172536_CPCA_2020_Spring Magazine - Final | Page 10

LEGAL
Law Enforcement Training
in a Time of Fiscal Crisis
By: James Touchstone, Esq., General Counsel – California Police Chiefs Association, and Richard Lucero, Esq.
Governor Newsom recently released his May Revision to the 2020-21 state
budget. Needless to say, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound
negative effects on state and local budgets resulting from increased costs
associated with efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus and decreased tax revenues
connected to the closure of many businesses throughout the state. We can anticipate
that these adverse effects will continue for the foreseeable future. According to the May
Revision, a budget surplus of $5.6 billion was projected for the 2020-21 fiscal year
as of January. The Governor’s office now projects a budget deficit of approximately
$54 billion before the changes proposed in the May Revision.
As public entities deliberate about how to address abruptly declining
budgets, it is possible questions will be raised about what level of
training needs to be sustained for law enforcement personnel.
Law enforcement leaders recognize valid and consistent training is
essential for officer safety, policing effectiveness, and the relationships
agencies have with the communities they serve. The purpose
of this article is to provide Chiefs of Police and command staff with
additional authority for use in advocating for the continuity of critical
training as budget allocations move forward.
The constitutional obligation to properly train law enforcement
officers remains unaffected by budgetary crises, whether caused by
a global pandemic or otherwise. Approximately forty years ago, the
United States Supreme Court ruled, in Monell v. Department of Social
Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) that a “local government may not be
sued under § 1983 for an injury inflicted solely by its employees
or agents. Instead, it is when execution of a government’s policy or
custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or
acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury
that the government, as an entity, is responsible under § 1983.” Id.
at 694. (Emphasis added.) Some years later, the Court addressed
the Monell theory of liability in the context of the alleged failure to
properly train law enforcement officers.
Specifically, in the Supreme Court opinion entitled City of Canton v.
Harris, the Supreme Court defined the contours of a Section 1983
claim for inadequacy of training. The Court stated, “We hold today
that the inadequacy of police training may serve as the basis for §
1983 liability only where the failure to train amounts to deliberate
indifference to the rights of persons with whom the police come
into contact. This rule is most consistent with our admonition in
10 CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEF | www.californiapolicechiefs.org
Monell, 436 U.S., at 694, and Polk [citation
omitted], that a municipality can be liable
under § 1983 only where its policies are the
‘moving force [behind] the constitutional
violation.’ Only where a municipality's
failure to train its employees in a relevant
respect evidences a ‘deliberate indifference’
to the rights of its inhabitants can such a
shortcoming be properly thought of as a city
"policy or custom" that is actionable under §
1983.” City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378,
389 – 90 (1989).
In response to claims of Section 1983
liability based on deliberate indifference in
training law enforcement officers, some municipalities have asserted,
as a defense to such claims, that they were suffering from budgetary
limitations, and therefore, were unable to devote financial resources
to training programs. See Brown v. Bryan County, 219 F.3d 450, 455
(2000). Claims of budgetary constraints preventing effective training
have met with little success in the courts, however. See Brown, supra;
see also Valley v. City of Houston, 613 F.3d 536, 545 – 46 (2010).
In an effort to lessen the negative effects on training created by the
current fiscal situation, Governor Newsom notes in his May Revision
to the budget that resources will be provided to the Commission on
Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to assist with training
needs. Specifically, the May Revision proposes to use $10 million of
the General Fund previously appropriated to: (1) create a Distance
Learning Grant Program by POST, (2) increase the functionality of
POST’s Learning Portal, and (3) upgrade previously produced and
developed distance learning courses and videos. While these efforts
are to be applauded, time will tell if they are sufficient to ameliorate
the budgetary shortfalls that law enforcement agencies throughout
the state will likely experience in the future. Accordingly, it is imperative
that law enforcement executives are positioned to convey
the implications concerning allocation of what will undoubtedly be
more limited financial resources in future budgetary years, with due
consideration given to constitutional obligations to provide sufficient
training to their officers and the essential purposes training fulfills.
Information contained in this article is for general use and does not constitute legal
advice. This article is not intended to create, and receipt and review of it does not
constitute, an attorney-client-relationship with the author.