HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-15-2020 PRR20020 CA Reporting Project - 2019 officer inf SB14211
Christian, Kevin
To:Rapp, Tera
Subject:RE: California Public Records Act Request: SB1421 Records
From: 86079‐36174815@requests.muckrock.com <86079‐36174815@requests.muckrock.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 4:49 PM
To: Rapp, Tera <trapp@slocity.org>
Subject: California Public Records Act Request: SB1421 Records
City of San Luis Obispo Police Department
PRA Office
1042 Walnut Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
January 15, 2020
This request is being made jointly by a coalition of 40 news organizations including KQED, Bay Area News Group /
Southern California News Group, Capital Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio and The Los Angeles Times,
collectively known as the California Reporting Project.
Attn:
Public Records Coordinator
To whom it may concern,
This is a public records request seeking records in your agency’s possession that are disclosable under Senate Bill 1421’s
amendments to Cal. PEN. 832.7 and 832.8.
As you know, this coalition of news organizations filed a request with your agency on Jan. 1, 2019, for records
disclosable under Senate Bill 1421’s amendments regarding a five‐year time period: 2014 to 2018. This request seeks
similar records from 2019. Responses to this request must include any documents from investigations from previous
years that concluded in 2019 and any incidents that occured in 2019 that are completed and disclosable.
Under the California Public Records Act § 6250 et seq., this coalition of organizations engaged in the dissemination of
information to the public request access to and copies of the following information in electronic, searchable/sortable
format, where applicable. Each element requested should be considered severable for purposes of invoking a time
extension or exemption under either local or state law.
SUSTAINED FINDINGS:
Records from Jan. 1, 2019, to present of sustained findings(1) that a peace officer committed sexual assault(2) or
dishonesty‐related misconduct(3).
The response should reasonably include all applicable records specified by statute(4), including but not limited to: all
investigative reports; photographic, audio and video evidence; transcripts and recordings of interviews; all materials
compiled and presented for review to the district attorney or to any person or body charged with determining whether
to file criminal charges against an officer in connection with an incident, or whether the officer’s action was consistent
2
with law and agency policy for purposes of discipline or administrative action, or what discipline to impose or corrective
action to take; documents setting forth findings or recommended findings; and copies of disciplinary records relating to
the incident, including any letters of intent to impose discipline, any documents reflecting modifications of discipline due
to the Skelly or grievance process, and letters indicating final imposition of discipline or other documentation reflecting
implementation of corrective action.
To the extent that your agency maintains an index of sustained misconduct that includes entries derived from findings of
sexual assault or dishonesty‐related misconduct, please include that record in your response.
USE OF FORCE
Records from Jan. 1, 2019, to present relating to the report, investigation, or findings of incidents in which the use of
force by a peace officer against a person resulted in death, or in great bodily injury(5). This request also seeks all records
of incidents in which a peace officer discharged a firearm, regardless of whether any injury occurred.
The response should reasonably include all applicable records specified by statute6, including but not limited to: all
investigative reports; photographic, audio and video evidence; transcripts and recordings of interviews; autopsy reports;
all materials compiled and presented for review to the district attorney or to any person or body charged with
determining whether to file criminal charges against an officer in connection with an incident, or whether the officer’s
action was consistent with law and agency policy for purposes of discipline or administrative action, or what discipline to
impose or corrective action to take; documents setting forth findings or recommended findings; and copies of
disciplinary records relating to the incident, including any letters of intent to impose discipline, any documents reflecting
modifications of discipline due to the Skelly or grievance process, and letters indicating final imposition of discipline or
other documentation reflecting implementation of corrective action.
To the extent that your agency maintains an index of serious uses of force, please include that record in your response.
To avoid confusion, please identify any ongoing use of force investigations that are not yet disclosable but will be upon
completion.
To the extent the records exist in electronic format, please provide them in that format.
