Police Blotter Information
Q: The city’s Police Department’s blotter consists of the following information:
Date, Time, Crime, Address
The Public Records Act says “…state and local law enforcement agencies shall make public the following information…the time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for assistance received by agency and the time and nature of the response including the extent the information regarding crimes alleged or committed or any other incident investigated is recorded, the time, date and location of the occurrence, the time and date of the report, the name and age of the victim, the factual circumstances surrounding the crime or incident, and a general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.”
Most police blotters I see are pretty detailed. Our city is very limited and their City Attorney denied my request to have the Department print a more detailed report. In summary, the City Attorney responded:
“As to your concerns regarding Government Code 6254(f)(2) which you believe requires certain information in a “police blotter”, we must disagree with your reading of the law. Although the information listed in Government Code 6254(f)(2) is public record, I know of no requirement that this be kept in a log available for viewing at any time.”
Is there any case law or other interpretation out there that requires making the information public for viewing at any time?
A: In a case called Williams v. Superior Court, 5 Cal. 4th 337 (1993), the California Supreme Court said that in enacting the California Public Records Act (CPRA), “the state Legislature … limited the CPRA’s exemption for law enforcement investigatory files,” in Government Code § 6254(f), “by requiring agencies to disclose specific information derived from the materials in investigatory files rather than the materials, themselves.” Thus, the Court said, the “required disclosures of information derived from the records about incidents, arrests, and complaints [or requests for assistance to law enforcement] need not, in most cases, entail disclosure of the records themselves.”
Here’s what the CPRA, in section 6254(f), says the department has to provide to the public: “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, the time and date of the report, the name and age of the victim, the factual circumstances surrounding the crime or incident, and a general description of any injuries, property, or weapons involved. (Govt. Code section 6254(f)(2)).
Agencies must also disclose to the public “[t]he full name 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.” Subject to certain conditions, the agency is also required to release the address of every individual arrested by the agency. (Govt. Code section 6254(f)(1) & (3)).
As a practical matter, many law enforcement agencies have decided it is easier to provide copies of police reports, or a police blotter, rather than orally provide the information that the CPRA requires them to disclose. If the blotter being provided by the City of Orange does not provide all the information set forth in the 6254(f)(1)-(3), they are required to provide that information to you in some other way. However, under the Williams case, they have an argument that they do not have to disclose the actual reports, or to disclose (or create) a printed blotter if they don’t want to, and can instead provide the information to you orally.