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Gov. Code, § 12525.3 · Article 2. General Powers and Duties

Gov. Code, § 12525.3

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) For purposes of this subdivision, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Deadly weapon” includes, but it not limited to, any loaded weapon from which a shot, readily capable of producing death or other serious physical injury, may be discharged, or a switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, dagger, billy, blackjack, plastic knuckles, or metal knuckles.

(2) “Unarmed civilian” includes anyone who is not in possession of a deadly weapon.

(b) (1) A state prosecutor shall investigate incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian. The Attorney General is the state prosecutor unless otherwise specified or named.

(2) The state prosecutor is authorized to do all of the following:

(A) Investigate and gather facts in an incident involving a shooting by a peace officer that results in the death of a civilian if the civilian was unarmed or if there is a reasonable dispute as to whether the civilian was armed.

(B) For all investigations conducted, prepare and submit a written report. The written report shall include, at a minimum, the following information:

(i) A statement of the facts.

(ii) A detailed analysis and conclusion for each investigatory issue.

(iii) Recommendations to modify the policies and practices of the law enforcement agency, as applicable.

(C) If criminal charges against the involved officer are found to be warranted, initiate and prosecute a criminal action against the officer.

(3) The state prosecutor shall post and maintain on a public internet website each written report prepared by the state prosecutor pursuant to this subdivision, appropriately redacting any information in the report that is required by law to be kept confidential.

(c) (1) Commencing on July 1, 2023, the Attorney General shall operate a Police Practices Division within the Department of Justice to, upon request of a local law enforcement agency, review the use of deadly force policies of that law enforcement agency.

(2) The program described in paragraph (1) shall make specific and customized recommendations to any law enforcement agency that requests a review pursuant to paragraph (1), based on those policies identified as recommended best practices.

(d) This section does not limit the Attorney General’s authority under the California Constitution or any applicable state law.

(e) Subject to an appropriation for this purpose by the Legislature, the department shall implement this section.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 250, Sec. 2. (SB 715) Effective January 1, 2022.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&sectionNum=12525.3.
Text hash
sha256 0d8d366db31ce46409bee13f7a2b30a666f764f2af4e317d875d80985609c2cc
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

Cited by 1 provision

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Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.