SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) The use of police canines has been a mainstay in the constant dehumanizing, cruel this country’s dehumanizing, cruel, and violent abuse of Black Americans and people of color in this country. Be it in response to the Black Lives Matter protests over the murder of George Floyd, during the Los Angeles Race Riots and the Civil Rights Movement, or by slave catchers, police canines are a carryover from a dark past that is not often discussed. for centuries. First used by slave catchers, police canines are a violent carryover from America’s dark past. In recent decades, they have been used in brutal attempts to quell the Civil Rights Movement, the LA Race Riots, and in response to Black Lives Matter protests. The use of police canines makes people fear and further distrust the police, resulting in less safety and security for all, especially for communities of color.
(b) The use of police canines has serious consequences. Research on this topic found that canine severe and potentially deadly consequences for bite victims. In a Police Assessment Resource Center study of police canine bites, researchers found that bites resulted in hospital visits 67.5 percent of the time, while time. In contrast, other uses of force, including batons and tasers, resulted in hospital visits 22 percent of the time or less. Research has also found cases of These same researchers found that police canine bites led to permanent physical disfigurement and injuries to bones, blood vessels, nerves, breasts, testicles, faces, noses, and eyes, sometimes causing blindness, as a result of canine bites. Based on these findings, the researchers stated that canine bites should be considered a level of force immediately below deadly force. They equated a police canine bite to an officer swinging a baton with three-centimeter spikes attached. blindness.
(c) The use of police canines mirrors other biases in use of force by police. Per the Per the California Department of Justice Use of Force data from 2016 to 2019, inclusive, 2021, injuries caused by police canines accounted for nearly 12 percent of cases that resulted in severe injury or death. Of these cases, Black people are 3.5 more than two times more likely than any other group to be subjected to use of force due to police canine use, with Hispanic people being the second most likely compared to cases involving White people at six per one million people. this use of force.
SEC. 2.
Section 13653 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
13653.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to prevent the use of police canines for the purpose of arrest, apprehension, or any form of crowd control. any form of crowd control, or to arrest or apprehend a person except to avoid the use of deadly force or to defend against a lethal threat by the person. (b) A peace officer shall not use an unleashed police canine to arrest or apprehend a person unless the person is being pursued for a felony that threatened or resulted in the death of or serious bodily injury to another person and the person poses an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or to another person.
(c) A police canine shall not be used for crowd control at any assembly, protest, or demonstration.
(d) A police canine shall not be used to bite in any circumstance to bite. unless there is an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person by the person against whom the canine is used.
(e) The death of or serious bodily injury to a person caused by a police canine constitutes deadly force, as defined in Section 835a, attributable to the canine’s handler.
(e) (f) A law enforcement agency shall not authorize any use or training of a police canine that is inconsistent with this section.
(f) (g) This section shall not be interpreted as to prevent the use of police canines by law enforcement for purposes of search and rescue, explosives detection, and narcotics detection that do not involve biting.