Access to Incident Records
Q: Recently I had two cars towed from a city street – the total cost of retrieval was over $1000.00. I feel that the reporting officer was coerced into action falsely by a complainant neighbor. I have requested the Incident Record, but am wondering if there is a way to find out the Officer’s name and the Complainant’s name and address so I can summon them to a Tow Hearing which I requested to prove that they acted incorrectly and retrieve my monies. I fear if I don’t have access to the proper records showing their involvement, I’ll be unsuccessful. Am I legally allowed to access this information? Do I have a right to know who falsely reported my cars as “abandoned”? Do I have a right to speak to the reporting officer and access to his reports?
A: Under the California Public Records Act, Government Code section6254(f), you are entitled to the names of all persons involved and witnesses other than confidential informants. The name of the officer should be on the incident report. If it is not, the agency should provide it to you.
If the agency refuses to provide the name of the officer, you can cite New York Times Co. v. Superior Court, 52 Cal. App. 4th 97 (1997), which held that the names of police officers involved in a particular incident — in that case, a shooting — are a matter of public records. In a recent case, called Copley Press v. Superior Court, the California
Supreme Court said that the New York Times case does not allow release of the names of officers subject to citizens’ complaints, but that should not allow the withholding of the name of the officer involved in towing a vehicle because you are not filing a complaint but simply trying to summon a witness to a hearing.