Revisions Proposed for DE Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights
Two bills were filed Friday that would bring revisions to the Delaware Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights. House Bill 205 and House Bill 206 would revamp how officer disciplinary cases are handled and publicly disclosed, give members of the public a role in setting standards for police officers and increase transparency. According to the press release from the House Democratic Caucus, these measures build on previous police reform efforts, including requiring officers to use body-worn cameras, establishing a statewide use-of-force standard, banning chokeholds, mandating the recording of custodial interrogations, prohibiting the use of deceptive tactics against juveniles, and mandating a minimum age of arrest and prosecution.
Both measures have been assigned to the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee are are scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, June 7th.
Additional information from the House Democratic Caucus press release:
The bills would increase transparency for a system that has been criticized in recent years for its secretive nature by requiring public disclosure of certain findings against officers, mandating the sharing of certain reports with defense attorneys, and providing for local police accountability boards that include individuals or their family members who have been impacted by the criminal justice system.
The bills would increase transparency for a system that has been criticized in recent years for its secretive nature by requiring public disclosure of certain findings against officers, mandating the sharing of certain reports with defense attorneys, and providing for local police accountability boards that include individuals or their family members who have been impacted by the criminal justice system.
House Bill 205 would require an investigating agency prepare a detailed report of its internal investigation and publicly post it in any case involving:
- An officer’s discharge of a firearm.
- An officer’s use of force that results in serious physical injury.
- A sustained finding of sexual assault.
- A sustained finding of dishonesty related to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or to the reporting, or investigation of, misconduct by another law-enforcement officer.
- A sustained finding of domestic violence.
The reports would be posted on the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission’s (currently the Council on Policy Training) website.
The bill also would rename LEOBOR to Police Officer’s Due Process, Accountability, and Transparency.
HB 205 also would require that an investigation into officer misconduct be completed and sustained findings reported, regardless of their employment status, including whether the officer has resigned or retired during the investigation.
The bill also requires that defense attorneys in a criminal or delinquency case be provided – at their request – all records relating to sustained findings of misconduct relating to perjury, intentional false statements or false reports, or destruction, falsification, or concealment of evidence by an officer who participated in the investigation or prosecution.
Additionally, HB 205 would require each law enforcement agency to annually submit its detailed narratives to the Criminal Justice Council, which would publicly post those public reports. The agencies also would annually submit additional information to CJC to be publicly posted:
- The number of public complaints and internal complaints relating to police misconduct that the department received each year, broken down by subject matter of the complaint.
- The number of formal investigations undertaken by the department each year, and the number of complaints resolved without a formal investigation.
- The number of formal investigations that resulted in a sustained finding of misconduct, an unsubstantiated finding, or any other disposition.
Records relating to any incident for which a detailed narrative is required to be prepared and posted must be preserved for at least 25 years.
House Bill 206, sponsored by Rep. Kendra Johnson, would revamp the Council on Police Training, renaming it the Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission. The panel has a dual role of establishing training standards for Delaware police officers and overseeing allegations of police officer misconduct and conducting hearings for possible suspensions or de-certifications. HB 206 would clarify that decisions of disciplinary panels are public documents.
The bill would increase the number of governor-appointed public members to the commission from two to three and institute eligibility standards for them. One would be required to be a religious leader from the community who has experience with re-entry, and two members must be impacted directly or are immediate family members or caregivers of those impacted by the juvenile or adult criminal justice system.
In addition to its existing powers to suspend or revoke an officer’s certification, the commission would be able to take action in cases where an officer has been decertified in another jurisdiction or has received probation before judgment with respect to a felony or any criminal offense involving theft, fraud, or violation of the public trust, or of any drug law.
The commission also would have the authority to issue subpoenas for witnesses, documents, physical evidence or other evidence needed in connection with a hearing.
HB 206 also would require that all police departments establish, either individually or in combination with other departments, police accountability boards to provide advice to departments on policy, training and other issues relating to or affecting the department and the communities served by the department.
Similar to the proposed POST Commission itself, the local boards would be recommended to include at least one religious leader from the community and at least two public members who have been impacted directly or are immediate family members or caregivers of those impacted by the juvenile or adult criminal justice system.
HB 206 would require that every police agency in the state is accredited by the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission by July 1, 2028. This would standardize many police policies and procedures across all 52 law enforcement agencies in the state, making Delaware the first state in the nation to mandate accreditation for all police departments.
The bill also would implement several technical changes that would untether the commission from the Delaware State Police. The commission also would be required to double its number of meetings to four annually.
