Tag: Law Enforcement

New State Plan Aims to Transform Law Enforcement Response to People with Disabilities

By Greg deGiere, Civil Rights Advocate, The Arc of California

A sweeping new statewide plan released by California Attorney General Rob Bonta could significantly improve how law enforcement interacts with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health conditions—interactions that too often escalate with harmful or tragic outcomes.

The plan is the result of two years of work by a statewide advisory council created through Senate Bill 882, sponsored by The Arc & UCP California Collaboration, the Association of Regional Center Agencies, and the United Domestic Workers, and authored by former Senator Susan Eggman.

The council’s 85-page report outlines a roadmap for change, calling on the Legislature, the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), and the Department of Developmental Services to act on:

      • Expanded and alternative crisis response models;
      • Systemwide interventions to reduce escalation;
      • Improved training through regional centers and the Department of Education.

California Department of Justice (DOJ) released a summary of key recommendations, alongside the full report and appendices.

“Existing research shows that people with mental health conditions or intellectual and developmental disabilities are more likely to have potentially heightened or escalated interactions with law enforcement,” Bonta said in a press release by the DOJ. “This report represents a critical step forward in improving those responses through data-driven solutions.”

For example, one study indicated that 19.5% of youth with autism in the United States had been stopped by police by age 21, while another study indicated that comparatively, only 10% of the general population in the United States had experienced police contact in 2020. Statistics like these demonstrates the need for reforms.

The advisory council was led by Chair Jim Frazier, former Assemblymember and Director of Public Policy for The Arc of California, and Vice Chair Astrid Zuniga, President of the United Domestic Workers and Chair of the California Democratic Party’s labor caucus. The council includes leaders across disability, mental health, labor, aging, education, and public safety sectors.

“I want to make sure that when this report goes out, we pursue it to ensure that it is followed up on. There are still gaps,” said Council Chair Frazier. “Society has always undervalued the SB 882 population, but if you spend any time with people in this population, you know that they are important members of our communities and deserve our respect.”

The recommendations will take sustained legislative and systems change to implement, and advocacy efforts are already underway to move them forward. With strong support from the Attorney General’s office, there is growing momentum to turn these recommendations into real-world impact. We will keep you updated on any new developments.

Click HERE to view report.

Major Steps Toward Better Police Protection for People with Disabilities and Seniors

In a major step toward revolutionizing policing to better protect people with disabilities and older adults, Governor Newsom last week signed Assembly Bill 751 to ensure that every city police and county sheriff’s department trains and guides its officers in this often-neglected aspect of law enforcement. The Arc & UCP California Collaboration and the California Alliance for Retired Americans sponsored AB 751. Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo carried the bill for us, and it becomes law January 1.

And in a related success, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed Assembly Bill 449 a similar bill covering all law enforcement agencies’ policing of hate crimes against all victims, with particular attention to anti-disability hate crimes. The bill moves now to an uncertain fate in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which must act on it by September 1. The Arc/UCP is the lead sponsor of AB 449, also backed by a wide, diverse coalition of community groups and carried by Assemblymember Phil Ting.

Why is there a need for action of this sort?

“Abuse of People with Disabilities: Victims and Their Families Speak Out” (Nora Baladerian, Thomas F. Coleman and Jim Stream, Spectrum Institute Disability and Abuse Project, 2013) surveyed victims with disabilities and their families. Of the cases where victims reported the abuse to authorities, 52.9 percent said that nothing happened. According to the victims and family members surveyed, the number of alleged perpetrators arrested was 7.8 percent.

This study added to the findings of an earlier university research project (“Crime Victims with Disabilities Specialists Program: A Report Prepared for the California Department of Mental Health,” Valerie Jenness, University of California Irvine, and Nancy Naples, University of Connecticut, November 2003), which summarized the problem starkly:

“Across a variety of studies, the officially reported violence against persons with disabilities is simply alarming. Moreover, the evidence suggests that officially reported violence against people with disabilities and criminal victimization of people with disabilities more generally is merely the tip of the iceberg as most violence against people with disabilities goes unreported. Lack of reporting occurs for a variety of reasons, including that the criminal justice system cannot–or will not–serve those with disabilities. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate to refer to people with disabilities who are victimized as ‘invisible victims.’ As such, they have historically and in the present day been systematically denied access to justice via the criminal justice system.”

