The Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights and the Statute of Limitations

The Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights and the Statute of Limitations
An Editorial By Robert C. Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

Gov’t. Code § 3304(d)(1) of the Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act provides for a one-year statute of limitation, measured from the date of the alleged violation without taking into consideration any other over-lapping violations.

As a law enforcement officer, you may sometimes wonder whether anyone in the public or government sectors is watching your six, given the recent “defund the police” mentality and the California Legislature’s tendency to be overly concerned with lessening punishments on criminals while at the same time imposing more and more restrictions on law enforcement’s powers and duties. But you might take comfort in the knowledge that Cops’ Lives do Matter, as illustrated by the existence of the “Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act;” i.e., Gov’t. Code §§ 3300 et seq.  

One of the protections for law enforcement found in the list of rights provided for in the Act is Gov’t. Code § 3304(d)(1).  Under this section, a “statute of limitations” is mandated, limiting the time to one year between when an act of misconduct by a law enforcement officer is discovered and the resulting investigation is to be completed with an “Intent or Notice of Averse Action” issued to the officer.  This limitation is discussed in the recent case of Garcia v. State Dept. of Developmental Services (Feb. 21, 2023) 2023 Cal.App. LEXIS 109.  Although since depublished by the Court (and thus not available for citation), the rule of the Garcia decision, dealing with the length of time an officer’s employers can drag out an internal investigation, is still important. 

As previously noted by the California Supreme Court, a statute of limitations is important to you, as a law enforcement officer, in order “to ensure that an officer will not be faced with the uncertainty of a lingering investigation, but will know within one year of the agency’s discovery of the officer’s act or omission that it may be necessary for the officer to respond in the event he or she wishes to defend ....

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