Police animals: offenses.

Under existing law, it is a crime to assault, batter, or interfere with, as specified, a police dog or police horse. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor, or, if a serious physical injury is inflicted upon the animal, as a misdemeanor or a felony. Additionally, under existing law, if a person, with the intent to inflict injury or death, causes the death or serious physical injury of the animal, that person is, upon conviction of a felony, punishable by an additional one-year term of imprisonment. Under existing law, for each felony case, a court is required to hold, and a prosecutor is required to attend, a preliminary hearing. This bill would instead make the intentional killing or infliction of serious physical injury to a police dog or police horse a felony punishable by imprisonment for 2, 3, or 4 years. By changing the penalty of an existing crime, and by imposing additional duties on local prosecutors by increasing the number of preliminary hearings, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.