AB 751, which the Legislature passed unanimously and the governor signed last week, ensures that almost every local law enforcement agency must adopt a formal Senior and Disability Victimization Policy guiding all officers. Among the many provisions of the policy are:

    • Officers must investigate every report of a major crime against an adult or child with a disability or against an adult 65 or older, except in unusual compelling circumstances as determined by a supervising officer and reported to the victim and, upon request, to Disability Rights California. No more blowing off calls.
    • If an officer has evidence of one of these major crimes, they must arrest the suspect when necessary to protect the victims or others and must seek emergency protective orders at the scene by phone to a judge on-call 24 hours a day.
    • Every officer must be trained to handle these often-difficult cases.
    • Every law enforcement agency must have an extensively trained senior and disability unit, or in smaller agencies at least one officer, to serve as a resource in these cases and act as the agency’s liaison to the senior and disability communities and other agencies. 
    • Every agency must develop a detailed checklist of first-responding officers’ responsibilities.
    • Every agency must develop its own protocols for carrying out the policy, assuring the policy works for that department.

Last week’s actions came as the state Department of Justice released its 2022 hate crime statistics, showing a more than 20 percent jump over the 2021. As usual throughout the United States, though, the data almost totally left out anti-disability hate crimes, reporting just 12 statewide. Law enforcement agencies report less than 0.4 percent of the National Crime Victimization Survey’s estimated anti-disability hate crimes, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics’ latest report.

AB 449, our hate crime bill, takes aim at this extreme under-reporting, both by encouraging victims with disabilities and all victims to report and guiding police to recognize hate crimes when they see them.

 

 

Senior and Disability Justice Bill Goes to Governor

By Greg deGiere, Civil Rights Advocate, The Arc of California

The Legislature has taken the next, major step toward a thorough overhaul of California’s law enforcement system to better protect children and adults with disabilities, and seniors, from major crimes. The Senate passed AB 751 (Schiavo) 35-0 last week, following 60-0 passage by the Assembly. The bill now goes to Governor Gavin Newsom, whose signature turning it into law is likely but not certain.

The Arc/UCP California Collaboration and our great allies the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) are AB 751’s sponsors. A broad coalition of disability and senior organizations and community groups ranging from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to Stand With Asian Americans to the California Council of Churches IMPACT support the bill. Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo introduced the bill for us and carried it through to unanimous passage.

The far-reaching bill makes it clear that almost every city police department and county sheriff’s department must adopt and follow a Senior and Disability Victimization Policy guiding officers’ actions. The policy is to include a host of requirements including:

  • Officers must investigate every report of a major crime against an adult or child with a disability or against an adult 65 or older, except in unusual compelling circumstances as determined by a supervising officer and reported to the victim and, upon request, to Disability Rights California. No more blowing off calls.
  • If an officer has evidence of one of these major crimes, they must arrest the suspect when necessary to protect the victims or others and must seek emergency protective orders at the scene by phone to a judge on-call 24 hours a day.
  • Every officer must be trained to handle these often-difficult cases.
  • Every law enforcement agency must have an extensively trained senior and disability unit, or in smaller agencies at least one officer, to serve as a resource in these cases and act as the agency’s liaison to the senior and disability communities and other agencies.
  • Every agency must develop a detailed checklist of first-responding officers’ responsibilities.
  • Every agency must develop its own protocols for carrying out the policy, assuring the policy works for that department.

AB 751 is the latest step on the road that began with passage of SB 338 in 2019, sponsored by the Arc-UCP, CARA and the McGeorge Law School’s Elder & Health Law Clinic. SB 338 was carried for us by Senator Ben Hueso, and also passed unanimously, and signed by Governor Newsom. There will be more to come.

