With the New Year
comes some new state laws,
and tonight we're taking a
closer look at Senate Bill 960.
This law took effect at
the start of the year,
changing the qualifications to become
a police officer here in California.
Now, anyone who can legally work
in the state under federal law
can become a police officer,
regardless of citizenship.
Tonight, we clear up some
misconceptions about the new law
by going directly to the state
senator who wrote the bill,
and we talked with the San Diego
Police Officers Association
about their concerns.
Right now, the San Diego Police
Department has lost over 500
officers since July of 2020.
That's drastic.
We need everyone we can to be
able to be a police officer.
How are we are not in favor
of reducing the requirements
and lowering the standards?
Sergeant Jared Wilson,
speaking as president and on behalf of the
San Diego Police Officers Association,
says they do have concerns about
the new California law that changed
the qualifications to become a
police officer in the state.
Prior to January 1st of this year,
you had to be a United States.
Citizen or permanent resident
to qualify for the job.
Now that's no longer the case.
Anyone who is legally authorized to
work in the state of California with
the proper green card or visa is now
eligible to become a police officer,
thanks to Senate Bill 960,
authored by state Senator Nancy Skinner.
When you look at California's rules,
almost every other profession.
Lawyers, doctors are able to be part
of that profession as long as they have
full federal legal work authorization.
It was only our sworn officers
that we restricted that way,
even firefighters.
And ironically, in the military.
You could be an officer in the
military and you could not be
a peace officer in California.
So that's why we felt it
was totally right to fix the
rule. Just to make things perfectly clear,
we're not talking about undocumented workers.
Have to have full legal work authorization.
I think that's the misconception
that a lot of people have,
certainly, Senator Skinner
says it was the University of California
Police Department that first reached
out and pushed for the change during a
time when police departments across the
state are struggling to fill positions,
UC Davis Police Chief Joe Farrow testified at
an assembly public Safety committee hearing.
They see a lot of stellar candidates in their
programs who they ultimately can't hire.
We wanted to come to the legislature
to see if we can't change
that law, and that's why I'm here. Today,
the bill passed, changing things
for people like UC Davis graduate
and DACA recipient Ernesto Moron,
who attended the UC Police
Academy and passed the background
check but wasn't eligible to be
hired as an officer until now.
This bill will allow me and countless others
the opportunity to fulfill my dream of
serving the communities where I was raised,
educated and live as a sworn police officer,
DPOA says. While they don't support
the new law, they do acknowledge
it will help people like moron.
Demands and deserves a high
quality police force and officers
that meet stringent standards.
So we're not in favor of
lowering these standards at all.
However, I think there's a handful
of people who have been in this
country a long time will be able
to hire as a result of this,
and hopefully they become
citizens. Do you feel you are lowering
the standards of what it takes to be
a peace officer at all? Not at all.
They would still have to meet
every other qualification.
Let's say I'm a green card holder.
I have to get the background check.
I have to meet every.
Other requirement.
Senator Skinner says
the California Police Chiefs
Association does support this new law.
Also, I checked with San Diego police
and the San Diego Sheriff's Department.
Both tell me they are updating their
policies to reflect this new requirement.
As for DACA recipients,
right now they are allowed to
continue renewing their status and
obtain legal authorization to work,
but new applications are not being accepted.
And these are people that are paying taxes
and and one of the issues this addresses is
that it takes so long to become a citizen.
That's true, the senator Skinner said.
A backlog of.
6 to 10 years.
So this gets people who are qualified
into the workforce and a lot of
support from a lot of police agencies,
not from our local SPOA,
but from a lot of the they're in the process,
they're on their way,
they want to serve and protect.