HomeMy WebLinkAboutACLU PRACalifornia
January 1, 2019
San Luis Obispo Police Department
1042 Walnut St
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
G LEC[� LM D
JAN 10 2019
SAN LUIS OBISPO
POLICE DEPARTMENT RECORDS
Re: Request for Public Records on Police Use of Force Investigations, Sustained Findings of
Police Dishonesty and Sexual Assault
To Whom It May Concern:
I write to respectfully request records related to the investigation and discipline of peace officers
employed by the San Luis Obispo Police Department (the "Department) under the California
Public Records Act, Gov't Code §§ 6250 et seq., California Penal Code §§832.7-832.8, and Art.
I, § 3 (b) of the California Constitution, as set forth below.
Last fall, the California legislature passed, and Governor Brown enacted, SB 1421 (Skinner),
which amends California Penal Code section 832.7 to provide the public a right of access to
records related to investigations into investigations and discipline of peace officers for shootings
and serious uses of force, as well as sustained findings of dishonesty related to the investigation,
reporting, and prosecution of a crime or police misconduct. We now respectfully request the
records newly available under SB 1421. We make this request as the American Civil Liberties
Union of Southern California, as requestor, on behalf of the ACLU of California (including the
ACLU of Northern California, ACLU of Southern California, and ACLU of San Diego and
Imperial Counties) as well as a wide array of civil rights, government transparency, and criminal
defense groups, including the Youth Justice Coalition, Justice Teams Network, Anti Police -
Terror Project, California Faculty Association, PolicyLink, STOP Coalition, California Public
Defender Association, and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
We have coordinated this request, and will share all records obtained, with this group of
organizations, and further commit to making those records available to the public by posting on
the Internet and other means, to help facilitate access to the records you produce.
I. Requests for Records
We understand that this change in the law may result in a significant number of responsive
documents, and that you may have received a number of requests for similar documents from
other requestors. We have endeavored to tailor our request to a limited selection of the most
important documents and most relevant timeframe for incidents.
As set forth below, for purposes Requests 1 through 7, we do not seek all records relating to the
underlying incident, but only a limited set of "Decisional Documents" relating to the
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For purposes of these requests, "Decisional Documents" does not include underlying evidence,
expert reports, witness statements, audio or video, unless incorporated by or included in the
documents described above.
We also recognize that at some departments, older records may be stored in different
recordkeeping systems that may require more time an effort to retrieve. If this is the case with
your agency, we are happy to discuss particular obstacles or concerns and a process for retrieving
records as efficiently as possible.
Records Request No. 1: All DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS related to the administrative
investigation of any use of force by a peace officer employed by the Department496 that resulted
in death, from January 1, 1999 to the present. See Penal Code § 832.7(b)(1)(A)(ii).
Records Request No. 2: All DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS relating to any incident in which a
peace officer employed by the Department was found to have committed an act of dishonesty
directly relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly relating to
the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another peace officer or custodial officer,
including, but not limited to, any sustained finding of perjury, false statements, filing false
reports, destruction, falsifying, or concealing of evidence, at any time from Jan. 1. 1999, to the
present. See Penal Code § 832.7(b)(1)(C). Such incidents may also include receipt or solicitation
of bribes, loans, favors, or gifts in relation to an investigation; misappropriation of property in an
investigation, obstructing an investigation, or influencing a witness.
Records Request No. 3: For any officer about whom a sustained finding of dishonesty is
disclosed in response to Records Request No. 2, above, all DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS
relating to any sustained finding of dishonesty relating to the reporting, investigation, or
prosecution of a crime or misconduct by another peace officer, regardless of date.
Records Request No. 4: All DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS related to any administrative
investigation into the discharge of a firearm at a person by a peace officer employed by the
Department, which did not result in death, from January 1, 2014 to the present. See Penal Code
§ 832.7(b)(1)(A)(i).
Records Request No. 5: All DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS related to any administrative
investigation into a use of force by a peace officer employed by the Department against a person
that resulted great bodily injury, from January 1, 2009 to the present. See Penal Code
§ 832.7(b)(1)(A)(ii).
