Should the Commission approve, subject to the Notice of Proposed Regulatory Action process, the proposed changes to Commission Regulations 1953 (Peace Officer Background Investigation) and 1955 (Peace Officer Psychological Evaluation), including incorporating the Bias Assessment Framework and adding Multicultural Competence to the list of psychological evaluator competencies?  

If the Commission concurs, the appropriate action is a MOTION to approve the regulatory changes as enumerated in this report.

In September 2020, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 846 (AB 846), which became law effective January 1, 2021. The bill expanded Government Code Section 1031(f) requiring an evaluation of mental and emotional conditions to include that peace officers be found “free from any physical, emotional, or mental condition, including bias against race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation, that might adversely affect the exercise of the powers of a peace officer.” The bill also requires every department or agency that employs peace officers to review their job descriptions and deemphasize the paramilitary aspects of employment and place more emphasis on community interaction and collaborative problem solving.

AB 846 also added Section 1031.3 to the Government Code, which requires POST to, by January 1, 2022, “study, review, and update … regulations and associated screening materials related to the emotional and mental condition evaluation required by Section 1031 to incorporate both of the following:

(1) Identification of explicit bias towards race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.

(2) Identification of implicit bias towards race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. …”

The recommended framework, guidance and proposed regulations changes were presented to stakeholder groups for review and input. The groups consisted of screening psychologists, background investigators, and law enforcement representatives and associations. Relevant input was incorporated into the recommendations and they are being presented to the Commission for review and approval.

As part of this item, staff requests that secondary contacts during the background investigations be required in regulation.

Staff is requesting Commission approval, subject to the Notice of Proposed Regulatory Action process, for the proposed changes to Commission Regulations 1953 and 1955, including incorporating the Bias Assessment Framework and adding Multicultural Competence to the list of psychological evaluator competencies.  

In January 2021, POST established a working group of subject matter experts (hereafter referred to as the SME Panel) to study, review, and update regulations and associated screening materials related to the emotional and mental condition evaluation required by Government Code Section 1031. The SME Panel members were selected on the basis of their nationally recognized research on police candidate screening, police performance, and/or explicit and implicit bias (see Attachment A).

It was determined that the implementation plan for AB 846 would be conducted in three phases:

Phase 1: SME Panel produces its recommendations
Phase 2: SME Panel solicits feedback on its recommendations from the Psychological Evaluator Advisory Group and other stakeholder groups, and considers revisions
Phase 3: SME Panel reviews feedback from the Psychological Evaluator Advisory Group and other stakeholder groups, makes revisions, as needed, and submits final recommendations to POST Commission for action

Phase 1: Subject Matter Expert Review, Study and Recommendations

The work of the SME Panel was organized by the following sequential steps:

1. At the onset of the project, the SME Panel Chair and POST Project Manager collaborated to select and invite the panel members, develop agendas and timelines for the project, and survey POST Screening Psychologists [i.e., psychologists registered on the POST Psychological Evaluator website] to determine the methods they used to assess bias of California peace officer candidates in the context of preemployment psychological evaluations (see Attachment B for the survey result summary).

2. Prepare materials to familiarize the panel members with AB 846 requirements, including the enacted legislation and relevant laws, the POST Psychological Screening Manual, POST Commission Regulations 1953 (Peace Officer Background Investigation) and associated background investigation dimensions, and Regulation 1955 (Peace Officer Psychological Evaluation).

3. Prior to the initial meeting (and periodically between meetings), members of the SME Panel exchanged research articles and papers intended to facilitate the panel’s ability to address three questions central to its objectives:

1) Do any models exist for assessing explicit and implicit bias against race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation?
2) Do any methods exist to validly assess (“identify”) explicit and implicit bias against race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation in a personnel selection context?
3) If no models or methods exist for evaluating explicit and implicit bias against specific groups in a personnel selection context, what does the current state of the science suggest for achieving AB 846’s mandate?

The SME Panel held four virtual meetings in February, March, April and May and continued to communicate throughout this time to develop recommendations for implementing AB 846, bias screening of peace officer candidates. The outcome of this work includes a comprehensive literature review document titled “Use of Measures of Explicit and Implicit Bias for Predicting Discrimination” (Attachment C), the Bias Assessment Framework (Attachment D) and associated guidance (Attachment D1) and proposed regulation changes (Attachment E). 

Phase 2: Stakeholder Input

In May POST released Bulletin 2021-22 providing an update on the AB 846 project and requesting that interested stakeholders complete an online survey (Attachment F). The Bulletin was also sent to psychological evaluators, and the two background investigator associations – California Association of Law Enforcement Background Investigators (CALEBI) and the California Background Investigators Association (CBIA) – for dissemination to their members. The June POST Monthly Report also included an update and link to the stakeholder interest survey. A total of 18 individuals completed the survey. 

In addition to responses to the stakeholder interest survey, POST reached out directly to California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA), the California State Sheriffs Association (CSSA), California Peace Officers Association (CPOA) and Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) requesting stakeholder representatives.

Stakeholder participants included individuals who had expressed an interest in the project, were chosen by POST or their respective agencies/associations or had completed the interest survey. The groups consisted of screening psychologists (POST Psychological Advisory Group), background investigators and law enforcement and association representatives. Stakeholder input and meetings were initiated in June and concluded in August. Relevant input was incorporated into the recommendations.

Additional respondents to the stakeholder interest survey were contacted directly regarding their interest and input for the project. No other stakeholder groups expressed an interest.

Phase 3: Proposed Regulation Changes 

The proposed regulation changes (Attachment E) include incorporating the Bias Assessment Framework (Attachment D) into the psychological screening evaluation requirement (Commission Regulation 1955) and adding relevant language to the background investigation requirements (Commission Regulation 1953). These changes are intended to meet the mandate of Government Code Section 1031.3 to ensure that bias is being assessed during the evaluation, in accordance with Government Code Section 1031, and that psychologists are receiving the requisite personal history information from the background investigation. Other changes to these regulations are to clarify existing requirements.

The psychological evaluator competencies identified in Commission Regulation 1955 will also be modified to require that in addition to the ten current competencies, psychologists will be required to have Multicultural Competence (Attachment G).