Q: I recently received a copy of vehicular citations from a local police department. The names of the officers issuing the citations are not listed. Do I have a right under the CPRA to find out the name of the officer?
A: Under California’s Public Records Act, “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics” is presumptively subject to inspection and copying by any member of the public. Gov’t Code §§ 6252(e), 6253. In order to withhold a public record, an agency must show that a provision of the PRA exempts the record from disclosure.
The first issue when using the PRA to obtain information from the government is often to identify a record that contains the information you seek. If the name of the issuing officer never appeared on the documents you received, then it may be necessary to identify another record on which the name might appear and request that record instead. Note that, pursuant to Gov’t Code § 6253.1, the agency must assist members of the public in making “a focused and effective request that reasonably describes an identifiable record or records” by doing the following:
(1) Assist the member of the public to identify records and information that are responsive to the request or to the purpose of the request, if stated.
(2) Describe the information technology and physical location in which the records exist.
(3) Provide suggestions for overcoming any practical basis for denying access to the records or information sought.
(b) The requirements of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall be deemed to have been satisfied if the public agency is unable to identify the requested information after making a reasonable effort to elicit additional clarifying information from the requester that will help identify the record or records.
(c) The requirements of subdivision (a) are in addition to any action required of a public agency by Section 6253.
(d) This section shall not apply to a request for public records if any of the following applies:
(1) The public agency makes available the requested records pursuant to Section 6253.
(2) The public agency determines that the request should be denied and bases that determination solely on an exemption listed in Section 6254.
(3) The public agency makes available an index of its records.
Gov’t Code § 6253.1.
In other words, the agency should assist you in identifying records that contain the name of the issuing officer.
Another possible issue is an assertion by the agency that it is entitled to withhold the name of the issuing officer. (It may be, for example, that the names of issuing officers were redacted from the records you received.)
Generally speaking, the PRA exempts from disclosure “[r]ecords of complaints to, or investigations conducted by, or records of intelligence information or security procedures of, the office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, the California Emergency Management Agency, and any state or local police agency, or any investigatory or security files compiled by any other state or local police agency, or any investigatory or security files compiled by any other state or local agency for correctional, law enforcement, or licensing purposes.” Gov’t Code § 6254(f). It is not clear why citations for violations of the vehicle code would fall under this exemption, however.
As a final note, to the extent relevant records are filed with a court, they may also be available as judicial records. Judicial records are not covered by the PRA but are presumptively open to the public.
Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to First Amendment Coalition hotline inquiries. In responding to these inquiries, we can give general information regarding open government and speech issues but cannot provide specific legal advice or representation.