AB 549

Under current law, the Law Enforcement Standards Board (board) establishes

minimum qualification standards for law enforcement officers. The board may

establish, in addition to education and training standards, qualification standards

relating to the competence and reliability of a person to assume and discharge the

responsibilities of a law enforcement officer.

This bill provides that a candidate for a full-time law enforcement or tribal law

enforcement officer position must submit to a psychological evaluation before being

appointed as a full-time law enforcement or tribal law enforcement officer. This

evaluation requirement applies to law enforcement or tribal law enforcement officers

appointed on or after January 1, 2010. The bill also requires local law enforcement

agencies, and state agencies that employ law enforcement officers, to review the

psychological evaluation of a candidate for a law enforcement officer position before

appointing the individual as a full-time law enforcement officer.

Current law permits closure of access to public records concerning

psychological evaluations under some circumstances. This bill specifies that all of

the psychological evaluations provided for under the bill are confidential and not

subject to inspection or copying under the public records access law.

The bill requires the board to promulgate rules for the content of a required

psychological evaluation for full-time law enforcement and tribal law enforcement

officers. The bill also requires the board to submit a report to the legislature by April

1, 2011, that evaluates the effect of the requirement for psychological evaluations for

law enforcement officers, makes a recommendation as to whether psychological

evaluations should be required for part-time or limited term law enforcement and

tribal law enforcement officers, and makes a recommendation as to whether

psychological evaluations should be required for officers appointed to serve on a

special weapons and tactics unit. Finally, the bill makes the requirement for

psychological evaluations for law enforcement officers a prohibited subject of

bargaining under the State Employment Labor Relations Act.