A bill to stop law enforcement investigators from questioning the families of people killed by police before revealing their loved one is dead failed when the Democratic-controlled state Senate declined to bring it up for a vote before the legislative year ended on Saturday.
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Under Assembly Bill 3021, detectives and prosecutors investigating a police-related death would have been required to tell relatives of the deceased that they have the right to know the status of their loved one, remain silent, retain an attorney and know whether they are being recorded before answering questions.
While the bill passed the Assembly in May, it failed to garner the minimum 21 votes required to clear the Senate amid heavy opposition from police and sheriff’s organizations.
“Law enforcement does have a lot of influence still in this building,” Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San José), the bill’s author, said in a brief interview in the Capitol on Saturday night.
“I don’t think they like when they’re told how to conduct their business, but I think there are situations where they need to be told how to conduct their business, and this is one of them,” he said.
Kalra said he hoped to try again next year.
The Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Assn. was one of many law enforcement groups that lobbied against the bill.
“Imposing rigid requirements on peace officers, prosecuting attorneys, and investigators could ultimately impede the pursuit of justice and compromise the effectiveness of law enforcement efforts,” the group wrote in a legislative analysis. “Requiring peace officers and prosecutors to disclose specified information before interviewing family members could compromise the confidentiality of ongoing investigations.”
The legislation followed an investigation by the Los Angeles Times and the UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program that verified 20 instances of detectives and prosecutors across California using death notifications as opportunities to collect disparaging information about people killed or seriously injured by police.
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