Title: In re M.M.

State: california

Issuer: California Supreme Court

Document:

1 
Filed 6/28/12 
 
 
 
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 
 
 
In re M.M., a Person Coming Under 
) 
the Juvenile Court Law. 
) 
____________________________________) 
 
 
) 
THE PEOPLE, 
) 
S177704 
 
 
) 
 
Plaintiff and Respondent, 
) 
Ct.App. 4/2 E045714 
 
 
) 
 
v. 
) 
San Bernardino County 
 
 
) 
Super. Ct. No. J220179 
M.M., a Minor, 
) 
 
 
) 
 
Defendant and Appellant. 
) 
 
____________________________________) 
 
Penal Code section 148, subdivision (a)(1) (section 148(a)(1)) makes it a 
misdemeanor to “willfully resist[], delay[], or obstruct[] any public officer, peace 
officer, or . . . emergency medical technician . . . in the discharge or attempt to 
discharge any duty of his or her office or employment . . . .”  (§ 148(a)(1), italics 
added.)  Law enforcement personnel have long been considered public officers 
within the meaning of section 148(a)(1). 
A “school security officer” (Ed. Code, § 38001.5, subd. (c)) is a public 
safety officer employed by a school district and charged with “ensur[ing] the 
safety of school district personnel and pupils and the security of the real and 
personal property of the school district.”  (Id., § 38000, subd. (a).)  School security 
officers, although not sworn peace officers, work in partnership with local law 
 
 
2 
enforcement agencies to achieve the statutory goals of ensuring the safety of 
persons and property on public school premises, and are considered by law 
“supplementary to city and county law enforcement agencies.”  (Ibid.)  
The question in this case is whether a school security officer is a “public 
officer” for purposes of a misdemeanor charge of willfully resisting, delaying, or 
obstructing a public officer in violation of section 148(a)(1).  As will be explained, 
the legislative history of section 148(a)(1) reflects that the term “public officer” as 
used therein has long been understood to include public officials and employees 
who perform law enforcement-related duties in connection with their office or 
employment.  School security officers plainly fall within that category of public 
officers.  Employed by local school districts, with their public duties specifically 
defined in the Education Code, school security officers work in partnership with 
local law enforcement officers to protect the safety of persons and property on 
public school premises.  We conclude that school security officers, like sworn 
peace officers, fall within the protection of section 148(a)(1).  Because the Court 
of Appeal below reached a contrary conclusion, its judgment will be reversed. 
STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 
On January 30, 2008, the security department at Arroyo Valley High 
School in San Bernardino received a call regarding vandalism (“tagging”) 
occurring on campus in the vicinity of the baseball field.  School security officers1 
Bryan Butts, Oscar Ramos and Ron Meyer responded directly to the scene, while 
San Bernardino City Unified School District peace officer Alfredo Yanez drove 
his patrol car around the perimeter of the campus. 
                                              
1  
When testifying at the jurisdictional hearing, Officers Butts and Ramos 
referred to themselves as “campus security officers.”  However, the Education 
Code refers to a security officer employed by a public school district as a “school 
security officer.”  (Ed. Code, §38001.5; see also Pen. Code, § 627.7.)  As such, we 
shall refer to Officer Butts as a school security officer. 
 
 
3 
When the school security officers arrived at the scene, they saw a group of 
10 or more students scatter.  Officer Butts, who was in uniform, pursued one 
group of three or four students, one of whom was M.M. (the minor), as they ran 
north towards Baseline Street.  Officer Butts yelled to the group several times to 
stop.  The officer was well acquainted with the minor and yelled directly to him by 
name, many times, to stop.  The minor continued to run, jumping a locked gate 
and then a chain link fence.  During the pursuit, Officers Butts and Ramos saw the 
minor throw a white object on the ground that looked like a spray paint can.  
Eventually the minor exited the campus and encountered Officer Yanez.  The 
minor immediately submitted to that officer‟s command to stop and was arrested.  
The officers observed what appeared to be fresh graffiti on the wall of a campus 
building next to the baseball field.  A water bottle, but no spray paint can, was 
found in the area where the minor was observed to have thrown an object while 
fleeing. 
On April 25, 2008, the San Bernardino County District Attorney‟s Office 
filed an amended petition pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 602, 
subdivision (a), alleging that the minor had resisted or delayed a public officer 
(school security officer Butts), a misdemeanor, in violation of Penal Code section 
148(a)(1), and had committed misdemeanor vandalism, in violation of Penal Code 
section 594, subdivision (b)(2)(A).  During the jurisdictional hearing, Officer 
Butts testified that his duties as a school security officer included protecting 
people and school property, ensuring the basic safety of the school by making sure 
persons on campus were not in possession of weapons, narcotics, or contraband, 
and investigating or responding to reports of crimes such as vandalism. 
At the close of the jurisdictional hearing, the juvenile court found that a 
school security officer was a public officer within the meaning of section 
148(a)(1), found true the allegation that the minor had resisted or delayed a public 
 
