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A look into Senate Bill 203 after Wednesday’s threat at Thermal schools

Following Wednesday's threat at three schools in Thermal, it took the Sheriff's Dept. and CVUSD several hours to provide information about what was going on to concerned parents.

Related Story: 2 students detained, gun found after threat at CVUSD school

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco apologized for the delay and says there are challenges to getting information out faster. 

"Our legislature have made it illegal for us [Sheriff's Dept] to talk to juveniles. So we cannot obtain information that we'd normally get in the past about the safety of other students, about other students that may be involved. And so this is a very long and painstaking process that we have to go through to make sure that the rest of our campus and the rest of our students are safe."

- Sheriff Chad Bianco

Bianco is referring to Senate Bill 203, which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2020.

SB 203 extends the Miranda rights protections to minors 17 years old and younger. Minors who are detained have the right to consult a lawyer and be explained their Miranda rights before being interrogated by law enforcement.

The Miranda rights protect the constitutional “right against self-incrimination, and the right to remain silent."

Before SB 203, there was another California bill, SB 395, that was approved in October 2017, which required that a youth 15 years of age or younger consult with legal counsel. SB 203 extended those rights to minors 17 years old and under.

Other local law enforcement says it can be a challenge:

"The challenge is that we don't have the ability of dealing, interacting with somebody that is now in custody, that has the ability of waiving the rights and providing the statement," said Lieutenant Gustavo Araiza with Palm Springs Police Department.

When Bill 203 was introduced, its author, senator Steven Bradford, said:

"Most adults have no legal background. And on top of that many of us don’t even fully understand our legal rights when interacting with members of law enforcement… Young people must know their rights and they should not be alone when being interrogated.”

Bianco said he does not agree with the bill.

"It's quite honestly, it's a horrible bill… The way the legislators wrote the bill, and the way they discussed it, and the way they passed it, it was meant to hamper the investigation of law enforcement to protect suspect," said Bianco.

Bianco said he stands by how the situation was handled and will continue to work with Coachella Valley Unified School District.

"I can't really say that we did anything wrong, other than maybe some notification aspects of it, but we'll work with the school on that and hopefully get a better response from them the next time," said Bianco.

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Marian Bouchot

Marian Bouchot is the weekend morning anchor and a reporter for KESQ News Channel 3. Learn more about Marian here.

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