General Kamala D. Harris’s leadership by deploying 21st century “Smart on Crime” approaches to improve public safety.  As California’s chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Harris has worked to introduce new technology to the Department of Justice and law enforcement agencies across the state.  She has also championed the use of data to measure outcomes in public education and understand their impact on the criminal justice system.

In addition to OpenJustice, Attorney General Harris has also taken several steps to strengthen the trust between law enforcement and California communities. She directed a 90-day Review of her Division of Law Enforcement’s policies on use of force and implicit bias, convened the state’s law enforcement leaders to share best practices through her 21st Century Policing Working Group, created the first POST-certified course on Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias in the U.S., and developed a pilot program to test body-worn cameras within the Department of Justice.

The OpenJustice Dashboard will continue to spotlight metrics from across the justice system and a broad array of data sets will be released to foster accountability and trust. This tool will enable researchers, civic coders, journalists, and policymakers to help tackle seemingly intractable problems in the criminal justice system. 

To view all of the data released today, visit OpenJustice (http://openjustice.doj.ca.gov).

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today convened the 21st Century Policing Working Group to mark the one-year anniversary of the group’s formation, report on accomplishments to date, and discuss future goals.

Attorney General Harris created the 21st Century Policing Working Group in January 2015 to improve peace officer training, promote data driven accountability, and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

The Attorney General met with the group of law enforcement leaders ahead of the release of OpenJustice 1.1. On February 11, 2016, OpenJustice 1.1 will give the public access to a variety of new features, data and information on the state’s criminal justice system. The new data will include visual tools and interactive charts to allow users to compare and cross reference county and agency data sets against statewide averages, and local crime data. 

OpenJustice is a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that releases unprecedented data while being interactive and easy to use. The tool consists of two components: a Dashboard that spotlights key criminal justice indicators with user-friendly visualization tools and an Open Data Portal that publishes raw data from the California Department of Justice’s statewide repository of criminal justice datasets.

OpenJustice embraces transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy. Recent events in California and across the nation have highlighted the need for an important conversation to take place between law enforcement & the communities we are sworn to protect.

The working group also discussed results of the Attorney General’s course on principled policing and implicit bias, which was offered for peace officers statewide in November, and developed a set of shared principles around body worn cameras.

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued an information bulletin to California law enforcement agencies outlining new responsibilities under state law to track and report citizen complaints against peace officers, including complaints alleging racial or identity profiling.

Under the new law, AB 953 (Weber), California law enforcement agencies must begin collecting additional citizen complaint data starting on January 1, 2016.  An annual report of data must be submitted to the California Department of Justice beginning January 1, 2017, and will be made available to the public and disaggregated for each individual law enforcement agency.

“Racial and identity profiling undermine public trust and have debilitating effects on communities. Tracking and reporting citizen complaints will create accountability for law enforcement agencies engaged in these ineffective practices and help move us toward more fair and impartial policing in California,” said Attorney General Harris.

"This will go a long way toward providing a data-driven understanding of the problem. Then we can see the patterns of racial profiling. Where is it concentrated? What neighborhoods? Who is targeted? What communities have low numbers of these incidents? Can we find best policing practices for improving race relations in other communities? That's how effective policy is made," said Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber (D-San Diego).

Law enforcement agencies must collect and annually report to the California Department of Justice complaints against peace and custodial officers, including those alleging criminal conduct of a felony or misdemeanor, non-criminal complaints, and complaints alleging racial or identity profiling.  Police and Sheriff’s departments will be required to parse out from the total number of complaints, the number of complaints made from inmates admitted to a local detention facility. For complaints involving racial or identity profiling, law enforcement agencies will further have to collect and report the specific type(s) of profiling alleged: based on race and ethnicity, nationality, age, religion, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, mental disability, or physical disability.  In addition to providing the total number of complaints reported, law enforcement agencies must also report the status and/or resolution of the complaint: sustained, exonerated, not sustained, unfounded, or pending.  The DOJ will receive the first updated reports from law enforcement agencies beginning in 2017.

The California Department of Justice is making a new form available to law enforcement agencies for capturing and reporting this expanded set of complaints submitted by civilians.  The information bulletin and the new reporting form are available on the California Department of Justice website: www.oag.ca.gov/law.

In the bulletin, Attorney General Harris also reminded law enforcement agencies of their responsibilities to establish a procedure to investigate complaints by members of the public against sworn officers, and make those procedures available to the public.

Since January 2015, Attorney General Harris has taken several steps to strengthen the trust between law enforcement and California communities.  These actions include:

• Directing the Department of Justice’s Division of Law Enforcement to conduct a 90-Day Review of its special agent trainings on implicit bias and use of force.
• Initiating a body camera pilot program for DOJ special agents.
• Convening law enforcement, youth, and community organizations to facilitate discourse about the best ways to cultivate trust and positive relationships.
• Creating the 21st Century Policing Working Group to foster discussion regarding implicit bias and building community trust, and to share best practices.
• Launching OpenJustice, a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that is releasing unprecedented information with a focus on being interactive and highlighting data stories.  
• Training police executives from 29 different law enforcement agencies in a Principled Policing Course, a POST Certified Training on Implicit Bias and Procedural Justice.

