SACRAMENTO , CA — Assembly Bill 1686, authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno, which increases the penalties for battery or assault of Parking Control Officers (PCO) to those that apply to Traffic Officers, passed the State Assembly today on a bi-partisan vote of 66-0.
Recently, there has been a spike in the number of violent attacks on officers who enforce our state or local parking laws. Last year there were 28 reported assaults on such officers in San Francisco, which represents more than a 64% increase in the number of assaults reported by the city in 2005.
“Without the same protections we provide other peace officers, the hard working men and women who enforce our parking laws are left vulnerable to attacks,” said Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). “This measure eliminates the disparity in current law by treating Parking Control Officers the same as Traffic Officers, and will send a message that we will not tolerate violence on any officers who are simply trying to do their jobs and enforce the law.”
Currently, if a PCO is injured as a result of battery or assault they suffer on the job, the offense is punishable by a misdemeanor. AB 1686 would equate the penalty with those provided for Traffic Officers— allowing the District Attorney to decide whether to charge it as a felony or misdemeanor, depending on the severity of the crime.
San Francisco PCO’s are employees of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which is sponsoring the measure. “Our public safety officers deserve to be treated with respect in the course of carrying out their duties, and when threatened, they should know they are protected by the full force of the law. AB 1686 will help us accomplish that goal,” said Nathaniel Ford, Sr., Executive Director/CEO of the SF Metropolitan Transit Agency.
AB 1686 is supported by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris, the City of San Francisco and the California District Attorneys Association.
AB 1686 will be heard next in the Senate Public Safety Committee.
For those joining in gay marriages today, the road from outlaw status to respectability was paved in the Legislature over three decades.
From decriminalizing sex between same-sex couples, to outlawing job discrimination against homosexuals, to adding gay members to the legislative roster, the government has been taking steps, measure-by-measure, that have led to gay couples joining hands in marriage ceremonies across the state.
