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

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The program, approved by state lawmakers and launched in July 2021, shifted investigations of fatal police shootings involving unarmed civilians away from local prosecutors and into the hands of the California Department of Justice. Supporters argued the change would reduce conflicts of interest and bring greater independence to decisions about whether officers should face criminal charges.

Nearly five years after the protests that helped propel the reform, the results have been slower and less decisive than many expected.

According to a CalMatters review, completed investigations now take an average of nearly two years and five months. Some cases have stretched beyond three years. Those delays can carry serious consequences: legal deadlines may pass, limiting the ability to pursue officer decertification or most potential criminal charges.

Through 41 completed investigations, the state Justice Department has not recommended criminal charges against any officer who shot and killed an unarmed person, CalMatters reported.

For families, the long timelines have added to the pain of losing a loved one. Jeanelle Couch, whose son David Couch was killed by a California Highway Patrol officer in Redding, said the state’s three-year investigation meant the family had to relive the shooting again and again.

“We can’t put it to rest,” Couch told CalMatters, noting that the family still has lawsuits pending against the state, the county and the officer involved. “But this is my life now. I don’t care how long it takes.”

The statewide program applies across California, including law enforcement agencies in Southern California and the Inland Empire when cases meet the criteria. Its creation followed a wave of demonstrations in 2020, when protesters demanded changes to policing, enforcement disparities and the way officers are investigated after deadly encounters.

Before the law passed, similar legislation had struggled in Sacramento. The national outrage after Floyd’s killing changed the political landscape, drawing new support for taking certain deadly force investigations out of local hands.

But the Justice Department has said the program has been hampered by limited resources. Officials requested $26 million annually to operate it, but received $13 million, according to CalMatters.

The gap between the reform’s promise and its pace has frustrated families who expected more timely findings. Unlike high-profile court cases or public hearings, much of the work now takes place behind closed doors as state investigators review evidence, prepare reports and decide whether an officer’s conduct warrants prosecution.

The issue remains central to debates over police accountability in California. For supporters of the law, independent state review is still an important safeguard. For families waiting years for a decision, however, the process can feel like another burden after an already devastating loss.

Original source: CalMatters

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The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd intensified national demands for police reform, shifted responsibility for certain fatal police shooting investigations away from local agencies and district attorneys. Instead, the California Department of Justice was required to investigate fatal shootings by law enforcement when the person killed was unarmed.

Supporters said the change would help avoid conflicts of interest that can arise when local prosecutors review cases involving police departments they work with regularly. They also argued the attorney general’s office would bring greater independence, credibility and resources to investigations that often draw intense public scrutiny.

But a CalMatters review found the program has fallen far behind the timeline promised by Attorney General Rob Bonta, who pledged after taking office in 2021 that investigations would be completed within 12 months. According to the review, the Department of Justice has not closed a single case within one year.

The average investigation has taken nearly two years and five months to complete. Of 41 closed cases, only eight were finished in less than two years. Thirteen use-of-force investigations have stretched beyond three years, a delay that can put some potential criminal charges out of reach because of statutes of limitations, except for the most serious allegations such as murder.

The delays also affect police certification. Once a case goes past three years, an officer generally cannot be decertified in connection with the incident, meaning the state cannot use that process to prevent the officer from working for another law enforcement agency.

So far, Bonta’s office has not prosecuted any officer under the program. It also has not referred any officer for decertification or discipline after completing a police shooting investigation.

The slow pace has frustrated families waiting for answers and officers waiting to be cleared or charged. It has also raised concerns among police leaders and former prosecutors who say a system intended to strengthen public trust may be undermining it instead.

“In my experience, three years is an awful long period of time, especially if you’re starting to come upon statutes of limitations,” said Anne Marie Schubert, the former Sacramento County district attorney who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in 2022.

Schubert said she was surprised that the most recent case closed by the program involved a shooting from 2023.

“Is it resources? Is it experience?” she said. “That’s a question I’d want to know.”

