Police reform, accountability changes focus of new law

Effective July 24, 2020, the law will prohibit a peace officer from using a chokehold, tying a person's limbs together behind their back to render the person immobile; and securing someone in any way that results in transporting the person face down in a vehicle.

A chokehold is defined as “a method by which a person applies sufficient pressure to a person to make breathing difficult or impossible, and includes but is not limited to any pressure to the neck, throat, or windpipe that may prevent or hinder breathing, or reduce intake of air. Chokehold also means applying pressure to a person's neck on either side of the windpipe, but not to the windpipe itself, to stop the flow of blood to the brain via the carotid arteries.”

The law also clarifies that “a peace officer shall not use deadly force against a person based on the danger the person poses to self if an objectively reasonable officer would believe, based on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time and without the benefit of hindsight, that the person does not pose a threat of death or great bodily harm to the peace officer or to another.” This is effective March 1, 2021.

Law enforcement agencies will no longer permitted to provide warrior-style training, directly or through a third party, to a peace officer. The law defines such training as “training for peace officers that dehumanizes people or encourages aggressive conduct by peace officers during encounters with others in a manner that deemphasizes the value of human life or constitutional rights, the result of which increases a peace officer's likelihood or willingness to use deadly force.”

If physically or verbally able to do so, an officer will be required to intervene when another officer uses excessive force. A peace officer observing excessive use of force “has the duty to report the incident in writing within 24 hours to the chief law enforcement officer of the agency that employs the reporting peace officer.”

An agency’s chief law enforcement must submit a monthly report to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with information related to each use of force incident that resulted in serious bodily harm or death.

An independent Use of Force Investigations Unit will be established in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to conduct officer-involved death investigations, investigate conflict of interest cases involving peace officers and investigate criminal sexual conduct cases involving peace officers, including cases involving chief law enforcement officers. This unit expires Aug. 1, 2024.

Arbitration

Arbitrators act as a final decision maker in discipline-related grievance cases covered by collective bargaining agreements made between employers and unions representing peace officers; however, supporters say there have been issues with the process because a fired peace officer has too often gotten their job back through the arbitration process.

Currently, if the parties cannot agree on an arbitrator, both sides are given a list of independent arbitrators and can eliminate the arbitrators they don’t agree with on a grievance case until one name remains. Effective with collective bargaining agreements covering peace officers negotiated on or after July 24, 2020, and for grievance arbitrations heard on or after Sept. 1, 2020, the law creates an arbitrator selection procedure that will require the Bureau of Mediation Services to “appoint a roster of six persons suited and qualified by training and experience to act as arbitrators for peace officer grievance arbitrations.” The bureau will appoint an arbitrator from the roster to a case; neither the officer nor employer will be involved in choosing the arbitrator. (Secs. 5, 8, 10-11, 14, 22, 24)

Mental health

The legislation aims to provide better training for mental health and crisis intervention through the establishment of a critical incident stress management team that could include members from “any emergency service discipline, mental health professionals, and designated emergency service chaplains.” It will provide assistance to emergency service providers coping with stress and potential psychological trauma resulting from a critical incident or emotional event. Services could include consultation, risk assessment, education and intervention. Peace officers would also get more training for dealing with people in crisis and defusing volatile situations.

The law re-defines public safety peer counseling as “one or more sessions, led by a peer support counselor, designed to help an emergency service provider who experienced an occupation-related trauma, illness or stress, develop skills and strategies to better understand, cope with, and process emotions and memories tied to the trauma, illness, or stress.”

Data acquired by a critical incident stress team when providing services will be governed by data privacy laws related to peer counseling debriefing data. Information disclosed in a session cannot be used as evidence in a criminal, administrative or civil proceeding against the person being debriefed. (Secs. 1-4)

POST Board, other training

The Peace Officers Standards and Training Board regulates education, selection, licensing and training standards for the state’s more than 10,500 peace officers.

The law will create a 15-member Ensuring Police Excellence and Improving Community Relations Advisory Council “to assist the board in maintaining policies and regulating peace officers in a manner that ensures the protection of civil and human rights. The council shall provide for citizen involvement in policing policies, regulations, and supervision. The council shall advance policies and reforms that promote positive interactions between peace officers and the community.” This is effective July 24, 2020. (Sec. 15)

Additionally, the law will:

• expand POST Board membership from 15 members to 17 by appointing additional community members;

• require that any board subcommittee to investigate licensure actions have at least three voting members who are current or former peace officers and one voting member appointed from the public;

• require the board to create a centralized database of officer misconduct complaints;

• require the board by Sept. 1, 2020 to adopt a comprehensive use of force model policy to be implemented by every law enforcement agency;

• require autism awareness training for officers; and

• require the board to consult with the Human Services Department and other mental health stakeholders to create a list of approved training courses related to responding to mental health crisis and require officers to complete a minimum of six hours of training. (Secs. 12-13, 16-18, 21)

Other provisions in the law include:

• cities and counties can offer incentives for peace officers to be residents of the city or county they serve;

• effective March 1, 2021, legislative intent of the law is explained, including “the authority to use deadly force, conferred on peace officers … is a critical responsibility that shall be exercised judiciously and with respect for human rights and dignity and for the sanctity of every human life”;

• effective July 24, 2020, extend an appropriation for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force by six months to June 30, 2021;

• extending the task force until June 30, 2021 and making that the date by which the task force is to issue its final report to the Legislature; and

• extending until 2024 current training dollars ($6 million per year) that support and strengthen law enforcement training and implement best practices. (Secs. 6, 9, 21, 25-28)

The bill has a $7.26 million General Fund cost in fiscal year 2021, including nearly $3.37 million to establish the Use of Force Investigations Unit in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, $120,000 for the Bureau of Mediation Services for rulemaking, staffing, and other costs associated with peace officer grievance procedures, and $8,000 to the BCA to implement autism training.

Effective July 24, 2020, there are four appropriations to the POST Board: $3.5 million to create a database for officer misconduct complaints; $145,000 to reimburse law enforcement agency crisis intervention and mental illness crisis training expenses for training; $96,000 for costs associated with staffing the database that receives the public data required to be submitted to the board by law enforcement agencies; and $23,000 for costs associated with providing office space, supplies, equipment and clerical support to the Ensuring Police Excellence and Improving Community Relations Advisory Council (Secs. 29-35).

SSHF1*/SSSF37/CH1