 
4 
officer under that section, and found not true the allegation of misdemeanor 
vandalism.  The minor was declared a ward of the court and placed on probation in 
the custody of his mother. 
On appeal, the minor contended his conviction under section 148(a)(1) was 
unsupported by substantial evidence because Officer Butts was not a public officer 
within the meaning of that section.  The Court of Appeal agreed and reversed the 
judgment, concluding, as a matter of law, that a school security officer is not a 
public officer within the meaning of section 148(a)(1).  The court placed principal 
reliance on decisions that did not involve a criminal charge under section 
148(a)(1) and instead concerned the common law definition of “public officer.”  
(See, e.g., People v. Rosales (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 81 (Rosales); People v. Olsen 
(1986) 186 Cal.App.3d 257 (Olsen).) 
We granted the People‟s petition for review. 
DISCUSSION 
The sole question before us is whether a public school security officer is a 
“public officer” within the meaning of section 148(a)(1).2 
Section 148(a)(1) provides, in full, “Every person who willfully resists, 
delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency medical 
                                              
2  
The Education Code authorizes the governing board of any public school 
district to establish a police or security department.  (Ed. Code, § 38000, subd. 
(a).)  Under section 38001 of that code, “[p]ersons employed and compensated as 
members of a police department of a school district, when appointed and duly 
sworn, are peace officers, for the purposes of carrying out their duties of 
employment pursuant to Section 830.32 of the Penal Code.” 
 
Officer Butts was not a sworn peace officer within the meaning of 
Education Code section 38001.  Instead, he was a school security officer employed 
by the San Bernardino City Unified School District and assigned to the security 
department of Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino.  Hence, the question 
before us is whether Officer Butts, in his role as a school security officer, is a 
“public officer” within the meaning of section 148(a)(1). 
 
 
5 
technician, as defined in Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 1797) of the 
Health and Safety Code, in the discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his or 
her office or employment, when no other punishment is prescribed, shall be 
punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by 
imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by both that fine and 
imprisonment.”  (§ 148(a)(1), italics added.) 
When construing any statute, “our goal is „ “to ascertain the intent of the 
enacting legislative body so that we may adopt the construction that best 
effectuates the purpose of the law.” ‟ ”  (City of Santa Monica v. Gonzalez (2008) 
43 Cal.4th 905, 919.)  “When the language of a statute is clear, we need go no 
further.”  (People v. Flores (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1059, 1063.)  But where a statute‟s 
terms are unclear or ambiguous, we may “look to a variety of extrinsic aids, 
including the ostensible objects to be achieved, the evils to be remedied, the 
legislative history, public policy, contemporaneous administrative construction, 
and the statutory scheme of which the statute is a part.”  (People v. Woodhead 
(1987) 43 Cal.3d 1002, 1008; see also Catlin v. Superior Court (2011) 51 Cal.4th 
300, 304; People v. Canty (2004) 32 Cal.4th 1266, 1277.) 
The term “public officer” found in section 148(a)(1) is ambiguous on its 
face.  Indeed, this court long ago observed that “[i]t is difficult, perhaps 
impossible, to frame a definition of . . . public officer which will be sufficiently 
accurate, both as to its inclusion and its exclusion, to meet the requirements of all 
cases.”  (Spreckels v. Graham (1924) 194 Cal. 516, 530.)  The term “public 
officer” is not specifically defined in section 148(a)(1) or anywhere else in the 
Penal Code.  Since the precise meaning of “public officer” as used in section 
148(a)(1) cannot be gleaned from the phrase itself, we turn first to consideration of 
the legislative history behind the section‟s language.  That history reveals a 
longstanding intent on the part of the Legislature to define “public officer” as 
 
