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2020 SPECIAL SESSION I

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SB 5030 Policing reform; acquisition of military property, training of officers in de-escalation techniques.

Introduced by: Mamie E. Locke | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED: (all summaries)

Policing reform. Adds law-enforcement officers to those persons who are guilty of a Class 6 felony if they are in a position of authority over and carnally know without force, threat, or intimidation a person detained or arrested by a law-enforcement officer or an inmate, parolee, probationer, juvenile detainee, or pretrial defendant or posttrial offender, including those in the custody of a private, local, or state law-enforcement agency. In addition, the bill adds a person in the custody of a law-enforcement officer to the list of those persons for whom it is unlawful for a person in such authority to commit the offense of carnal knowledge.

The bill also requires that a law-enforcement officer provide audible notice of his authority and purpose prior to the execution of a search warrant and that such warrants shall only be executed during the daytime unless a judge, or a magistrate if a judge is not available, authorizes the execution of such search warrant at another time for good cause shown. The bill creates an exception to this requirement for a search warrant for the withdrawal of blood.

The bill also requires the Criminal Justice Services Board (the Board) to adopt statewide professional standards of conduct applicable to all certified law-enforcement officers and certified jail officers. The bill requires any sheriff, chief of police, or agency administrator to notify the Board in writing within 48 hours of becoming aware that any certified law-enforcement or jail officer currently employed by his agency has been found to have engaged in serious misconduct. The bill authorizes the Board to initiate decertification proceedings against any current or former law-enforcement or jail officer who has engaged in serious misconduct as defined in such statewide professional standards of conduct.

The bill also provides that any sheriff or chief of police, any director or chief executive of any agency or department employing deputy sheriffs or law-enforcement officers, and the Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services shall disclose to a prospective law-enforcement or jail employer (i) any information related to an arrest or prosecution of a former appointee or employee, including expunged information, known or disclosed to the agency; (ii) any information related to a civil suit regarding a former appointee's or employee's employment or performance of his duties; (iii) any information obtained during the course of any internal investigation related to a former appointee's or employee's alleged criminal conduct, use of excessive force, or other official misconduct; and (iv) any information related to a former police officer, deputy sheriff, or jail officer's job performance that led to such officer's or deputy sheriff's resignation, dismissal, demotion, suspension, or transfer. The bill requires candidates for employment to undergo a psychological examination.

The bill adds requirements for training in de-escalation techniques and the lawful use of force to the compulsory training standards developed by the Department of Criminal Justice Services for basic training and recertification of law-enforcement officers. The bill provides that a law-enforcement officer shall not use deadly force against a person unless (a) the law-enforcement officer reasonably believes that deadly force is immediately necessary to protect the law-enforcement officer or another person, other than the subject of the use of deadly force, from the threat of serious bodily injury or death; (b) the law-enforcement officer has provided a warning before using such deadly force; (c) the law-enforcement officer's actions are reasonable, given the totality of the circumstances; and (d) all other options have been exhausted or do not reasonably lend themselves to the circumstances. The bill also prohibits the use of neck restraints by law-enforcement officers unless the use of a neck restraint is immediately necessary to protect the law-enforcement officer or another person. The bill bans law-enforcement officers from willfully discharging a firearm into or at a moving vehicle. The bill also requires that law-enforcement officers intervene and render aid if they observe another law-enforcement officer using an unlawful use of force.

The bill also revises the basic training and recertification requirement for training in sensitivity to and awareness of cultural diversity and the potential for biased policing to include (1) awareness of racism and the potential for racially biased policing and (2) recognizing implicit biases in interacting with persons who have a mental illness, substance use disorder, or developmental or cognitive disability.

The bill also expands the required law-enforcement data collection for motor vehicle stops to include all investigatory motor vehicle stops, all stop-and-frisks based on reasonable suspicion, and all investigatory detentions that do not result in an arrest or summons. The provisions requiring data collection become effective on July 1, 2021.

The bill also prohibits the Department of State Police and other law-enforcement agencies from acquiring from the Department of Defense (A) weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles; (B) aircraft that are configured for combat or are combat-coded and have no established commercial flight application; (C) grenades or similar explosives or grenade launchers from a surplus program operated by the federal government; (D) armored multi-wheeled vehicles that are mine-resistant, ambush-protected, and configured for combat from a surplus program operated by the federal government; (E) bayonets; (F) firearms of .50 caliber or higher; (G) ammunition of .50 caliber or higher; or (H) weaponized tracked armored vehicles.

The bill also requires every chief law-enforcement officer, defined in the bill, to provide the attorney for the Commonwealth access to all records relating to wrongful arrest or use of force complaints, or other complaints that a person has been deprived of the rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the laws of the United States and the Commonwealth made against a law-enforcement officer that is employed by the chief law-enforcement officer's agency when such law-enforcement officer has a matter before the court.

The bill also changes the membership of the Criminal Justice Services Board and its Committee on Training by adding four members and requiring that one member shall be an attorney representing the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, one shall be a mental health service provider, one shall represent a social justice organization, and two shall represent community interests, at least one of whom shall represent the community interests of minority individuals. The bill further permits the Committee on Training to appoint curriculum review committees and requires the Committee on Training to provide an opportunity for public comment on any proposed change to any training standards promulgated for law-enforcement officers.

The bill requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to develop uniform curriculum and lesson plans for the compulsory minimum entry-level, in-service, and advanced training standards to be employed by criminal justice training academies approved by the Department of Criminal Justice Services when conducting training. The bill requires any criminal justice training academy approved by the Department of Criminal Justice Services to employ such uniform curriculum and lesson plans and requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to conduct annual evaluations of each criminal justice training academy's compliance with uniform curriculum and lesson plans.

The bill incorporates SB 5002, SB 5005, SB 5037, and SB 5049.


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