Criminal procedure: arrests and evidence.

(1) Existing law requires that a person arrested without a warrant be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay. Existing law also provides certain circumstances under which a person arrested without a warrant may be released from custody before being taken before a magistrate, including, among others, when the arresting officer believes that insufficient grounds exist to make a criminal complaint against the person arrested or when the person is arrested for intoxication only and no further proceedings are desirable. Existing law requires a person who is arrested and released without being charged to be issued a certificate describing the action as a detention and requires any reference to the action as an arrest to be deleted from the arrest records of the arresting agency and the Department of Justice. Existing law requires the Attorney General to prescribe the form and content of the certificate. This bill would authorize an arresting officer to release an arrested person from custody without taking him or her before a magistrate if the person is delivered, subsequent to being arrested, to a specified facility for the purpose of mental health evaluation and treatment and no further criminal proceedings are desirable. The bill would require a person arrested and released pursuant to this provision to be issued a certificate describing the action as a detention. (2) Existing law requires the retention of all exhibits which have been introduced or filed in any criminal action until the final determination of the action or proceedings, and provides for their disposal thereafter. Existing law allows any party to prepare a photographic record of an exhibit before it is disposed of. Existing law requires the clerk of the court to observe the taking of the photographic record and to certify the copy and negative of the photograph as being a true, unaltered, and unretouched print of the photographic record taken in the presence of the clerk. This bill would allow, in addition to a photographic record, a digital record of the exhibit to be taken in the above manner. The bill would require a duplicate of the photographic or digital record to be delivered to the clerk for certification and would define "photographic" and "duplicate" for these purposes. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.