Commission critiques POST production process for law‑enforcement training video, considers alternate community outreach

Commissioner Damsky, reporting for the subcommittee on recommendations to law enforcement, described a three‑day production session with POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) and outside subject‑matter experts. Damsky said the session set the training video’s priorities — explain AB 449 reporting requirements and supplemental forms, promote victim‑centered response and California versus Hate resources, and encourage proper supplemental reporting — but that POST’s production process is tightly controlled: participants must attend all three days, drafts and outlines were not shareable, and there was no mechanism for the commission to provide input after filming.

Damsky said the limitation left commissioners “shocked, completely disappointed, and greatly concerned.” He and other commissioners urged staff to ask POST whether the commission will be credited or acknowledged in the final product and to press for substantive incorporation of the subcommittee’s recommendations. Damsky also noted that POST’s videos are not publicly distributed; they reside in the POST learning portal and are available to subscribing law‑enforcement agencies.

Commissioner Southers and others raised representational gaps (no clear tribal law‑enforcement participation, and a perceived initial omission of Black victims from vignette planning). Commissioners questioned POST’s plan to use victims telling their personal stories in training and probed the ethics and trauma implications; Damsky said POST believes real victims can best convey reporting‑barriers and outcomes but that actors may be used when victims cannot or should not testify.

Commissioners discussed remedies: staff should flag major concerns with POST immediately and seek changes before filming (set for April 30–May 2), and the subcommittee proposed a Plan B partnership with the Shoah Foundation, USC School of Cinematic Arts or Simon Wiesenthal Center to produce a community‑facing video if POST will not incorporate commission input. Several commissioners noted that the POST video, while potentially useful for officers, may not reach frontline officers unless mandated; commissioners asked staff to consider alternate outreach and short public‑facing videos that the commission could control and distribute more broadly.

The subcommittee also flagged operational details for staff follow up: clarify whether supplemental reports are currently paper forms that will be computerized, determine if NIBRS and state SBIRS data can be synthesized, confirm funding for AB 449 implementation in the budget, and investigate whether POST training will be required viewing for officers at roll‑call sessions.