 
6 
including those public officials and employees who perform law enforcement 
related duties in connection with their office or employment. 
1. Legislative history behind use of the term “public officer” in 
section 148(a)(1). 
Section 148 has its origin in section 92 of California‟s Crimes and 
Punishments Act of 1850 (section 92).  (See Historical and Statutory Notes, 
West‟s Ann. Pen. Code (1999 ed.) foll. § 148, p. 319.)  As initially enacted in 
1850, section 92 made it a crime for any person to “knowingly and wilfully 
obstruct, resist, or oppose any sheriff, deputy sheriff, coroner, constable, marshal, 
policeman, or other officer of this state, or other person duly authorized, in 
serving, or attempting to serve, any lawful process or order of any court, judge, or 
justice of the peace, or any other legal process whatsoever . . . .”  (Stats. 1850, ch. 
99, § 92, p. 240.)  Section 92 thus afforded protection to a broad category of state 
and local government officials and their subordinates (“other person[s] duly 
authorized”) from any undue interference with their official duties pertaining to 
the “serving, or attempting to serve, any lawful process or order of any court, 
judge, or justice of the peace, or any other legal process whatsoever.”  (§ 92.) 
Thereafter, in 1872, in the first codified Penal Code, section 92 was 
renumbered as section 148.  As originally enacted, section 148 omitted the 
enumerated list of specific individuals afforded protection under section 92, 
substituting the catchall term “public officer,” and further omitted the language 
characterizing the official duties of such persons (“serving, or attempting to serve 
. . . any . . . legal process whatsoever”), substituting in its stead broader language 
(“any duty of his office”), so that the statute read, in pertinent part, “Every person 
who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, in the discharge or 
attempt to discharge any duty of his office . . . .”  (Pen. Code, former § 148, italics 
added.) 
 
 
7 
Over a century later, in 1983, Penal Code section 148 was amended by 
Assembly Bill No. 158 (1983-1984 Reg. Sess.) to expressly make it a crime to 
resist, delay or obstruct any “public officer or peace officer” in the performance of 
his or her official duties.  (§ 148, as amended by Stats. 1983, ch. 73, § 1, p. 166.)  
By that time the case law had long since recognized peace officers as public 
officers.  (See, e.g., In re William F. (1974) 11 Cal.3d 249, 252-253; In re Bacon 
(1966) 240 Cal.App.2d 34, 54; People v. Powell (1950) 99 Cal.App.2d 178, 179; 
People v. Martensen (1926) 76 Cal.App. 763, 766-767.)  An Assembly committee 
analysis of Assembly Bill No. 158 explained that the amendment “makes no 
substantive change in the law” and was simply intended to “codify judicial 
decisions which have interpreted the term „public officers‟ to include peace 
officers.”  (Assem. Com. on Criminal Law & Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. 
Bill No. 158 (1983-1984 Reg. Sess.) Feb. 9, 1983, p. 1.) 
Four years later, in 1987, section 148 was amended once again, by 
Assembly Bill No. 462 (1987-1988 Reg. Sess.), to add “emergency medical 
technician[s], as defined in Division 2.5 (commencing with section 1797) of the 
Health and Safety Code,” to “public officer[s]” and “peace officer[s],” as those 
persons falling within the protection of the statute.  (Pen. Code, § 148, as amended 
by Stats. 1987, ch. 257, § 1, p. 1260.)  An Assembly committee analysis of that 
bill indicates the amendment was proposed (by the Tuolumne County sheriff‟s 
office) because emergency medical technicians were not included within the 
statutory definition of those afforded protection from undue interference with the 
performance of their duties.  (See Assem. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of 
Assem. Bill No. 462 (1987-1988 Reg. Sess.) Mar. 9, 1987.)  The addition was 
necessary because not all emergency medical technicians are public employees.  
(See, e.g., Olsen, supra, 186 Cal.App.3d at pp. 265-266.) 
 
