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California State Senate Approves Taking Badges From Unhealthy Officers – CBS San Francisco

SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) – California lawmakers on Wednesday tabled three criminal justice reform bills, including one that could end the careers of police officers with bad apples. That idea failed last year despite the public killing George Floyd in public in Minneapolis.

But even some proponents made it clear that the Senate-approved bill needed more work in the congregation to clear what language they termed vague and rebalance a disciplinary committee that they said could be biased against law enforcement be.

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Senators separately brought the bills forward to lower bail bail for lower-level misdemeanors and crimes to $ 0 and limit the use of criminal enhancements that can add many years to offenders’ sentences.

The disciplinary measure for police officers would add the nation’s most populous state to the 46 that already have options for decertifying officers. Hawaii, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have no such law.

Los Angeles Democratic Senator Steven Bradford’s bill is designed to prevent officers convicted of serious crimes or dismissed for misconduct, including violating civil rights, from moving to another police station. It would create a mandatory new state license or certification that could then be revoked.

“It’s easier to lose a license for getting a bad perm than it is for killing an unarmed man,” Bradford said, noting that the state already licenses many other professions from doctors to hairdressers.

The same bill puts new limits on police immunity when sued for civil rights violations, though Bradford had to cut that portion of his move when it almost failed to clear a Senate committee.

The measure was passed with a 26-9 vote against the Republicans, although no one spoke against it.

“That is the right thing. And a no to this measure means that I’m fine keeping my knee on the Californians’ neck. I can keep a knee on the neck of Americans, especially blacks, ”said Bradford, the black being an indication of Floyd’s death.

In the Senate, he shared his own experiences when he was wrongly stopped by the police and named many who had died in such confrontations.

Several Democratic fellow Senators reiterated the law enforcement organizations’ objections that Bradford’s proposed nine-member disciplinary committee would include only two police officers and seven members with professional or personal backgrounds speaking out against police misconduct.

“There certainly seems to be a tendency towards people who will be quite skeptical of the police,” Senator Ben Allen said during the 75-minute debate.

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Senator Sydney Kamlager countered that the board would not necessarily be biased if it included people of color.

“Have some confidence in people,” she said. “Short Messages: Black, brown people are pretty conservative when it comes to law enforcement. We want to be sure too. “

Senator Henry Stern was one of those who said the legal definitions in the bill were too ambiguous and needed tightening in the congregation.

Stern also said there is tension against white senators like him who support the bill but want improvements – “that it’s kind of racist to ask questions, especially when you’re white.”

“It is unfair and inappropriate for this body to flagellate or demonize colleagues because of their race,” said Stern, whose district includes Thousand Oaks and other suburbs north of Los Angeles.

He later added, “We need to make sure that on the way to the worst – the people who dishonor the profession – we don’t also prevent young people from becoming good officials because we still need law enforcement officers in the state of California, the honor and who wants to serve. “

Senators pushed the bail reform bill after voters rejected a bill in November that ended bail in favor of risk assessment.

Opponents have said this will legally bind the legislature as voters have spoken, but Democratic Senator Robert Hertzberg argued that his law reforms the existing system without ending it. He said it implemented a California Supreme Court ruling in April requiring judges to consider suspects’ solvency when setting bail.

It also provides that bail must be returned if the criminal complaint is eventually dropped or dismissed, or if the defendant shows up for any necessary court appearances.

Along with the third measure, a party line was passed to implement a recommendation by Governor Gavin Newsom’s committee to revise the penal code that judges should restrict the use of more than 150 penal amendments.

It is said that judges should generally not impose improvements if the offense is not violent. related to mental health problems, childhood trauma or previous victimization; or is triggered by an old belief, especially if someone was a teenager. They should also consider whether the improvement would have “different racial effects”, whether a weapon used in the crime was unloaded, and whether the improvement could result in a prison sentence of more than 20 years.

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