Criminal Records and the CPRA
Q: In interviewing individual applicants to provide childcare for my 2 toddlers, it is of utmost importance that I verify whether or not they (and/or the location of the premises used for such services) has been involved with any law enforcement issues (ie: is there any criminal history? Has law enforcement ever been called out to the home/place of services? How many times? For what?; etc.). Upon asking for a call out log history from local police, I have been told, “…this is not public information.” Any direction would be appreciated!
A: Under the California Public Records Act (“PRA”), records in the possession of public entities are presumed to be public unless one of the Act’s enumerated exceptions to disclosure applies. Government Code section 6254(f) sets forth the so-called “law enforcement” exemption, which allows police agencies to withhold investigatory records, even if the investigation has been concluded. Notwithstanding this exemption, a law enforcement agency is supposed to release certain information about incidents and arrests.
Section 6254(f) requires agencies to provide: “the time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for assistance received by the agency and the time and nature of the response thereto, including, to the extent the information regarding crimes alleged or committed or any other incident investigated is recorded, the time, date, and location of occurrence, [and] the time and date of the report, the name, age, and current address of the victim ….” Gov’t Code § 6254(f). With respect to arrests, agencies must disclose to the public “[t]he full name, current address, and occupation of every individual arrested by the agency, the individual’s physical description including date of birth, color of eyes and hair, sex, height and weight, the time and date of arrest, the time and date of booking, the location of the arrest, the factual circumstances surrounding the arrest, the amount of bail set, the time and manner of release or the location where the individual is currently being held, and all charges the individual is being held upon, including any outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions and parole or probation holds.”
As a practical matter, many law enforcement agencies have decided it is easier to provide copies of police reports or particular pages of police blotters regarding a particular incident rather than orally provide the information that the PRA requires them to disclose. I suggest that you communicate with the police agency once again to submit a PRA written request for the information you seek and remind them of their obligation under section 6254(f) to provide you with the required disclosures. A sample PRA request can be found on CFAC’s website at the following link: http://www.cfac.org/templates/cpraletter.html. Hopefully, this will give you the type of information you are seeking on the two applicants.
I note, however, that the right of access to the above information is with respect to “contemporaneous” crimes or arrests. There is no right of access to information about events over extended periods in the past. See County of Los Angeles v. Superior Court, 18 Cal. App. 4th 588 (2d Dist. 1993) (ruling that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department need not produce information about selected arrests over a ten-year period).