 
8 
In sum, the legislative history of section 148(a)(1) reflects that ever since 
the statute was codified in the Penal Code in 1872, the catchall phrase “public 
officer” has been understood to include a variety of public officials and employees 
who perform law enforcement related duties in connection with their office or 
employment.  Section 92, the predecessor statute, itself protected a broad category 
of persons vested with authority to “serv[e] . . .any lawful process or order of any 
court, judge, or justice of the peace, or any other legal process whatsoever.”  
(§ 92.)  “Policemen” were expressly included in the enumerated list of persons 
entitled to such protections.  (§ 92.)  Thereafter, when the Penal Code was codified 
in 1872, the Legislature deleted the long list of persons protected under section 92 
and made it a crime to willfully resist, delay, or obstruct “any public officer, in the 
discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his office.”  (Pen. Code, former 
§ 148.)  The Legislature‟s use of the catchall phrase “any public officer” signaled 
its intent to give the codified section an even broader application than its 
predecessor statute.  As explained, peace officers exercising their authority to 
make lawful detentions or arrests were recognized as “public officers” under 
section 148(a)(1) long before the statutory language was amended in 1983 to 
expressly include them. 
The legislative history reviewed above likewise supports a conclusion that 
school security officers in particular are “public officers” within the meaning of 
section 148(a)(1).  School security officers have been described by one court as 
“peace officers but of a special category.”  (In re Frederick B. (1987) 192 
Cal.App.3d 79, 88 [finding school security officers public officers under 
§ 148(a)(1)], disapproved on other grounds in In re Randy G. (2001) 26 Cal.4th 
556, 567, fn. 2.)  The position of school security officer is defined by statute as 
“any person primarily employed or assigned . . . to provide security services as a 
watchperson, security guard, or patrolperson on or about premises owned or 
 
 
9 
operated by a school district to protect persons or property or to prevent the theft 
or unlawful taking of district property of any kind or to report any unlawful 
activity to the district and local law enforcement agencies.”  (Ed. Code, § 38001.5, 
subd. (c).)3  School security officers, like peace officers, are uniformed and wear 
badges (§ 38003), may carry firearms if required to do so by their employment 
when properly trained and certified to do so (§ 38001.5, subd. (b), (d)(1)(C)), and 
are subject to other mandatory training and screening requirements.  (§ 38001.5, 
subds. (b), (d)(1)(A), (2).)  The Legislature specifically envisioned that school 
security officers would work in partnership with local law enforcement agencies to 
ensure the safety of persons and property on public school grounds.  (Ed. Code, 
§ 38000, subd. (a) [“It is the intention of the Legislature in enacting this section 
that a school district police or security department is supplementary to city and 
county law enforcement agencies . . . .”].)   
2. Statutory objectives and public policy. 
Because the term “public officer” as used in section 148(a)(1) is ambiguous 
on its face, in addition to examining the legislative history of the statutory 
language, we may also consider the “ostensible objects to be achieved” (People v. 
Woodhead, supra, 43 Cal.3d at p. 1008) by the statute as well as relevant public 
policy considerations.  (Ibid.; Catlin v. Superior Court, supra, 51 Cal.4th at p. 304; 
People v. Canty, supra, 32 Cal.4th at p. 1277.) 
The object to be achieved by Penal Code section 148(a)(1) is the protection 
of public officers from those who would willfully resist, delay, or obstruct them in 
the performance or discharge of their public duties.  We have explained that peace 
officers have long been considered public officers within the meaning of section 
148(a)(1), and that school security officers, although generally not sworn peace 
                                              
3  
Further undesignated statutory references are to the Education Code (except 
§ 148(a)(1)). 
 
 
10 
officers, are public employees charged with the public duty of working in 
partnership with such local law enforcement officers to achieve the statutory goals 
of ensuring the safety of persons and property on public school premises.  (Ed. 
Code, § 38000, subd. (a).)  Legally enforceable obedience to the directions of 
school security officers is required to protect them from undue interference with 
the performance of their public duties as they, in turn, work with local law 
enforcement personnel to protect both persons and property from “increasingly 
diverse and dangerous situations” (§ 38001.5, subd. (a)) occurring on California‟s 
public school campuses.  It would make little sense to enact statutory protections 
for peace officers to deter those who would willfully resist, delay, or obstruct them 
in the performance of their official duties, and not afford the same protections to 
public school security officers who work in partnership with those peace officers, 
performing complementary law enforcement functions.  The Legislature could not 
in reason have intended otherwise. 
Our conclusion is reinforced by consideration of Penal Code section 627.7, 
which provides, in relevant part, “It is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment 
in the county jail . . . or by a fine . . . or by both . . . for an outsider to fail or refuse 
to leave the school grounds promptly after the principal, designee, or school 
security officer has requested the outsider to leave . . . .”  (Italics added.)  Once 
again, it would make little sense to criminalize the failure by a person 
unauthorized to be on a public school campus from heeding a school security 
officer‟s request to leave the premises, but then exclude such an officer from the 
protection afforded by section 148(a)(1) should the intruder willfully resist or 
obstruct the officer‟s attempts to enforce this Penal Code provision. 
Our conclusion is also reinforced by consideration of Penal Code section 
831.4, subdivision (a), in which the Legislature has declared, “A sheriff‟s or police 
security officer is a public officer, employed by the sheriff of a county or police 
 
