Peace and custodial officers.

Existing law requires each department or agency in this state that employs peace officers to establish a procedure to investigate complaints by members of the public against the personnel of these departments or agencies, and to make a written description of the procedure available to the public. Existing law generally makes the personnel records of peace officers and custodial officers and records maintained by a state or local agency pursuant to these requirements, or information obtained from these records, confidential and exempt from disclosure in a criminal or civil proceeding. Existing law provides discovery procedures for peace or custodial officer personnel records, and other records pertaining to peace or custodial officers, as specified. Existing law defines a Brady list as a system, index, list, or other record containing the names of peace officers whose personnel files are likely to contain evidence of dishonesty or bias, as specified. This bill would require each prosecuting agency to maintain a Brady list. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2022, require any state or local law enforcement agency maintaining personnel records of peace officers and custodial officers to annually, to each prosecuting agency within its jurisdiction, and upon request to any prosecuting agency, provide a list of names and badge numbers of officers employed by the agency in the 5 years prior to providing the list who meet specified criteria, including, among other things, that the officer has had sustained findings for conduct of moral turpitude or group bias or that the officer is on probation for a criminal offense. The bill would require the prosecuting agency to keep this list confidential, except as constitutionally required. The bill would additionally require a prosecuting agency, prior to placing an officer's name on a Brady list, to notify the officer as soon as practicable and provide the officer an opportunity to present information to the prosecuting agency against the officer's placement on the list, except as specified. By imposing new duties on prosecuting agencies and local law enforcement agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1045 of the Evidence Code proposed by SB 776 to be operative only if this bill and SB 776 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.