Bonta’s office has attributed the backlog largely to limited funding and the Legislature’s decision not to provide the full amount the Department of Justice requested when the program was created. The office also says local authorities are not barred from conducting their own parallel investigations.

In practice, however, local agencies often step back once the state takes over.

Capt. Brian Cole, who oversees the detective division at the Redding Police Department, said his agency does not conduct a separate criminal investigation when the Department of Justice accepts jurisdiction under the law.

“They have complete criminal jurisdiction of the matter,” Cole said.

One case that illustrates the delay began in Redding in February 2023, after a confrontation between California Highway Patrol Officer Ryan Cates and 31-year-old David Couch.

Couch had been jailed on Christmas Day 2022 and released on Feb. 8, 2023. His mother, Jeanelle Couch, said her son was experiencing a manic episode when he came home. In a lawsuit she later filed, she alleged he had been given the wrong medication for bipolar disorder during his jail stay and had spent much of that time in solitary confinement.

After his release, Couch returned to his mother’s home. She recalled that he seemed relieved to see family.

“He was happy to see us and he asked if we remembered him,” she said. The next morning, before she left for work, he spoke with her at length. “And then I didn’t see him again alive.”

That afternoon, Couch was sitting in his car in his mother’s driveway in a residential neighborhood. At 5:25 p.m., the California Highway Patrol received a report that a driver heading south on Interstate 5 had brandished a gun. The vehicle description and license plate matched Couch’s car.

Nine minutes later, Cates arrived at the home.

Dashboard camera footage showed Couch seated in a white Ford sedan with the driver’s door open. Cates ordered him to show his hands and put them up. Couch got out wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants, a gray baseball cap and a backpack. He held a cellphone with both hands.

According to the Department of Justice investigation, Couch also had knives strapped to his jacket, though he did not reach for them. The footage showed him walking toward Cates, who had his gun drawn.

Some of the exchange could not be heard clearly on the video. As the confrontation escalated, Couch told Cates to leave him alone, used profanity and said “shoot.” A struggle followed outside the camera’s view. The Department of Justice later reported that Couch gained control of Cates’ Taser.

Cates told investigators he believed Couch was trying to take his handgun. Moments later, after several audible clicks, Cates fired four shots. The encounter lasted about one minute.

Couch survived for nine days and died Feb. 17, 2023.

His sister, Lauren Metzger, wrote in an online fundraiser that the family could not understand why the shooting happened and said Couch did not have a gun on him when relatives and a friend found him in the street.

During the days Couch remained alive, a five-agency team led by the Redding Police Department began investigating the shooting. After Couch died, the Department of Justice took control of the case, and the local investigation ended.

More than three years later, the state completed its review. The Department of Justice investigation took 1,199 days and concluded there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of Cates.

Cates returned to work, according to the California Highway Patrol. His attorney did not respond to messages from CalMatters.

Couch’s family has filed a federal lawsuit against the state, Shasta County and the officer. Shasta County and the state have denied responsibility. In its response, the county said Cates is entitled to qualified immunity, a legal protection that can limit civil liability for government officials, including police officers.

The statewide investigation program was born from Assembly Bill 1506, legislation pushed for years by former Assemblymember Kevin McCarty of Sacramento. The fatal shooting of Stephon Clark by Sacramento police in 2018 helped build support for outside review, especially after Schubert, then Sacramento County’s district attorney, declined to charge the officers involved.

Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 helped propel the bill through the Legislature and to Newsom’s desk. Police accountability advocates strongly supported the change, and Bonta, then an assemblymember, championed it.

But even before the law took effect, the Department of Justice warned that it did not have enough money to do the work as envisioned. The department asked for $26 million to create new investigative teams. State lawmakers approved about half that amount.

Then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra wrote to McCarty in January 2021 that the funding was “significantly lower” than the department’s estimates and not enough to create the professional teams needed for the new investigative and prosecutorial duties.

