California’s state-run reviews of fatal police shootings involving unarmed people are taking far longer than officials initially promised, creating a growing backlog and raising questions about accountability in cases that often draw intense public scrutiny.
The program was created after the nationwide protests that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. That year, California lawmakers approved legislation shifting investigations of fatal police shootings of unarmed people from local prosecutors to the California Department of Justice.
Supporters argued that state oversight would reduce conflicts of interest because district attorneys frequently depend on officers as witnesses in criminal cases. The change was intended to strengthen public confidence in decisions about whether officers should face criminal charges.
Five years later, the program has completed 41 cases, according to a CalMatters review. In none of those cases has the state recommended criminal charges against an officer who shot and killed an unarmed person.
Attorney General Rob Bonta had originally said the Justice Department would aim to finish the investigations within a year. That has not happened. On average, cases have taken nearly two years and five months to complete. Eight investigations, including several from rural Northern California, have remained open for more than three years.
The Justice Department has said funding has been a challenge. The police shooting review program received about $13 million a year, though the department had requested $26 million. Investigators raised concerns about staffing shortages as early as the program’s first case.
The delays can have serious legal consequences.
In California, prosecutors generally have three years to file charges for most crimes. Some offenses, including murder, have no statute of limitations. But if a police shooting investigation passes the three-year mark, certain possible charges can no longer be filed. Those include involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault, charges that have been used in past cases involving officers who killed people.
Lengthy investigations can also affect police discipline at the state level.
A year after California created the shooting investigation program, lawmakers approved a separate law allowing officers to lose their certification for serious misconduct. Decertification bars an officer from continuing to work in law enforcement in California.
That process also has a three-year deadline. If a Department of Justice investigation goes beyond that point, the agency can no longer recommend that an officer be stripped of their certification in connection with the shooting.
The decertification system is overseen by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, known as POST. The commission told CalMatters it can open its own investigations when officers are accused of serious misconduct.
The shift to state investigations has also revived debate over whether local accountability has been weakened.
Before the law took effect, many law enforcement officials and district attorneys opposed it. But some prosecutors who supported police reform also had concerns. They warned that moving cases to Sacramento could reduce pressure on local elected district attorneys, who otherwise would have to explain charging decisions to their own communities.
Cristine Soto DeBerry, who helped create a police-officer investigation unit while serving as chief of staff in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, said local prosecutors directly feel the weight of community concern, protests and public attention.
Under the current system, those charging decisions are handled by the state, not the county district attorney.
Local law enforcement agencies are still allowed to conduct their own investigations after a fatal police shooting in their jurisdiction. Bonta’s office has said the law does not prevent police departments or sheriff’s agencies from running parallel reviews.
In practice, however, CalMatters found that local agencies often step back once the state takes over.
Capt. Brian Cole, who oversees detectives for the Redding Police Department, said that when a case meets the criteria for state review and the Department of Justice accepts it, his agency does not conduct a separate criminal investigation during or after the state’s review. He said the Justice Department has full criminal jurisdiction over the matter.
Although the state says its review is focused on whether an officer committed a crime, the result in many cases is that the Department of Justice investigation becomes the only criminal inquiry into the shooting.
Original source: CalMatters
