Page 17 - 20170929 Blue Lives Matter.indd

PROLOGUE

Kamp that if he was allocating resources to investigate police officers who
fire their weapons, it was only fair to allocate similar resources when a
police officer was the victim of a violent assault. In 1980, Van de Kamp
created CAPOS. As written in my 2003–2005 Biennial Report, the mission
of CAPOS was described as follows:

Prosecutors assigned to the Crimes Against Peace Officers Section
(CAPOS) play an integral role in the investigation and prosecution
of cases in which police officers are victims. CAPOS deputies are al-
ways on call and respond to the scene whenever an officer is seriously
injured or killed in the line of duty. The deputies work closely with
the investigating agency. They advise agency personnel on legal issues;
assist in the preparation of search warrants and other legal tools; and
aggressively prosecute those criminally charged.

CAPOS is considered a highly desirable assignment, and the unit at-
tracts some of the most talented prosecutors in the District Attorney’s
Office. Many of the prosecutors from CAPOS have become judges or have
been promoted to high-level positions in the office. CAPOS did not lose a
case during my twelve years as District Attorney.
One of the goals of this book is to encourage other prosecuting agen-
cies to establish and maintain special units or assign specially trained pros-
ecutors to assist in the investigation and handle the prosecution of cases
involving the murder and serious assault of police officers.

DEATH PENALTY

The current law in California makes first degree murder punishable by
death or by life imprisonment without the possibility of parole when “spe-
cial circumstances” of the crime have been charged and proven in court.
Existing state law identifies 22 special circumstances that can be alleged,
such as cases when the murder was carried out for financial gain, when
more than one murder was committed, or when the victim of the murder
was a peace officer in the performance of his or her duties.
The first phase of a murder trial where the prosecution seeks a death
sentence is a guilt phase that determines whether the defendant is guilty

15