California Code
CHAPTER 2 - Definitions
Section 7920.535.

7920.535. As used in this division, “public safety official” means the following parties, whether active or retired:

(a) A peace officer as defined in Sections 830 to 830.65, inclusive, of the Penal Code, or a person who is not a peace officer, but may exercise the powers of arrest during the course and within the scope of the person’s employment pursuant to Section 830.7 of the Penal Code.

(b) A public officer or other person listed in Section 1808.2 or 1808.6 of the Vehicle Code.

(c) An “elected or appointed official” as defined in Section 7920.500.

(d) An attorney employed by the Department of Justice, the State Public Defender, or a county office of the district attorney or public defender, the United States Attorney, or the Federal Public Defender.

(e) A city attorney and an attorney who represents cities in criminal matters.

(f) An employee of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation who supervises inmates or is required to have care or custody of a prisoner.

(g) A sworn or nonsworn employee who supervises inmates in a city police department, a county sheriff’s office, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, federal, state, or a local detention facility, or a local juvenile hall, camp, ranch, or home, and a probation officer as defined in Section 830.5 of the Penal Code.

(h) A federal prosecutor, a federal criminal investigator, and a National Park Service Ranger working in California.

(i) The surviving spouse or child of a peace officer defined in Section 830 of the Penal Code, if the peace officer died in the line of duty.

(j) State and federal judges and court commissioners.

(k) An employee of the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a public defender who submits verification from the Attorney General, district attorney, or public defender that the employee represents the Attorney General, district attorney, or public defender in matters that routinely place that employee in personal contact with persons under investigation for, charged with, or convicted of, committing criminal acts.

(l) A nonsworn employee of the Department of Justice or a police department or sheriff’s office that, in the course of employment, is responsible for collecting, documenting, and preserving physical evidence at crime scenes, testifying in court as an expert witness, and other technical duties, and a nonsworn employee that, in the course of employment, performs a variety of standardized and advanced laboratory procedures in the examination of physical crime evidence, determines their results, and provides expert testimony in court.

(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 614, Sec. 2. (AB 473) Effective January 1, 2022. Operative January 1, 2023, pursuant to Sec. 7931.000.)