Peace officers: civilian complaints.

Existing law requires each department or agency in this state that employs peace officers to establish a procedure to investigate complaints by members of the public against the personnel of these departments or agencies, and to make a written description of the procedure available to the public. Existing law also refers to these complaints as citizens' complaints. Existing law sets forth specified policies and procedures relating to citizens' complaints. Among other things, existing law makes it a misdemeanor to file an allegation of misconduct against a peace officer knowing the allegation to be false. Existing law requires a law enforcement agency accepting an allegation of misconduct against a peace officer to require the complainant to read and sign a specified advisory that describes, generally, the law and procedure governing citizens' complaints. Existing law also requires the Department of Justice to prepare and present to the Governor, on or before July 1, an annual report containing the criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year, including, among other statistics, the total number of citizen complaints alleging racial or identity profiling, as specified. This bill would delete references to citizens' complaints and instead refer to civilians' complaints.