SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 572, authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San José), to protect grieving families from coercive and deceptive police interrogations following deaths or serious injuries caused by law enforcement.
According to a press release from Kalra’s office, the new law requires officers to provide transparency and prohibits deception when interviewing family members of individuals killed or severely injured by police.
Kalra said he worked “closely with impacted families these past two years” to ensure the bill “brings compassion and respect” to those grieving in the aftermath of police violence. “AB 572 will hold our law enforcement agencies to a higher standard in their interactions with impacted family members, requiring not only transparency, but prohibiting threats and outright deception,” he said.
The bill was co-sponsored by Californians for Safety and Justice and Silicon Valley De-Bug, two organizations that advocate for criminal justice reform. Charisse Domingo, an organizer with Silicon Valley De-Bug, said the legislation helps impacted families by “turning their pain and trauma into actionable, urgent, and ultimately life-saving reforms.”
AB 572 was introduced after a Los Angeles Times investigation in March 2023 exposed statewide police practices of extracting information from victims’ families to protect officers from potential legal consequences.
The law requires law enforcement agencies to establish policies ensuring transparency and banning coercive tactics when questioning family members after incidents of police violence. Exceptions are allowed only if an officer believes there is a public safety threat or when a family member is under arrest or directly involved in an investigation, according to Kalra’s statement.
Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, said, “We should never settle for anything less than full transparency from law enforcement officials, especially when interviewing the family of a person killed or seriously injured by police.” She added that manipulating survivors “erodes our collective safety” and undermines a “community’s trust in law enforcement.”
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