Police Accountability Law Slowly Showing Results

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, March 31, 2025…

• Hundreds of police officers in California have been stripped of their badges in the last few years for serious misconduct. The offenses range from sexual assault to excessive force to racial bias. But thousands of cases still need to be reviewed.
• A pair of bills aiming to limit the harms of social media on children will face their first hearing in the California legislature this week.

Hundreds Of Officers Stripped Of Their Badges Under Recent Law, But Backlog Remains

In May of 2020, 23-year-old Amaurie Johnson was waiting for some friends outside of an apartment building in La Mesa when officer Matthew Dages started questioning him. This was just two days after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. And what happened next would become a local flashpoint in the broader reckoning over racial justice. Johnson, who is Black, answered the officer’s questions. And then Dages, who is white, grabbed Johnson’s shirt.

The exchange was captured on the officer’s body camera and video of Johnson’s arrest went viral. Days later, La Mesa was engulfed in protests.

Dages was fired after an administrative investigation found he made false statements in a police report. He claimed Johnson was smoking in a nonsmoking area and took a fighting stance toward the officer.

In years past, Dages might have been able to leave La Mesa and find another job in a police department elsewhere in the state. Such scenarios happened enough over the years that they entered the police reform lexicon — advocates call it the “wandering officer” phenomenon. But under a state law passed in 2021, Dages lost his certification for good — meaning he can’t be an officer anywhere in California. In the last two years, the state has decertified nearly 300 officers for excessive use of force, dishonesty, sexual assault and other violations. That includes 20 officers in San Diego County who lost their badges. But the accountability at the heart of this recent law is happening slowly. The decision as to whether an officer should lose their badge rests with the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). POST has received tens of thousands of officer misconduct reports since 2023. The majority of these cases remain open, as the agency struggles to hire investigators.

Social Media Bills To Be Heard In Committee

Two bills aiming to limit the harms of social media on children will face their first hearing in the California legislature on Tuesday.

The state Assembly’s Privacy and Consumer Protection committee will consider legislation to require social media companies to display a warning label to users. The bill is from Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan. “Our children’s mental health is too high a price to pay for the engagement-driven practices of social media companies,” said Bauer-Kahan. “AB 56 ensures that families are armed with clear, actionable information to understand these dangers and make decisions that prioritize their children’s well-being.”

Another bill would toughen penalties on companies found liable for harms that occur to children on their apps. A version of this bill failed last year in the face of opposition from tech companies who argued the threat of lawsuits would have a chilling effect on their business.