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Police persuade judge to bar release of Long Beach officers’ names in shootings

Peter Scheer January 5, 2011

A Superior Court judge has issued a TRO, temporarily barring the Long Beach police department from releasing the names of city police officers involved in police shootings. The LA Times had requested the names under the Public Records Act. Although the city had decided to release some (but not all) of the names, before it could do so the police union filed a lawsuit to block disclosure. A hearing on whether to permit Long Beach

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A&A: Double standard on publishing names of document requesters

FAC January 4, 2011

Q. We have a unique situation here.  A Community Services District has established a policy of publishing the requesters name and what records they are asking for in both the minutes and agenda. This is done to bring public attention on who is requesting records. These individuals are now being harassed for making these requests. Additionally, several other members of the public get copies of documents directly from a director, which is not published…so there

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A&A: University claims to have a year to respond to document requests

FAC January 4, 2011

Q. The Public Affairs director at the local State University claims that he can take four months to a year to respond with public records. This needs to be resolved as he is routinely months late with responses. A. The Public Records Act gives local agencies 10 days to respond to a request for a copy of a public record; the time for responding can be extended by the agency for an additional 14 days

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A&A: Brown Act or Bylaws Violation?

FAC January 3, 2011

Q: If a standing committee’s bylaws stipulate that two meetings will occur in a certain period of time, and there is no quorum present for one of the two meetings, is the committee obligated to schedule another meeting to remain Brown Act compliant? A: This might be an overly technical response, but I’m not sure violating a committee’s own bylaws by failing to hold the specified number of meetings would be a Brown Act violation.

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A&A: Arrested for using “colorful” language at city council meeting

FAC December 31, 2010

Q: I was just arrested  for saying the word “pussies” (referring to the lack of courage) at a city council podium, after of course signing up and being called up to speak. They have since added three other charges, four total, based on my use of “colorful” language at other city council meetings. I’ve already tried an exparte injunction against the city but the response has been  “you better not go to these meetings until

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