Existing law establishes various projects to aid in the apprehension and prosecution of criminals, including the California Career Criminal Apprehension Program, the Serious Habitual Offender Program, and the Violent Criminal Information Center.
This bill would establish the Armed Career Criminal Pilot Project, to be implemented by the Department of Justice in all but specified counties. The purpose of the project is to evaluate the propensity of armed career criminals to commit further offenses, to utilize information provided from other agencies to provide law enforcement officials with information on armed career criminals, to assist in identifying suspects, to provide information for sentencing, and to develop a data processing system for information on armed career criminals.
This bill would also require the Department of Corrections, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and law enforcement agencies, when requested by the Department of Justice, to provide copies of existing information maintained in their files regarding armed career criminals, as specified, and to provide followup information as it becomes available. To the extent that this bill would place an added burden on local law enforcement agencies in supplying the required information, it constitutes a state-mandated local program.
The Department of Justice would be required to report to the Legislature, as specified, and the project would be repealed on January 1, 1996.
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, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund to pay the costs of mandates which do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed $1,000,000.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to those statutory procedures and, if the statewide cost does not exceed $1,000,000, shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.
The bill would appropriate $140,000 from the Department of Justice’s State Asset Forfeiture Fund for the program.
Appropriation: yes.