Bills that would thwart law enforcement investigations From questioning the families of people killed by police The bill, introduced before disclosing a loved one's death, failed when the Democratic-controlled state Senate refused to bring the measure to a vote before the end of the legislative year on Saturday.

under Assembly Bill 3021Detectives and prosecutors investigating police-involved deaths would have been required to inform the families of those who died of their right to know the status of their loved ones, their right to remain silent, their right to an attorney, and their right to know if they were being recorded before answering questions.

The bill passed the House in May but failed to garner the minimum 21 votes needed to pass the Senate due to strong opposition from police and sheriff's groups.

“Law enforcement still has a lot of influence in this building,” Rep. Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), the bill's author, said in a brief interview at the Capitol on Saturday night.

“I don't think they like being told how to run their business, but there are situations where you need to be told how to run your business and this is one of those,” he said.

Kalra said he hopes to try again next year.

The Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association was one of many law enforcement groups that lobbied against the bill.

“Imposing stringent requirements on police officers, prosecutors and investigators could ultimately hinder the pursuit of justice and undermine the effectiveness of law enforcement efforts,” the groups said in their legislative analysis. “Requiring police officers and prosecutors to disclose certain information before questioning family members could undermine the confidentiality of ongoing investigations.”

This law: Los Angeles Times investigation Additionally, the University of California, Berkeley's Investigative Journalism Program identified 20 cases across California where detectives and prosecutors used death notices to gather derogatory information about people who had been killed or seriously injured by police.

During these interviews, investigators asked family members about their relatives' drug use, alcoholism, gang affiliation and mental health issues, and encouraged them to answer the questions before announcing their loved one's death.

When some of the families later sued, officials often used the information from those interviews to portray the deceased as psychopaths or irresponsible parents in court to defend their agency — in some cases helping to reduce the cost of damages and settlements paid to the families, The Times found.

Lawyers and advocacy groups who specialize in police misconduct say the cases uncovered by the Times and investigative journalism network are just a few examples of a common practice.

Bruce Prato, co-founder of Lexipol, a company that writes training and policy manuals for police departments, has helped popularize the practice by teaching it to officers in webinars. In a 2019 online training, Prato encouraged officers to get to the families of people killed by police “before the dust settles.”

Several police experts across the country have condemned the practice, and since The Times published its findings, several more have come forward to say they too have experienced the tactic.

After the Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal story Regarding Prato's webinar, Lexipol distanced itself from its co-founder, apologized for Prato's comments, and vowed to more thoroughly review the material presented in its training materials. George Polk Award winnerIt is one of the most prestigious awards in investigative journalism.

Members of Silicon Valley Debug, a San Jose-based police accountability group that worked with Kalra to draft the bill after several people found themselves subject to the practice, said they would continue to fight for a new version of the bill.

“It's disappointing how little importance the California Senate places on grieving families,” said Sharon Watkins, whose son, Phillip Watkins, was shot and killed by a San Jose police officer in 2015.

“Without this bill, repairing community-police relations will be impossible.”

California Politics Editor Laurel Rosenhall contributed to this report.