The original plan called for four regional investigative teams, based in Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles and Riverside — a structure that would have placed a dedicated team in the Inland Empire and another in Southern California’s largest metro area. Instead, the department received funding for two teams, one covering Northern California and one covering Southern California.

Within days of receiving its first case, the Department of Justice’s shooting investigation teams recognized they were short-staffed. In a 2022 budget request, the department said special agents could not complete dozens of tasks and assignments because staffing was limited.

One year into the program, investigations were already falling behind Bonta’s one-year goal. At the time, Bonta said the department would have to make do with the funding it had received.

“We got the funding that we got, and we’re going to make it work,” he said then. “We have no choice. We have to find a way.”

Since then, cases have continued to lengthen — first beyond one year, then beyond two. In 2025, one case passed the three-year mark.

The Department of Justice did not make anyone available for an interview with CalMatters about the backlog. In a written statement, a spokesperson said Bonta personally reviews every investigation and said the cases vary in complexity.

“All investigations are unique in their complexity, and some may take longer than others to investigate and reach a conclusion,” the statement said.

The office said it is working to improve speed and efficiency.

“We’re continuously identifying ways to tighten timelines and improve our processes,” the statement said. “It’s a balancing act — but it’s one we’re actively managing. Improvements are already taking hold. In the last two and a half years, we closed 9 times as many cases as were closed in the first two and a half years that the law was operational, and we remain committed to improving.”

Law enforcement leaders say the delays have become a serious problem.

Sean Thuilliez, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said chiefs across the state have repeatedly pushed for faster reviews.

“When transparency is not accompanied by timeliness, the system risks falling short for everyone — eroding confidence, deepening mistrust, and prolonging uncertainty,” Thuilliez said.

Some prosecutors and advocates who support police accountability also have reservations about removing local officials entirely from the process. They argue that community pressure is often strongest at the local level, where families, activists and residents can confront elected district attorneys and law enforcement leaders directly.

Cristine Soto DeBerry, who helped create a police officer investigation unit while serving as chief of staff at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, said local prosecutors feel the weight of community concern in ways state officials may not. She now leads the Prosecutors Alliance, a progressive advocacy organization.

“Local concern, local protests, local interest is felt by local prosecutors,” DeBerry said. “The very real pain of family and community members that experience that absolutely has an impact on a prosecutor and their willingness to take this crime seriously.”

For Jeanelle Couch, the Department of Justice decision did not end her family’s search for accountability. She said she remains hopeful that the civil lawsuits will bring more answers about her son’s death.

“I want light on it,” she said. “That’s what I want. Just, justice.”

Asked what justice would look like now, she looked down.

“Now?” she said. “I don’t know.”

Original source: CalMatters

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California police agencies killed one person and wounded two others Tuesday in unrelated shootings, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol officers shot and killed someone at around 3:30 p.m. in the El Sereno neighborhood of East Los Angeles, authorities said.

No officers were injured.

Other details weren’t immediately released.

In San Diego County, a sheriff’s deputy shot and wounded a man who grabbed what turned out to be an air rifle, authorities said.

The man was expected to survive.

Deputies confronted the man sometime after 12:30 p.m. in Vista, north of San Diego, after a 911 caller reported that someone had slashed two of his car tires with a knife outside a convenience store, authorities said.

Deputies found the suspect in a backyard and ordered him to drop the knife but during the confrontation he grabbed the rifle and was shot, according to a Sheriff’s Department statement.

San Diego police, meanwhile, shot and wounded a man shortly after 5:30 p.m. after he drove off after officers tried to stop his motorcycle in the City Heights area.

The man apparently got off the motorcycle at one point and was shot during a foot chase, police said.

A witness told KSWB-TV that she saw a man running and then firing a gun at several officers, who shot back.

There wasn’t any immediate word on his condition.

However, police radio traffic indicated the man was shot at least once in the stomach and was conscious and breathing when officers took him into custody, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

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