Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies; localities may establish, duties, effective date. (SB5035)

Introduced By

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Midlothian) with support from co-patrons Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Herndon), Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington), Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond), and Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond)

Description

Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies. Authorizes a locality to establish a law-enforcement civilian oversight body that may (i) receive, investigate, and issue findings on complaints from civilians regarding conduct of law-enforcement officers and civilian employees; (ii) investigate and issue findings on incidents, including the use of force by a law-enforcement officer, death or serious injury to any person held in custody, serious abuse of authority or misconduct, allegedly discriminatory stops, and other incidents regarding the conduct of law-enforcement officers or civilian employees; (iii) make binding disciplinary determinations in cases that involve serious breaches of departmental and professional standards; (iv) investigate policies, practices, and procedures of law-enforcement agencies and make recommendations regarding changes to such policies, practices, and procedures; (v) review all investigations conducted internally by law-enforcement agencies and issue findings regarding the accuracy, completeness, and impartiality of such investigations and the sufficiency of any discipline resulting from such investigations; (vi) request reports of the annual expenditures of law-enforcement agencies and make budgetary recommendations; (vii) make public reports on the activities of the law-enforcement civilian oversight body; and (viii) undertake any other duties as reasonably necessary for the law-enforcement civilian oversight body to effectuate its lawful purpose to effectively oversee the law-enforcement agencies as authorized by the locality. Such oversight bodies are not authorized to oversee sheriff's departments. The bill provides that a law-enforcement officer who is subject to a binding disciplinary determination may file a grievance requesting a final hearing pursuant to the locality's local grievance procedures. The bill also provides that a retired law-enforcement officer may serve on such law-enforcement civilian oversight body as an advisory, nonvoting ex officio member. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021, and is identical to HB 5055. Read the Bill »

Outcome

History