California Government Code Section 12525.5

CA Govt Code § 12525.5 (2017)  

(a) (1) Each state and local agency that employs peace officers shall annually report to the Attorney General data on all stops conducted by that agency’s peace officers for the preceding calendar year.

(2) Each agency that employs 1,000 or more peace officers shall begin collecting data on or before July 1, 2018, and shall issue its first round of reports on or before April 1, 2019. Each agency that employs 667 or more but less than 1,000 peace officers shall begin collecting data on or before January 1, 2019, and shall issue its first round of reports on or before April 1, 2020. Each agency that employs 334 or more but less than 667 peace officers shall begin collecting data on or before January 1, 2021, and shall issue its first round of reports on or before April 1, 2022. Each agency that employs one or more but less than 334 peace officers shall begin collecting data on or before January 1, 2022, and shall issue its first round of reports on or before April 1, 2023.

(b) The reporting shall include, at a minimum, the following information for each stop:

(1) The time, date, and location of the stop.

(2) The reason for the stop.

(3) The result of the stop, such as, no action, warning, citation, property seizure, or arrest.

(4) If a warning or citation was issued, the warning provided or violation cited.

(5) If an arrest was made, the offense charged.

(6) The perceived race or ethnicity, gender, and approximate age of the person stopped, provided that the identification of these characteristics shall be based on the observation and perception of the peace officer making the stop, and the information shall not be requested from the person stopped. For motor vehicle stops, this paragraph only applies to the driver, unless any actions specified under paragraph (7) apply in relation to a passenger, in which case the characteristics specified in this paragraph shall also be reported for him or her.

(7) Actions taken by the peace officer during the stop, including, but not limited to, the following:

(A) Whether the peace officer asked for consent to search the person, and, if so, whether consent was provided.

(B) Whether the peace officer searched the person or any property, and, if so, the basis for the search and the type of contraband or evidence discovered, if any.

(C) Whether the peace officer seized any property and, if so, the type of property that was seized and the basis for seizing the property.

(c) If more than one peace officer performs a stop, only one officer is required to collect and report to his or her agency the information specified under subdivision (b).

(d) State and local law enforcement agencies shall not report the name, address, social security number, or other unique personal identifying information of persons stopped, searched, or subjected to a property seizure, for purposes of this section. Notwithstanding any other law, the data reported shall be available to the public, except for the badge number or other unique identifying information of the peace officer involved. Law enforcement agencies are solely responsible for ensuring that personally identifiable information of the individual stopped or any other information that is exempt from disclosure pursuant to this section is not transmitted to the Attorney General in an open text field.

(e) Not later than January 1, 2018, the Attorney General, in consultation with stakeholders, including the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA) established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (j) of Section 13519.4 of the Penal Code, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and community, professional, academic, research, and civil and human rights organizations, shall issue regulations for the collection and reporting of data required under subdivision (b). The regulations shall specify all data to be reported, and provide standards, definitions, and technical specifications to ensure uniform reporting practices across all reporting agencies. To the best extent possible, such regulations should be compatible with any similar federal data collection or reporting program.

(f) All data and reports made pursuant to this section are public records within the meaning of subdivision (e) of Section 6252, and are open to public inspection pursuant to Sections 6253 and 6258.

(g) (1) For purposes of this section, “peace officer,” as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, is limited to members of the California Highway Patrol, a city or county law enforcement agency, and California state or university educational institutions. “Peace officer,” as used in this section, does not include probation officers and officers in a custodial setting.

(2) For purposes of this section, “stop” means any detention by a peace officer of a person, or any peace officer interaction with a person in which the peace officer conducts a search, including a consensual search, of the person’s body or property in the person’s possession or control.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 328, Sec. 1. (AB 1518) Effective January 1, 2018.)

Last modified: October 25, 2018