Families of Californians Killed by Police Push Bill To Strip Badges From Bad Officers

Speaker 1: 00:00 In California, doctors, lawyers, and even barbers can lose their license to practice. If they do something wrong, there's no similar recourse for some of the most powerful civil servants around police advocates have been working for years to change that. And this year they think there's a real chance to pass legislation. They say would hold police accountable with Senate bill two K Q E D M J Johnson reports on the debate playing out in Sacramento, Speaker 2: 00:28 Growing up in San Francisco, Michelle Monterosso remembers attending protests against police brutality with her brother. Speaker 3: 00:35 The only thing is is that this fight became personal. Once our brother was murdered, Shawn Speaker 2: 00:39 Was killed by a Vallejo police officer. The family later found out the officer had been involved in three other shootings. The Solano county district attorney refused to bring charges against the officer. Recently state prosecutors announced they will investigate, but with criminal investigations, moving at a snail's pace, the families of people who've been killed by police say they're pursuing another path towards justice proposed legislation that would bar police who have committed acts of misconduct from being rehired by other agencies. Speaker 3: 01:09 We need to build a pathway where we can remove the dangerous police officers from our communities, except then in a day, our loved ones are unfortunately just counting down the days until they become the next car stack. So this feels long overdue. Speaker 2: 01:22 California is one of just four states that does not have any process to decertify police officers. Police groups say they're all for a decertified program. They agree bad cops shouldn't continue to be part of law enforcement in California. They just don't like the details. One area they've zeroed in on is the advisory board proposed in the bill. The board would consist of nine members, seven of them civilians and just two from law enforce. Speaker 3: 01:49 But I can guarantee you that there's probably no licensure program in the entire United States where two thirds of the people that sit on that panel are predisposed to against the person coming before them. Speaker 2: 02:00 Brian Marvel, president of the police officers research association of California or poor rack, which represents over 70,000 law enforcement members in the state, the advisory board would review investigations and make recommendations to a governing body about de certifying a police officer. Marvel says it's not fair that the group includes two people. Who've experienced police misconduct or a family members of people killed by police. But Lizzie been a lobbyist for the ACLU, says family members and civilians are just one layer in a multi-layer process. That includes law. Speaker 3: 02:33 We think that with law enforcement really dominating this whole process, we think it's really important that we have that one layer that is mostly civilians to ensure that they have an opportunity to, to have a say in the process as Speaker 2: 02:49 Well. Despite the disagreements, both sides are at the table negotiating. And last week, the bill passed out of key committee, still the intense disagreements over the bills. Details show that while California is known as a progressive state, even here and even in the wake of last summer, social uprising against racism and police brutality, police reform has been difficult to pass in the California legislature. Yet Butrin of the ACLU says after years of law enforcement exercising, outsized power in Sacramento, things do seem to be shifting politically Speaker 3: 03:23 Their grip on the legislature, which used to be iron fisted has, has really loosened. And I think that, you know, we're seeing increasingly members of the legislature declare that they're not going to accept contributions from law enforcement. Their campaign contributions are becoming toxic. People don't want to be seen as being in the pocket of law enforcement unions. Speaker 2: 03:48 Isn't alone though. Advocates consider it the most significant proposal this year. Other bills being considered would require police officers to intervene. If they see other officers using excessive force to send community-based organizations to respond to nine 11 calls instead of police officers and crack down on police officers, making false reports. I'm MJ Johnson, Senate bill two Speaker 1: 04:11 Is currently in the California state assembly. The San Diego police officer's association is among its opponents.