California DOJ says it can’t deliver on police shooting reviews without more funds

The state Department of Justice says it still doesn’t have enough money or agents to fulfill a new law requiring it to investigate deadly shootings by California cops.

In his 2021-2022 January budget proposal, Gov. Gavin Newsom set aside $13 million to establish three units of state prosecutors and staff — one team each in the northern, central and southern parts of California — to review these incidents.

That’s about half what the Department of Justice says it’ll need to build the new teams, according to a recent letter it sent to a Democratic lawmaker.

The new law represents a shift from the common practice of having county district attorneys investigate shootings by local officers, a system that critics said rarely resulted in discipline over questionable incidents.

Amid last year’s nationwide protests against police brutality, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, wrote Assembly Bill 1506 to establish a “uniform standard for independent investigations into police killings.”

“This is a win for criminal justice and police reform in California, and will bring accountability and transparency to police departments,” McCarty said.

But in a Jan. 26 letter to McCarty, the department said the law’s requirement will initially cost $26 million. The agency said it would struggle to “stand up professional teams to perform these new investigative and prosecutorial duties” without additional money.

Beginning in 2023, the Department of Justice will also have to, upon request, review local law enforcement agencies’ deadly force policies and make recommendations.That, too, will require more funds, the agency said.

“We respectfully request your assistance in securing the necessary resources,” the department’s legislative policy advocate Martin Radosevich wrote in the letter.

The agency has limited experience in conducting these investigations.

The most notable case the department reviewed was in 2018, following the death of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man shot and killed by Sacramento police officers in his grandparents’ backyard.

That investigation did not result in criminal charges against the officers. But in a 2020 follow-up report, the state agency recommended the Sacramento Police Department adopt a slew of policy changes.

Under the new law, the department anticipates launching 40 investigations each year, a fraction of the 140 average annual deadly officer-involved shootings in California. The law requires prosecutors only to review incidents involving civilians who weren’t armed with a deadly weapon.

Twenty of these cases are likely to include civilians who were completely unarmed, the department estimates, and 20 involving individuals who carried objects that don’t qualify as deadly weapons, including replica firearms.

Radosevich said the department also needs four investigative teams, not three, to be set up in Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles and Riverside.

In response, McCarty said the current budget allotment was “more than enough to get started.” McCarty said he also planned to expand the law to include all deadly force incidents.

“These new positions and funding will stop police from policing themselves, and provide independent, accountable and transparent oversight of police officer-involved shootings of unarmed persons,” McCarty said.

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, whose office also decided not to pursue charges against the officers involved in the Clark case, said it’s unclear whether the current budget proposal “will be sufficient to address future investigations.”

Schubert was among a handful of district attorneys who supported the legislation.

“The most important point is that the investigation and prosecution of these cases must be conducted by an agency that is bound by these guidelines, is not agenda driven, and follows the rule of law,” Schubert said.

This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 5:00 AM.