Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Our Laws Protect Criminal Cops
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
November 14, 2019

Share

When the state of California licenses professionals, it is telling Californians that they can depend on licensees to perform their services competently, that miscreants will be disciplined and that in serious cases, their licenses will be lifted.
For instance, the state bar, which oversees attorneys, publishes all of its disciplinary actions, along with the underlying information that justifies its censures.


Dan Walters
Opinion
Alas, it doesn’t always work that way. Licensing agencies are often dominated by the professions they regulate and are reluctant to act on complaints. Moreover, professional trade associations lobby the Legislature for special protections.
Police unions have been especially aggressive in erecting barriers to disciplinary oversight, including a “peace officers bill of rights.” Politicians, from the governor down, have been eager to do their bidding because their campaign endorsements are precious political commodities.
Cop unions’ political clout has waned a bit in recent years, most noticeably in failing to block measures that impose stricter standards on use of deadly force and require the release of information on such cases.
However, our laws still make it difficult, or even impossible, to discipline rogue cops, and one of those laws is back in the spotlight because of an extraordinary journalistic effort.

McFarland Has an Especially Large Number of Cops With Criminal Records

Last weekend, dozens of California newspapers published a shocking article, revealing that more than 80 police officers who had committed serious crimes were still on the job.
In response to a series of fatal police shootings, the investigating reporting program at UC Berkeley sought disciplinary records on cops.
The Department of Justice rebuffed inquiries, but the UC journalists submitted a Public Records Act request to the Police Officers Standards and Training Commission (POST) and received data on 12,000 men and women with criminal histories who had applied to become police officers, had worked as officers or are currently employed.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra, threatening prosecution, demanded that the records be returned.
The journalists not only refused but collaborated with dozens of California newspapers to delve more deeply into the histories of criminal cops who are still on the job and find out why. One revelation: McFarland, a small San Joaquin Valley town, has an especially large number of cops with criminal records.

California Is Now One of Just a Handful of States That Cannot Decertify Criminal Cops

The article points out that California was an early leader in creating professional standards for police officers via POST, including the power to take away certifications — in effect, their professional licenses — for misconduct. However, when POST sought to tighten up standards in the 1990s, police unions pushed a 2003 bill to take away that power.

“They were protecting their working members by doing something that would keep POST from ever getting a bigger bite of the apple.” Mike DiMiceli, POST’s former assistant executive director
The measure, Senate Bill 221, was sponsored by a phalanx of police unions and supported by POST itself. Carried by then-Sen. Gloria Romero, a Los Angeles Democrat, it whipped through both houses of the Legislature on the “consent calendar” with no debate and was signed by then-Gov. Gray Davis, whom the unions had helped win election and re-election.
“They were protecting their working members by doing something that would keep POST from ever getting a bigger bite of the apple,” Mike DiMiceli, POST’s former assistant executive director, was quoted as saying in the article.
POST now just adds a notation to officers’ training records when they are convicted of felonies and doesn’t even note other, less serious crimes. Thus, whether a cop is fired for some act is left to his or her employer.
California is now one of just a handful of states that cannot decertify criminal cops. That’s a civic embarrassment. Fixing it is in the hands of today’s Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
CalMatters is a public-interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno’s Southeast Plan Has a $2.2B Price Tag for Phase 1. Can the City Afford It?

DON'T MISS

Trump: Putin Said Russia Would Respond to Ukraine Drone Attacks

DON'T MISS

It’s Expensive to Become a Teacher in California. This Bill Would Pay Those Who Try

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Deanna Michelle Whitworth

DON'T MISS

2 More Attacks on Jews Heighten Concerns About Security in and Around US Synagogues

DON'T MISS

Mexican 4-Year-Old Is Granted Humanitarian Parole to Continue Receiving Lifesaving Care in US

DON'T MISS

Suspect Arrested in Connection With Deadly California Fertility Clinic Bombing

DON'T MISS

Wall Street Ticks Higher as Tech Boost Offsets Economic Worries

DON'T MISS

Machado and Padres Rally to Beat Giants in 10 Innings Again

DON'T MISS

Mexico to Announce ‘Measures’ Next Week if No Deal on US Metals Tariffs

UP NEXT

Trump: Putin Said Russia Would Respond to Ukraine Drone Attacks

UP NEXT

It’s Expensive to Become a Teacher in California. This Bill Would Pay Those Who Try

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Deanna Michelle Whitworth

UP NEXT

2 More Attacks on Jews Heighten Concerns About Security in and Around US Synagogues

UP NEXT

Mexican 4-Year-Old Is Granted Humanitarian Parole to Continue Receiving Lifesaving Care in US

UP NEXT

Suspect Arrested in Connection With Deadly California Fertility Clinic Bombing

UP NEXT

Wall Street Ticks Higher as Tech Boost Offsets Economic Worries

UP NEXT

Machado and Padres Rally to Beat Giants in 10 Innings Again

UP NEXT

Mexico to Announce ‘Measures’ Next Week if No Deal on US Metals Tariffs

UP NEXT

Judge Lets Fresno Smoke Shop Rules Take Effect — for Now

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Deanna Michelle Whitworth

1 hour ago

2 More Attacks on Jews Heighten Concerns About Security in and Around US Synagogues

1 hour ago

Mexican 4-Year-Old Is Granted Humanitarian Parole to Continue Receiving Lifesaving Care in US

1 hour ago

Suspect Arrested in Connection With Deadly California Fertility Clinic Bombing

1 hour ago

Wall Street Ticks Higher as Tech Boost Offsets Economic Worries

2 hours ago

Machado and Padres Rally to Beat Giants in 10 Innings Again

2 hours ago

Mexico to Announce ‘Measures’ Next Week if No Deal on US Metals Tariffs

2 hours ago

Judge Lets Fresno Smoke Shop Rules Take Effect — for Now

2 hours ago

NOAA ‘Fully Staffed’ With Forecasters, Scientists, US Commerce Secretary Says

2 hours ago

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Suggests Truce Until Meeting With Putin Can Be Arranged

2 hours ago

Fresno’s Southeast Plan Has a $2.2B Price Tag for Phase 1. Can the City Afford It?

Fresno City Council got its first look at the price tag behind a massive, decades-old plan to develop the southeast part of town. The city h...

15 minutes ago

15 minutes ago

Fresno’s Southeast Plan Has a $2.2B Price Tag for Phase 1. Can the City Afford It?

President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they meet in Helsinki, Finland July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
48 minutes ago

Trump: Putin Said Russia Would Respond to Ukraine Drone Attacks

49 minutes ago

It’s Expensive to Become a Teacher in California. This Bill Would Pay Those Who Try

Deanna Michelle Whitworth is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for June 4, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
1 hour ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Deanna Michelle Whitworth

1 hour ago

2 More Attacks on Jews Heighten Concerns About Security in and Around US Synagogues

1 hour ago

Mexican 4-Year-Old Is Granted Humanitarian Parole to Continue Receiving Lifesaving Care in US

1 hour ago

Suspect Arrested in Connection With Deadly California Fertility Clinic Bombing

2 hours ago

Wall Street Ticks Higher as Tech Boost Offsets Economic Worries

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend