SACRAMENTO, Calif. — (AP) — Black police chiefs representing departments from across California on Friday called for changing state law so they can immediately fire officers for egregious behavior, with due-process appeals only after the fact.
California has some of the nation’s toughest police disciplinary rules and until last year the nation’s most secretive police privacy law. Coupled with collective bargaining agreements, the chiefs said that prevents the rapid dismissal of officers, by contrast to recent cases in Atlanta and Minneapolis where officers were fired in the deaths of Black men even before criminal charges were brought.
Representatives for police unions and rank-and-file officers did not immediately respond.
