SB 978 Policies, Procedures, and Training

SB 978 – Requires Law Enforcement Agencies to Publish Standards, Polices, Practices, and Training

SB 978 requires local law enforcement agencies and Commission of Peace Officer Standards and Training (“POST”) to post on their Internet websites all current standards, policies, practices, operating procedures, and education and training materials that would otherwise be available to the public through a California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) request.

The Legislature declared that making this information available online and easily accessible to the public helps educate the public about law enforcement policies, practices, and procedures, and is intended to increase communication and community trust while saving on costs and labor associated with responding to individual CPRA requests for this information (SB 978 adds Section 13650 to the Penal Code).

The AHC Police Department's policy manual is a living document that is subject to constant change. New laws, court decisions, District Policy changes, new methodologies, and other factors dictate the need for a continual review of these policies, initiating revisions where necessary and appropriate. It is recognized that no set of policies and procedures, no matter how complete, can hope to address all the situations that may be encountered. When encountering such situations, this policy manual will serve as a guideline and should be employed with sound reason, judgment, and discretion.

To keep our student, staff, faculty, visitors, and police officers safe, while being as transparent as possible, we reviewed all materials and redacted them, where necessary, according to Government Code § 6254, subs. (f). To be specific, we only redacted content:

• Describing law enforcement tactics
• Security or safety procedures 
• Information not publicly known that should not be disclosed for safety, security, or investigative reasons

Disclosure of Police Personnel Records – SB 1421

Senate Bill 1421 effective January 1, 2019, requires certain peace officer or custodial officer personnel records and records relating to specific incidents, complaints, and investigations to be made available for public inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act. The records subject to disclosure are limited to certain specified records of;

1. an incident involving the discharge of a firearm at a person by a peace officer or custodial officer,
2. an incident in which the use of force by a peace officer or custodial officer against a person resulted in death or great bodily injury,
3. an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency that a peace officer or custodial officer engaged in sexual assault involving a member of the public, and
4. an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency of dishonesty by a peace officer or custodial officer directly relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly relating to the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another peace officer or custodial officer, including, but not limited to, any sustained finding of perjury, false statements, filing false reports, destruction, falsifying, or concealing of evidence.

SB 1421 contains definitions and parameters for the types of records subject to disclosure and the information to be redacted from records prior to disclosure.

It is important to note that the District Police Department complies with State law for disclosure of police personnel records. The Department does not set the rules regarding what records can or cannot be disclosed - the State does. SB 1421, which the Department is fully complying with, amended State law to allow more records to be released, thus the information on this page.

The Allan Hancock College District Police Department may receive public records requests for records disclosable under the provisions of SB 1421. For any request, the Department reviews all records that may be responsive to SB 1421. Any responsive records will be identified, reviewed, appropriately redacted, and posted to this webpage as they are ready for disclosure.

Responsive Records

After thorough review of District Police records, we currently have no records responsive to the provisions of SB 1421.

Policies and Procedures