 
11 
chief of a city, whose primary duty is the security of locations or facilities as 
directed by the sheriff or police chief.”  (Pen. Code, § 831.4, subd. (a), italics 
added.)  Although public school security officers are not directly employed by a 
county sheriff or city police chief, they are employed by a police or security 
department of a public school district, which in turn must be established under the 
supervision of a “chief of police” or “chief of security” (Ed. Code, § 38000, 
subd. (a)) who was either formerly employed as a peace officer or has undergone 
training approved by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.  
(§ 38000, subd. (b).) 
Given that the Legislature has denoted a “security officer” employed by a 
county sheriff or city police chief, whose primary duty is to secure public 
facilities, as a “public officer” in Penal Code section 831.4, subdivision (a), by 
parity of reasoning, a school security officer employed by a school district under 
the supervision of a chief of police or chief of security, who is charged with the 
public duty of “provid[ing] security services . . . on or about premises owned or 
operated by a school district” (Ed. Code, § 38001.5, subd. (c)), must likewise fall 
within the term “public officer” in Penal Code section 148(a)(1). 
Last, because the term “public officer” as used in section 148(a)(1) is 
ambiguous on its face, we may also take into account any relevant public policy 
considerations in determining whether school security officers fall within the 
protection of section 148(a)(1).  (Catlin v. Superior Court, supra, 51 Cal.4th at 
p. 304; People v. Canty, supra, 32 Cal.4th at p. 1277; People v. Woodhead, supra, 
43 Cal.3d at p. 1008.) 
Section 32261 declares, “[T]he Legislature . . . recognizes that school 
crime, vandalism, truancy, and excessive absenteeism are significant problems on 
far too many school campuses in the state.”  (Ed. Code, § 32261, subd. (a).)  The 
section further states, “It is the intent of the Legislature . . . to encourage school 
 
 
12 
districts” and “law enforcement agencies . . . to develop and implement 
interagency strategies . . . that will . . . reduce school crime and violence, including 
vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse, gang membership, gang violence, hate crimes 
and bullying.”  (§ 32261, subd. (d).)  As noted, in section 38000, subdivision (a), 
the Legislature has further declared that school security officers are 
“supplementary to [the] city and county law enforcement agencies” with whom 
they work. 
Given that the Legislature has made clear its intent that school district 
police or security departments are to work together with local law enforcement 
agencies to achieve the goal of reducing crime on California‟s public school 
campuses, as a matter of sound public policy, school security officers who work in 
close partnership with local law enforcement officers should be afforded the same 
protections against those who would interfere with the performance of their public 
safety duties as are the sworn officers with whom they work. 
3. Common law definition of “public officer.” 
The Court of Appeal concluded that a school security officer is not a public 
officer within the meaning of Penal Code section 148(a)(1).  The court placed 
principal reliance on Olsen, supra, 186 Cal.App.3d 257, and Rosales, supra, 129 
Cal.App.4th 81, neither of which decisions directly involved a charge under 
section 148(a)(1) or an attempt to thwart a public safety officer in the performance 
of his or her duties, and both of which purported to generally define the term 
“public officer” based, in part, on the common law definition of “public office,” 
which requires “ „ “a tenure of office „which is not transient, occasional or 
incidental,‟ but is of such a nature that the office itself is an entity in which 
incumbents succeed one another” ‟ ” by election or appointment.  (Rosales, supra, 
129 Cal.App.4th at p. 86; see Olsen, supra, 186 Cal.App.3d at p. 266, fn. 5.)  The 
 