LOS ANGELES - In the wake of recent events in California and across the nation that highlight the need for building trust between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to serve, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has taken several steps to strengthen this relationship. Today, Attorney General Harris announced the kickoff of the first Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (“POST”) certified law enforcement training on both procedural justice and implicit bias, the first of its kind in the country.

The first of two course dates will be held today at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and the second will be held on Thursday, November 19 at the California Highway Patrol in Sacramento. 

“In January, I began a dialogue with leaders of the California law enforcement community about strengthening the relationship of trust between law enforcement and the communities we are sworn to serve,” said Attorney General Harris.  “Throughout this dialogue, a theme has emerged regarding the need to continue to bring best-in-class training to law enforcement across our state.  Today, we are proud to announce that the California Department of Justice is offering the first POST certified course in the nation to combine the concepts of procedural justice and implicit bias.  This course is the result of a true collaboration with law enforcement, community partners and academics to bring evidence-based concepts into practice.”

The training course, titled “Principled Policing:  Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias” is the result of a collaborative partnership between the California Department of Justice, the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training, the Stockton and Oakland Police Departments, Stanford University and the California Partnership for Safe Communities.

“On behalf of POST, we are proud to join Attorney General Harris in offering this innovative course on Principled Policing,” said Bob Stresak, Executive Director of POST.  “The high enrollment in this course is a testament to California's law enforcement leaders recognizing that California's communities deserve the highest levels of professional service and that they are committed to making every effort to accomplish this goal.”

Specifically, the procedural justice and implicit bias training will consist of six areas that focus on policing approaches that emphasize respect, listening, neutrality and trust, while recognizing and addressing implicit biases that can be barriers to these approaches.  As a result, the training will work to create a broader awareness of both procedural justice and implicit bias in order to build trust and improve public and officer safety.

“We are pleased to have contributed to this new, research-based training,” said Stanford Professor Jennifer Eberhardt. “Our aim is to improve the ability of law enforcement executives across the state to recognize and address common implicit biases – biases that can be barriers to neutral policing.”

“The experience of police departments across the country, backed up by extensive research, is that procedural justice interventions are among the most effective tools available to police for strengthening trust and communication with communities,” said Stewart Wakeling, Executive Director of the California Partnership for Safer Communities.  “We have worked with the Stockton and Oakland Police Departments, with community leaders and officers as key partners, to bring procedural justice training to their officers, and are excited to add Implicit Bias to the curriculum and make it available to agencies statewide.”

The course will total eight hours of training and participants will receive a certificate and be required to complete a pre- and post- survey of the course.  Stanford University will be compiling the survey results to conduct an evaluation of the course. More than 90 applicants from 30 agencies applied for the course.

“I commend Attorney General Harris and these partners for playing a leadership role in advancing 21st Century Policing at the state level.  The President’s Task Force specifically identifies procedural justice and addressing implicit bias as cornerstones of 21st Century Policing.  General Harris is leading the nation in her support for law enforcement agencies across California to understand and apply these concepts,” said Tracey Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor at Yale Law School and Member of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

The following law enforcement agencies have enrolled in the first courses: 

• Berkeley Police Department
• California Department of Justice
• California Highway Patrol
• El Cerrito Police Department
• Elk Grove Police Department
• Fremont Police Department
• Fresno Police Department
• Indio Police Department
• Lassen County Sheriff’s Department
• Long Beach Police Department
• Los Angeles Airport Police Department
• Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
• Los Angeles Police Department
• Modesto Police Department
• Newport Beach Police Department
• Orange County Sheriff’s Department
• Oxnard Police Department
• Rancho Cordova Police Department
• Richmond Police Department
• Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department
• Sacramento Police Department
• San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
• San Diego County District Attorney’s Office
• San Diego Police Department
• San Francisco Police Department
• San Jose Police Department
• Simi Valley Police Department
• Ventura Police Department

POST was formed by the California State Legislature to enforce minimum training and selection standards in order to increase the professionalism of California law enforcement.  

This training was developed as part of the California Department of Justice’s 90-Day Review of its own special agent training programs on implicit bias and use of force which were announced in April 2015.

Since January 2015, Attorney General Harris has taken several steps to strengthen the trust between law enforcement and California communities.  These actions include:

• Directing the Department of Justice’s Division of Law Enforcement to conduct a 90-Day Review of its special agent trainings on implicit bias and use of force.
• Instituting a body camera policy for all DOJ special agent personnel conducting field operations.
• Convening law enforcement, youth and community organizations.
• Creating the 21st Century Policing Working Group to foster discussion regarding implicit bias and building community trust.
• Launching OpenJustice, a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that will release unprecedented data while being interactive and easy to use.  The tool spotlights key criminal justice indicators and embraces transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy.
• Creating a POST Certified Training on Implicit Bias and Procedural Justice

Last month, Attorney General Harris launched OpenJustice, a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that will release unprecedented data while being interactive and easy to use.  The tool consists of two components: a Dashboard that spotlights key criminal justice indicators with user-friendly visualization tools and an Open Data Portal that publishes raw data from the California Department of Justice’s statewide repository of criminal justice datasets.  OpenJustice (openjustice.doj.ca.gov) embraces transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy.