Law enforcement policies: restraining orders.

Plain English Breakdown

The exact details of the reimbursement process from the state are not fully explained in the provided candidate explanation.

Law Enforcement Policies: Restraining Orders

This law requires police departments and other agencies in California to create policies for handling restraining orders that include rules about firearm access restrictions.

What This Bill Does

• Requires municipal police departments, county sheriff’s departments, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and university police departments to develop written policies by January 1, 2027.
• These policies must promote safe, consistent, and effective service, implementation, and enforcement of court protection and restraining orders that include firearm access restrictions.
• The policies need to have a standard process for serving an order against someone who is restrained in a timely way.

Who It Names or Affects

• Municipal police departments
• County sheriff’s departments
• Department of the California Highway Patrol
• University police departments of the University of California and California State University

Terms To Know

restraining order

A court order that tells someone to stay away from or stop contacting another person.

state-mandated local program

When the state of California requires local agencies to do something, which can sometimes cost money for those agencies.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if an agency fails to follow these new policies.
• It is unclear how much it will cost local agencies to create and enforce these new policies.

Official Summary Text

AB 451, Petrie-Norris.
Law enforcement policies: restraining orders.
Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain policies on specified subjects, including, among others, the use of force, gun violence restraining orders, and responding to domestic violence calls.
This bill would require each municipal police department and county sheriff’s department, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and the University of California and California State University Police Departments to, on or before January 1, 2027, develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standards to promote safe, consistent, and effective service, implementation, and enforcement of court protection and restraining orders that include firearm access restrictions. The bill would require these policies and standards to, among other things, provide a standard agency process for law enforcement to serve an order against a restrained person in a timely manner and ensure the agency consistently complies with specified requirements under California law governing service of protection and restraining orders. By expanding the duties of local law enforcement, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF