(CALMATTERS) – In the aftermath of the police killings of Stephon Clark in Sacramento and George Floyd in Minneapolis, California passed a law requiring the Attorney General’s office to investigate every fatal use of force by police officers against unarmed people. The 2021 law was meant to take power away from local district attorneys, who were perceived as biased in favor of local police departments, and to give oversight to the state Department of Justice.
But Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has struggled to complete the investigations. CalMatters’ criminal justice reporter Nigel Duara has been tracking these cases and found that only three cases have been closed and 38 remain under investigation.
As families grow frustrated with the lengthy legal process, CalMatters hosted a conversation moderated by Nigel, called “Fatal Shootings: California’s Bid to Police Its Police” to consider the challenges of investigating police shootings.
All three panelists — Diana Becton, district attorney in Contra Costa County; Edward Obayashi, deputy sheriff and policy advisor for the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office; and Greg Totten, CEO of the California District Attorneys Association — agreed that there are many good reasons why the investigations are taking so long. Among them: Internal probes, forensics evidence and body-camera footage — all of which don’t exist in what Obayashi called “run-of-the-mill shootings.”
In response to a question from CalMatters at a recent event, Bonta said that it took time to “work out the kinks” with the law, but that cases should start moving faster.
But responding to Bonta’s pledge to conclude investigations within one year, Obayashi said “it was hopeful.”
Totten added that “with such a major change in the law, there are naturally going to be fits and starts.”
A few other key points the panelists made during the hour-long event:
The law doesn’t cover most officer-involved shootings: Nationwide, about 1,000 police shootings take place every year, of which only 4% involve an unarmed civilian, according to Totten.
Thus, “the vast majority of officer-involved shootings are being conducted by district attorneys…and other local prosecutors across the state,” he said.
Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, the Sacramento Democrat who authored the law, is proposing that the Department of Justice take over all officer-related homicide cases, regardless of whether the civilian was armed or not.
Becton said she was not opposed, but the idea’s implementation would be “a tremendous, tremendous lift,” especially the money required to fund the personnel.
Not responding to calls involving suicidal people: Obayashi said he supports this national trend. “We show up, and bad things happen,” he said, referencing “suicide by cop” where people purposely provoke an armed law enforcement response.
Plumas County, where Obayashi works, is one of the many law enforcement agencies across California that has stopped responding to many suicidal calls. “Typically, by not showing up, it resolves itself,” he said.
Police officers are people, not superheroes: When asked how police can justify using deadly force and be scared for their lives when a civilian is unarmed, Obayashi said that “these incidents happen so rapidly, to the point where there is no time to think.”
“We’re cops, but we are also human beings. We don’t wake up in the morning and take a magic pill to enhance our physical and mental abilities,” Obayashi said.
Nigel added that “unarmed” does not necessarily mean that someone’s hands are empty, just that they are not holding a deadly weapon. This can be ambiguous, since guns that shoot soft pellets are not deadly weapons.
If you missed the panel, you can watch it here soon.