DMV License Plate Records Q: I attended a peaceful rally and protest. At this event there was a cube van that appeared to be a surveillance vehicle. I have photos of this van showing the front and read license plate. After the event, at my request, a Sheriff’s deputy ran the plate and it came back as non-existent. A DMV telephone help line operator told me the plate number was not in the DMV system.
Accessing 911 Calls and Police Reports Q: I’m producing a documentary on the lives of Transgender women. Many of them have been assaulted or even killed for being who they are. I want to show a few instances of that through 911 calls, police reports, and associated photos. The police department won’t even respond to my requests. Do I have a right to obtain this information? A: Under the California Public Records Act (“PRA”), Govt. Code
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
Public Availability and Destruction of Temporary or Handwritten Notes Q: The last time I used the Legal Hotline for this matter (a few weeks back), your legal council suggested that I re-submit a new, formal PRA request asking for the “binder notes” from our County Public Works Director. So, I used a version of the sample letter provided on cfac.org, as suggested, where it reads: “In any event, please provide a signed notification citing the
Awarding Attorney’s Fees in CPRA Cases Q: We just received a tentative ruling on a CPRA case against Caltrans where we prevailed completely and yet we were slapped with the majority of our attorney’s fees and costs without justification or rationale by the Superior Court. Even though Caltrans did not raise a single legal objection to the reasonableness of the attorney’s fees during the litigation, the Court drastically reduced the fees without citing any acceptable