 
13 
minor agrees, urging us to find that, to qualify as a public officer under section 
148(a)(1), one must hold a tenured office in which incumbents succeed one 
another, and that because a school security officer like Officer Butts does not meet 
this requirement, he is not a public officer within the meaning of section 148(a)(1). 
In enacting the misdemeanor criminal offense embodied in section 
148(a)(1), the Legislature, of course, was under no obligation to incorporate the 
common law definition of “public officer” into the definition of the crime.  Indeed, 
as we have shown, that catchall phrase was inserted in section 148(a)(1) when the 
section was first codified in the Penal Code in 1872, long before this court decided 
Coulter v. Pool (1921) 187 Cal. 181 (Coulter) and Spreckels v. Graham, supra, 
194 Cal. 516, the seminal decisions to which California‟s common law definition 
of “public officer” is traceable. 
In Coulter, supra, 187 Cal. 181, this court drew on the common law 
definitions of “public office” and “public officer” in seeking to define the term 
“county officer.”  (Id. at pp. 186-187.)  Coulter first set forth the generally 
understood definition of “public office” as follows:  “A public office is ordinarily 
and generally defined to be the right, authority, and duty, created and conferred by 
law, the tenure of which is not transient, occasional, or incidental, by which for a 
given period an individual is invested with power to perform a public function for 
the benefit of the public.”  (Coulter, supra, 187 Cal. at pp. 186-187.)  Coulter next 
set forth the principal attributes of a public officer in these words:  “A public 
officer is a public agent and as such acts only on behalf of his principal, the public, 
whose sanction is generally considered as necessary to give the act performed by 
the officer the authority and power of a public act or law.  The most general 
characteristic of a public officer, which distinguishes him from a mere employee, 
is that a public duty is delegated and entrusted to him, as agent, the performance of 
 
 
14 
which is an exercise of a part of the governmental functions of the particular 
political unit for which he, as agent, is acting.”  (Id. at p. 187.) 
The Coulter court then conflated the definitions of “public office” and 
“public officer” in formulating its definition of “county officer,” as follows:  “In 
keeping with these definitions, a county officer is a public officer and may be 
specifically defined to be one who fills a position usually provided for in the 
organization of counties and county governments and is selected by the political 
subdivision of the state called the „county‟ to represent that governmental unit, 
continuously and as part of the regular and permanent administration of public 
power, in carrying out certain acts with the performance of which it is charged in 
behalf of the public.”  (Coulter, supra, 187 Cal. at p. 187.) 
Three years after Coulter was decided, in Spreckels v. Graham, supra, 194 
Cal. 516, this court purported to define “public office” and “public officer” 
synonymously in the following passage:  “It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to 
frame a definition of public office or public officer which will be sufficiently 
accurate, both as to its inclusion and its exclusion, to meet the requirements of all 
cases.  But two elements now seem to be almost universally regarded as essential 
thereto. First, a tenure of office „which is not transient, occasional or incidental,‟ 
but is of such a nature that the office itself is an entity in which incumbents 
succeed one another and which does not cease to exist with the termination of 
incumbency, and, second, the delegation to the officer of some portion of the 
sovereign functions of government, either legislative, executive, or judicial.”  (Id. 
at p. 530.) 
Although many public officers hold a “public office” to which they were 
elected or appointed, it is far from clear that all public officers do so.  As Coulter 
explained, the principal attribute of a public officer, “which distinguishes him 
from a mere employee, is that a public duty is delegated and entrusted to him, as 
 
