Criminal gangs.

Existing law, the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act (act) , provides specified punishments for certain crimes committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with, a criminal street gang, as specified. There is established within the Department of Justice the CalGang Executive Board, which is responsible for the administration, policy, and sustainability of the CalGang system, a shared gang database of statewide gang-related information. The act defines a "shared gang database" as having various attributes, including, among others, that the database contains personal identifying information in which a person may be designated as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate, or for which entry of a person in the database reflects a designation of that person as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate. Existing law establishes a review and appeal process for a person to challenge his or her inclusion in a gang database. This bill would revise the definition of "shared gang database" for its purposes to mean any gang database that is accessed by an agency or person outside of the agency that created the database. The bill would also define "gang database" for its purposes as any database accessed by a law enforcement agency that designates a person as a gang member or associate, or includes or points to information, including, but not limited to, fact-based or uncorroborated information, that reflects a designation of that person as a gang member or associate. The bill would make the Department of Justice responsible for administering and overseeing any shared gang database in which California law enforcement agencies participate, and would provide that commencing January 1, 2018, the CalGang Executive Board would no longer administer or oversee the CalGang database. The bill would require the department to promulgate regulations governing the use, operation, and oversight of any shared gang database, including, among other things, establishing the requirements for entering and reviewing gang designations, the retention period for listed gangs, and the criteria for identifying gang members. The bill would require the department to establish the Gang Database Technical Advisory Committee with specified members to advise the department in promulgating regulations governing the use, operation, and oversight of shared gang databases, as specified. The bill would require the department to develop and implement standardized periodic training for all persons with access to the CalGang database. The bill would require the department, by January 1, 2020, to promulgate regulations to provide for periodic audits by law enforcement agencies and department staff to ensure the accuracy, reliability, and proper use of any shared gang database, and to report the results of those audits to the public. The bill would require the department, commencing February 15, 2018, to publish and post on the department's Internet Web site an annual report regarding specified information about the CalGang database and the periodic audits. The bill would impose a moratorium on the use of the CalGang database commencing January 1, 2018, until the Attorney General certifies that specified information has been purged from the CalGang database. The bill would recast, as a petition process, the review and appeal process that authorizes challenges to the inclusion in a shared gang database, and would make additional conforming changes.