Vol. 27 No. 16 – Court Orders Board to Provide Independent Legal Counsel to Sheriff.
COURT ORDERS BOARD TO PROVIDE INDEPENDENT LEGAL COUNSEL TO SHERIFF We are very pleased to report that a Superior Court Judge, sitting by assignment from another county,[1] has ordered the Lake County Board of Supervisors to pay for independent legal counsel for Sheriff Frank Rivero to assist him in an official matter in which the County […]
Vol. 27 No. 15 – Qualified Immunity Denied When Force Is Used Against Non-Threatening Persons
QUALIFIED IMMUNITY DENIED WHEN FORCE IS USED AGAINST NON-THREATENING PERSONS On July 11, 2012, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the denial of qualified immunity for police officers who fired pepperballs into a crowd of partygoers who posed no threat to them. In the case of Nelson v. City of Davis, 2012 DAR […]
Vol. 27 No. 6 – Names of Officers Involved In An OIS Are Subject to Disclosure Under the CPRA (LBPOA v. City of Long Beach)
NAMES OF OFFICERS INVOLVED IN AN OIS ARE SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE UNDER THE CPRA On February 7, 2012, the California Court of Appeal, 2d Appellate District, ruled that names of peace officers “are not rendered confidential by any of the statutory exemptions contained in the CPRA (California Public Records Act).” In a unanimous decision the court, […]
Vol. 27 No. 5 – Follow Up AB 1028 – CalPERS Circular Letter – Hiring of Annuitaints
FOLLOW UP AB 1028 – CalPERS CIRCULAR LETTER – HIRING OF ANNUITANTS When we issued our client alert last week on the changes to hiring of CalPERS annuitants by CalPERS contracting agencies as instituted through AB 1028, we noted that staff at CalPERS had said that they would be publishing further guidance on these issues, […]
Vol. 27 No. 4 – AB 1028 – Rehire of CalPERS Annuitants
AB 1028 – REHIRE OF CalPERS ANNUITANTS Assembly Bill 1028 (AB 1028) was signed by the Governor in October 2011 and became effective January 1, 2012. This Bill amended certain portions of the Govt. Code having to do with PERS annuitants. Of particular interest to Chiefs and Sheriffs, AB 1028 amended Govt. Code §§ 21221, 21224 […]
Vol. 27 No. 3 – “Open Carry” — Issue Resolved
“OPEN CARRY” – ISSUE RESOLVED In December of 2008, and August of 2011 our office published a series of Client Alert Memorandums to address potential issues with “open carry” under then-Penal Code § 12031(repealed January 1, 2012; now § 25850). Recently, the California Legislature addressed the issue of “open carry” of handguns[1], specifically, or firearms[2] […]
Vol. 27 No. 2 – U.S. Supreme Court Rules Use of GPS Tracking Device Is A Search
U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES USE OF GPS TRACKING DEVICE IS A SEARCH In a unanimous decision on January 23, 2012, in United States v. Antoine Jones, the U.S. Supreme Court held that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle, and then using the device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a search under the Fourth […]
Vol. 27 No. 1 – County Jails, State Parolees and ADA
COUNTY JAILS, STATE PAROLEES AND ADA On January 13, 2012, Judge Claudia Wilken, of the federal District Court of Northern California, issued an order, in the case of Armstrong v. Brown, requiring the State of California to monitor county jails to insure that state inmates housed in those jails are provided all their rights under […]
Vol. 26 No. 29 – A Police Chief Cannot Be Removed Without Notice and an Appeal
A Police Chief Cannot Be “Removed” Without Notice and an Appeal On December 27 2011, the California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, ruled in the case of Robinson v. City of Chowchilla, that, among other things, the city breached its statutory obligations, under the Public Safety Officers’ Procedural Bill of Rights Act (POBR), when it removed the police chief from office […]
Vol. 27 No. 7 – Qualified Immunity Is Available When Actions Are Objectively Reasonable
QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IS AVAILABLE WHEN ACTIONS ARE OBJECTIVELY REASONABLE On February 22, 2012, in the case of Messerschmidt et al. v. Millender et al., the United States Supreme Court reversed a decision from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals which had denied officers qualified immunity from civil liability after they executed a search warrant issued […]