As used in this chapter, “public safety official” means the following parties, whether active or retired:
(a) A peace officer as defined in Sections 830 to 830.65, inclusive, of the Penal Code, or a person who is not a peace officer, but may exercise the powers of arrest during the course and within the scope of their employment pursuant to Section 830.7 of the Penal Code.
(b) A public officer or other person listed in Sections 1808.2 and 1808.6 of the Vehicle Code.
(c) An “elected or appointed official” as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 6254.21.
(d) An attorney employed by the Department of Justice, the State Public Defender, or a county office of the district attorney or public defender, the United States Attorney, or the Federal Public Defender.
(e) A city attorney and an attorney who represent cities in criminal matters.
(f) An employee of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation who supervises inmates or is required to have a prisoner in his or her care or custody.
(g) A sworn or nonsworn employee who supervises inmates in a city police department, a county sheriff’s office, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, federal, state, or a local detention facility, and a local juvenile hall, camp, ranch, or home, and a probation officer as defined in Section 830.5 of the Penal Code.
(h) A federal prosecutor, a federal criminal investigator, and a National Park Service Ranger working in California.
(i) The surviving spouse or child of a peace officer defined in Section 830 of the Penal Code, if the peace officer died in the line of duty.
(j) State and federal judges and court commissioners.
(k) An employee of the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a public defender who submits verification from the Attorney General, district attorney, or public defender that the employee represents the Attorney General, district attorney, or public defender in matters that routinely place that employee in personal contact with persons under investigation for, charged with, or convicted of, committing criminal acts.
(l) A nonsworn employee of the Department of Justice or a police department or sheriff’s office that, in the course of his or her employment, is responsible for collecting, documenting, and preserving physical evidence at crime scenes, testifying in court as an expert witness, and other technical duties, and a nonsworn employee that, in the course of his or her employment, performs a variety of standardized and advanced laboratory procedures in the examination of physical crime evidence, determines their results, and provides expert testimony in court.
(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 194, Sec. 2. (AB 1813) Effective January 1, 2011.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018