 
15 
agent, the performance of which is an exercise of a part of the governmental 
functions of the particular political unit for which he, as agent, is acting.”  
(Coulter, supra, 187 Cal. at p. 187.)  A peace officer, for example, charged with 
ensuring the public‟s safety and enforcing the laws of the local governmental 
entity which employs him or her, is clearly entrusted with such a public duty.  
And, as we have noted, peace officers have long been recognized as public 
officers within the meaning of Penal Code section 148(a)(1).  (In re William F., 
supra, 11 Cal.3d at pp. 252-253.)  Yet it may not be accurate to say that all sworn 
peace officers, reserve officers, and officers on assignment to assist outside law 
enforcement agencies, although plainly serving and functioning as public officers 
in those varying capacities, are each holding a discrete “public office” “in which 
incumbents succeed one another, and which does not cease to exist with the 
termination of incumbency.”  (Spreckels v. Graham, supra, 194 Cal. at p. 530.) 
Nevertheless, in construing the language of section 148(a)(1) now before 
us, we are confident the Legislature did not purport to adopt the common law 
definition of “public officer,” or to require that one hold a “public office” in order 
to qualify as a “public officer” under that section.  Although “public officer” is not 
defined in the section, the Legislature has expressly designated other persons and 
public employees as public officers elsewhere in the Penal Code, persons who 
clearly do not hold a tenure of public office in which incumbents succeed one 
another.  (See, e.g., Pen. Code, § 830.14, subds. (a), (g) [conductors performing 
fare inspection duties who are employed by a railroad corporation that operates 
public rail commuter transit services for that agency designated public officers]; 
Pen. Code, § 831, subd. (a) [custodial officers employed by a city or county law 
enforcement agency to assist in maintaining local custody of prisoners designated 
public officers]; Pen. Code, § 831.4, subd. (a) [sheriff or police security officers 
charged with securing agency facilities designated public officers]; Pen. Code, 
 
 
16 
§ 831.6, subd. (a) [transportation officers “appointed on a contract basis by a peace 
officer to transport a prisoner or prisoners” designated public officers].) 
The Legislature‟s designation of these various city and county employees 
as public officers in the Penal Code sections noted above is further evidence that 
the term “public officer,” as used in Penal Code section 148(a)(1) and elsewhere in 
the Penal Code, is not intended to be limited to incumbents elected or appointed to 
a fixed term of public office. 
Moreover, at the time the Legislature amended section 148(a)(1) to add 
“emergency medical technician[s]” to those falling within the protection of the 
statute, the section‟s language was further amended to provide that “[e]very person 
who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an 
emergency medical technician . . . in the discharge or attempt to discharge any 
duty of his or her office or employment . . . shall be punished . . . .”  (Pen. Code, 
§ 148(a)(1), italics added, as amended by Stats. 1987, ch. 257, § 1, p. 1260.)  The 
addition of the words “or employment” broadens the category of persons falling 
within section 148(a)(1)‟s protection, and further signifies the Legislature‟s intent 
that application of the section not be restricted to public officials who hold a 
tenured “public office.” 
We find that the decisions relied upon by the Court of Appeal below, both 
of which draw upon the common law definitions of “public officer” and “public 
office,” do not control the meaning of the term “public officer” as used in section 
148(a)(1). 
In Rosales, supra, 129 Cal.App.4th 81, the defendant, the superintendent of 
a county park, was convicted of “negligent handling of public moneys by an 
officer.”  (Id. at p. 83; see Pen. Code, § 425.)  The question on appeal was whether 
the conviction could stand since the defendant was not an “officer” within the 
meaning of section 425.  (Rosales, at p. 85; see Pen. Code, § 425 [“Every officer 
 
 
17 
charged with the receipt, safe keeping, or disbursement of public moneys, who 
neglects or fails to keep and pay over the same in the manner prescribed by law, is 
guilty of [a] felony.”].)  Neither section 148(a)(1) nor any other statute expressly 
incorporating the term “public officer” was at issue in Rosales.  The Attorney 
General nonetheless asserted that, regardless whether the defendant was an 
“officer” within the meaning of Penal Code section 425, she was a government 
employee, and as such, was a “public officer” subject to prosecution under the 
statute.  (Rosales, supra, 129 Cal.App.4th at p. 85.) 
The Rosales court disagreed.  In rejecting the Attorney General‟s argument, 
the court based its conclusion that the defendant was not a “public officer” on the 
definition of “county officer” found in Coulter, supra, 187 Cal. at page 187, i.e., 
as requiring “ „ “a tenure of office „which is not transient, occasional or 
incidental,‟ but is of such a nature that the office itself is an entity in which 
incumbents succeed one another” ‟ ” by election or appointment.  (Rosales, supra, 
129 Cal.App.4th at p. 86.)  As Rosales did not involve an interpretive question of 
the language of section 148(a)(1) or any other statute expressly incorporating the 
term “public officer” within its language, the manner in which that decision 
purported to define the term “public officer” is of little relevance here. 
The decision in Olsen, supra, 186 Cal.App.3d 257, is likewise inapposite.  
That case involved a conviction of disobeying the lawful order of a fireman or 
“public officer” (See Pen. Code, § 148.2, subd. 2).  (Olsen, at p. 259.)  In 
concluding that a privately employed paramedic was not a “public officer” within 
the meaning of Penal Code section 148.2, subdivision (2), the Olsen court chose to 
contrast such an employee with a public officer who holds a “public office,” i.e., a 
fixed “ „tenure‟ ” of office that “ „exists independently of the presence of a person 
in it.‟  [Citation.]”  (Olsen, supra, 186 Cal.App.3d at p.  266.)  Whatever common 
law definitions of “public officer” or “public office” the Olsen court may have 
 