We also draw your attention to Government Code section 6253.1, which requires a public agency to assist the public in
making a focused and effective request by (1) identifying records and information responsive to the request, (2)
describing the information technology and physical location in which the records exist, and (3) providing suggestions for
overcoming any practical basis for denying access to the records or information sought. The purpose of this request is to
obtain the above referenced documents. Please provide your full compliance with 6253.1 should the need arise.
To the extent that a portion of the information we have requested is not immediately available, we request that
whatever documentation is immediately available be turned over first.
Please limit all communications regarding this request to email. Please do not telephone us regarding this matter.
For documents that could be provided in electronic, searchable format, where applicable: We can handle a variety of
data formats, and we would be happy to correspond about this request to figure out what would be the easiest or best
way to provide the requested records.
Please notify us via email if the responsive records are larger than 15 MB to make arrangements about how to best
provide the records.
3
If this request is denied in whole or part, we ask that you justify all individual deletions/redactions or withheld records
by reference to specific exemptions of the law. We will also expect you to release all segregable portions of otherwise
exempt material.
Please contact us by email if you have any questions about this request. We look forward to receiving the required
determination within 10 days.
1. “Sustained” finding as defined by Cal. PEN. Code § 832.8(b).
2. “Sexual Assault” as defined by Cal. PEN. Code § 832.7(b)(1)(B)(ii).
3. Misconduct as defined by Cal. PEN. Code § 832.7(b)(1)(C).
4. Cal. PEN. Code § 832.7 (b)(2).
5. Cal. PEN. Code § 832.7 (b)(ii).
6. Cal. PEN. Code § 832.7 (b)(2).
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For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 86079
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144‐2516
PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is being sent through MuckRock by the above in
order to better track, share, and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed (i.e., with the
requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the department number) requests might be returned as
undeliverable.
The California Reporting Project
To whom it may concern,
Your agency has received a request under the California Public Records Act for files disclosable under
Cal. Pen. Code sections 832.7 and 832.8, as amended by state Senate Bill 1421.
You have received this request from the California Reporting Project, which is a coalition of 40 news
organizations that are working together to obtain this vital public information from every public agency that
employs peace officers in the state. Your agency may have received a similar request in 2019 from one or
more of our member organizations, as we filed that initial round of requests individually. We are
continuing to manage those initial requests that are still open while also filing this next round of
requests for these records collectively.
We believe this centralization will reduce your workload in providing all records responsive to our broad
coalition of news organizations just one time. We are using a service provided by the company MuckRock
to coordinate the management of these public records requests, so you may periodically receive
communications from that service, on our behalf.
Much of our work last year was encumbered with explaining to agencies, cities and their attorneys
throughout California that SB 1421’s landmark amendments actually mean what they say. Here is a brief
recap of some of those arguments, with hope we will not have to make them again:
-These records are disclosable if they are in an agency’s possession, regardless of when they
were created, or who created them. Please see controlling case law in the published state
appellate court opinion in Walnut Creek Police Officers Assn. v. City of Walnut Creek et. al.,
A156477 (2019).
-These records must include the identities of involved officers. Please see the text of Cal. Pen.
832.7 et. seq. as well as Long Beach Peace Officers’ Assn. v. City of Long Beach et. al.,
S200872 (2014).
-The release of records may not be delayed in order to inform a subject officer of their pending
release. Please see Marken v. Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (2012) 202
Cal.App.4th 1250.
-Many exemptions in the California Public Records Act, by definition, do not apply to the release of
the records we have requested. Please see the text of 832.7(b)(1).
We respectfully request that your agency work to comply with the law and provide records responsive to
our public records request promptly.
Sincerely,
Nashelly Chavez (Press Democrat), Christopher Damien (Desert Sun), Tori Edgar (KCET), Alex Emslie
(KQED), Sukey Lewis (KQED), Thomas Peele (Bay Area News Group), Ben Poston (Los Angeles Times),
Tony Saavedra (Southern California News Group), Julie Small (KQED)
The Desert Sun
Southern California
News Group