Arc/UCP-sponsored bills aim for police culture change to better protect people with disabilities

By Greg deGiere, Civil Rights Advocate, The of California

Californians, and particularly adults and children with disabilities, are a step closer to greater protection from hate crimes and other crime and violence with the passage of three major bills in their first tests in the Legislature.

The Assembly Public Safety Committee unanimously passed these bills in the last two weeks:

  • AB 751 by Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, which would require almost all local police and sheriff’s departments to adopt comprehensive policies guiding officers to provide much better protection to seniors and to adults and children with disabilities. The Arc/UCP and the California Alliance for Retired Americans are the bill’s sponsors.
  • AB 449 by Assemblymember Phil Ting that, likewise, would require all state and local law enforcement agencies adopt policies guiding officers to prevent, report and responds to hate crimes. This is especially important to the disability community because anti-disability hate crimes are the invisible hate crimes, rarely even reported. We lead an impressive list of sponsors and supporters of this bill.
  • AB 1064 by Assemblymember Evan Low, which would make it easier to report – and convict the perpetrators of –- hate crimes. Of particular importance to our community, the bill notes “callousness” and “a perception of the vulnerability of the victim due to the victim being perceived as being weak, worthless, or fair game because of an actual or perceived characteristic of the victim” as examples of a perpetrator’s bias that that turns a crime into a hate crime. We were instrumental in drafting and organizing support to this bill.

The bills and analyses are available by following the links above. While we can expect perhaps tougher tests of the bills ahead in the legislative process, the initial unanimous passage of these initial bills puts us in a stronger position to meet the challenges ahead.

The Arc of California Responds To the Decision Not To Indict Officer Who Killed Kenneth French at a Costco

On June 14, 2019 Kenneth French, a young man with disabilities, was shot and killed by an off-duty LAPD officer while shopping with his family at a Costco in Corona, California. His parents were also shot and wounded in the altercation. After several months of investigation, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office made an announcement on September 25, 2019 that they declined to bring charges against Officer Sanchez stating that a Riverside County grand jury decided that criminal charges against the officer were not warranted.

Given the information that is known to the public, the failure to indict Officer Sanchez on criminal charges raises several questions and concerns for the disability community. Among the most pressing of the concerns is the immediate use of deadly force within a few seconds of an initial altercation with Kenneth. Causing additional concern is the statement made by the officer’s attorney that the officer had “no choice but to use deadly force”. That this is somehow the only choice, when Kenneth was unarmed and his parents were reportedly telling the officer that their son has a disability and begging the officer not to shoot, is absurdity. Without accountability, this tragedy reconfirms a message our community hears far too often: that this behavior is acceptable and excusable because it was a person with a disability who did not “respond” appropriately. We cannot continue to lose members of our community as a result of the criminalization of disability.

The statistics are frightening as they relate to the high rate of fatal encounters between law enforcement and people with disabilities. Some statistics suggest that between one third and one half of fatal law enforcement encounters involve a person with a disability. Regardless of disability type – intellectual, developmental, physical or mental health – people have a right to be in the community without fear of being shot because they cannot or do not respond to law enforcement in a certain or expected manner. Kenneth’s death is a senseless tragedy that magnifies the troubling divide between the disability community and law enforcement as well as the urgent need for officer training related to disability and the use of de-escalation techniques.

The Arc of California has made it a priority to build relationships with the law enforcement community, including promoting The Arc’s Pathways To Justice initiative, and sponsoring SB 338, which was signed into law with support from the law enforcement community and will create a detailed plan for law enforcement to prevent and respond to victimization of people with disabilities. We know that the acts of a few do not represent the whole, which is why we hope law enforcement agencies throughout the state will equally reach out to The Arc and other disability organizations to learn more about our community and how we can work together to make the community safer for people with all types of disabilities. Our deepest condolences to the French Family.

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