 
18 
relied on for its conclusion, it was clear on the facts of that case that the privately 
employed paramedic was not a “public officer” (italics added) within the meaning 
of Penal Code section 148.2, subdivision 2. 
4. Rule of lenity. 
Last, the minor argues that the rule of lenity requires this court to reject the 
People‟s interpretation of section 148(a)(1).  That rule generally requires that 
“ambiguity in a criminal statute should be resolved in favor of lenity, giving the 
defendant the benefit of every reasonable doubt on questions of interpretation.  
But as we have frequently noted, „that rule applies “only if two reasonable 
interpretations of the statute stand in relative equipoise.” [Citation.]‟ [Citations.]”  
(People v. Scoria (2010) 48 Cal.4th 58, 65; accord, People v. Lee (2003) 31 
Cal.4th 613, 627.) 
We find the rule of lenity inapposite here.  Although the common law 
definition of public officer as it has evolved in the case law may reasonably be 
interpreted, in appropriate cases, as requiring a showing of a tenured position or 
fixed term of office, this is not such a case.  Given the legislative history of section 
148(a)(1), and the various other factors discussed above, the term “public officer,” 
as used in section 148(a)(1), cannot within reason be interpreted as including that 
requirement.  As such, we do not find the People‟s and the minor‟s opposing 
interpretations of section 148(a)(1) “ „ “in relative equipoise.” ‟ ”  (People v. 
Soria, supra, 48 Cal.4th at p. 65.)  The rule of lenity “has no application where, „as 
here, a court “can fairly discern a contrary legislative intent.” ‟ ”  (Lexin v. 
Superior Court (2010) 47 Cal.4th 1050, 1102, fn. 30; accord, People v. Shabazz 
(2006) 38 Cal.4th 55, 68.) 
 
 
19 
CONCLUSION 
We conclude that a school security officer, as defined in section 38001.5, 
subdivision (c) of the Education Code, is a “public officer” within the meaning of 
section 148(a)(1) of the Penal Code.  The judgment of the Court of Appeal is 
reversed, and the matter remanded for further proceedings consistent with the 
views expressed herein. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BAXTER, J. 
WE CONCUR: 
CANTIL-SAKAUYE, C.J. 
KENNARD, J. 
WERDEGAR, J. 
CHIN, J. 
CORRIGAN, J. 
LIU, J. 
 
 
 
 
 
See next page for addresses and telephone numbers for counsel who argued in Supreme Court. 
 
Name of Opinion In re M.M. 
__________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Unpublished Opinion 
Original Appeal 
Original Proceeding 
Review Granted XXX 177 Cal.app.4th 1339 
Rehearing Granted 
 
__________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Opinion No. S177704 
Date Filed: June 28, 2012 
__________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Court: Superior 
County: San Bernardino 
Judge: Michael A. Knish, Temporary Judge* 
 
__________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Counsel: 
 
Lauren E. Eskenazi, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant. 
 
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., and Kamala D. Harris, Attorneys General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant 
Attorney General, Gary S. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Jeffrey J. Koch, Scott C. Taylor, Steven T. 
Oetting and Marissa Bejarano, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
*Pursuant to California Constitution, article VI, section 21. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Counsel who argued in Supreme Court (not intended for publication with opinion): 
 
Lauren E. Eskenazi 
11693 San Vicente Boulevard, #510 
Los Angeles, CA  90049 
(323) 821-7889 
 
Marissa Bejarano 
Deputy Attorney General 
110 West A Street, Suite 1100 
San Diego, CA  92101 
(619) 645-2529