Records Request No. 6: For any officer who used force resulting in death at any time since
January 1, 1999, all DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS related to any administrative investigation
into the discharge of a firearm at a person by that officer that did not result in death, or a use of
496 A peace officer is "employed by the Department" for purposes of these requests if that officer has been employed
by the Department at any time. The modifying phrase "employed by the Department' does not limit the requests
only to officers currently employed by the Department, nor does it exclude documents within the position of the
Department that concern the incidents that occurred while the peace officer was employed by another agency.
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF CALIFORNIA
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force by that officer against a person that resulted great bodily injury but not death, regardless of
date.
Records Request No. 7: All DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS relating to any incident in which a
sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency that a peace
officer or custodial officer employed by the Department engaged in sexual assault involving a
member of the public, from January 1, 2009 to the present. See Penal Code § 832.7(b)(1)(B). For
purposes of this request, "sexual assault" refers to the commission or attempted initiation of a
sexual act with a member of the public by means of force, threat coercion, extortion, offer of
leniency or other official favor, or under the color of authority, including unwanted or gratuitous
sexual contact such as touching or groping. See id. § 832.7(b)(1)(B)(ii).
Records Request No. 8: For any officer about whom a sustained finding of sexual assault is
disclosed in response to Records Request No. 7, above, all DECISIONAL DOCUMENTS
relating to any sustained finding of sexual assault, regardless of date.
II. Request for Preservation, or in the Alternative, Request for Documents
While we have asked for a limited selection of documents that are newly available pursuant to
S.B. 1421, review of those documents will very likely reveal some incidents in which requestors
or other members of the public would like additional detail, such as records of investigation,
audio, video, expert reports and other documents excluded from the present request. We
therefore request that you provide assurances that you will preserve all such documents, at least
for a reasonable time after complying with the present set of document requests, to allow
targeted requests for additional information on specific cases.
III. Prioritization of Requests
We understand that this change in the law may result in a significant number of responsive
documents, and that you may have received a number of requests for similar documents from
other requestors. To help make sure your response serves the public interest in disclosure of
these important records as efficiently as possible, we ask that you prioritize in the following
order:
First, please prioritize requests from other requestors who are family members of those killed
by police seeking information on how their loved ones died. We recognize that the change in
law in many instances may allow these family members access to this information for the first
time, and for the first time provide answers about their losses, and urge you prioritize these
disclosures.
Second, for our requests, prioritize in the order of requests, 1 through 8.
Third, if for any reason some categories of documents responsive to a request are more readily
disclosable and others more difficult — for example, if older records are in archival storage or
stored in a different and harder -to -use system, or documents responsive to one request are not as
easily categorized for disclosure and would require more time -intensive searching than another
— please contact us to discuss the obstacles to prompt disclosure so that we can work out a
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF CALIFORNIA
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timeline, process, or refined selection criteria for documents that are more difficult to find or
produce.
Please respond to this request in ten days, either by providing the requested information or
providing a written response setting forth the specific legal authority on which you rely in failing
to disclose each requested record, or by specifying a date in the near future to respond to the
request. See Cal. Gov't Code § 6255. Pursuant to section 6253, please disclose all reasonably
segregable non-exempt information from any portions of records you claim are exempt from
disclosure.
If any records requested above are available in electronic format, please provide them in an
electronic format, as provided in Govt. Code § 6253.9. To assist with the prompt release of
responsive material, we ask that you make records available to us as you locate them, rather than
waiting until all responsive records have been collected and copied.
If you would like to discuss these requests, please feel free to call Hermelinda Calderon or Casey
Kasher at (213) 977-5265. Otherwise, please send any correspondence or documents in
electronic format via email to prareguest( 7a aclusocai.org, or correspondence or documents on
CD-ROM or USB drive to:
SB 1421 Records
ATTN: Casey Kasher
ACLU of Southern California
1313 W. 8th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Because this request is made on behalf of a number of nonprofit public interest organizations,
with the intent to make this material easily accessible to the public as promptly as possible, we
request that you waive any fees. North Cty. Parents Ass'n v. Dep't ofEd., 23 Cal. App. 4th 144,
148 (1994); Cal. Gov. Code §6253(e). However, should you be unable to do so, ACLU SoCal
will reimburse your agency for the "direct costs" of copying these records plus postage. If you
anticipate these costs to exceed $50.00, please notify us prior to making the copies.
Thank you in advance for providing the records we have requested. Please do not hesitate to
contact us with any questions regarding this letter.
Best,
Peter Bibring
Director of Police Practices
ACLU of Southern California
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF CALIFORNIA