California Weighs Ban on DAs with Police Backing from Trying Cops

California district attorneys whose campaigns were funded by police unions would have to recuse themselves from investigations of law enforcement officers under legislation approved Wednesday by lawmakers, reports the Courthouse News Service. The “first-of-its-kind” bill will prevent conflicts of interest, restore public faith that bad officers will be brought to justice, and aid the state and nation’s quest to remove bias and systemic racism from the criminal justice system.

Under Senate Bill 710, district attorneys investigating or charging a peace officer with a crime that have accepted money from the officer’s union would have to pass on the case. In the event both the DA and state Attorney General accepted banned law enforcement donations during their campaigns, a special prosecutor would then take over. The campaign donation prohibition pertains to formal “member organizations or associations” that lobby for law enforcement or represent them in legal matters, including statewide and local organizations like the California Police Chiefs Association or the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. Critics of the bill, namely the California District Attorneys Association, are casting it as an unfair First Amendment violation that singles out prosecutors.