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California AG Xavier Becerra and the Thick Blue Wall of Police Secrecy

By DAVID SNYDER—California Attorney General Xavier Becerra appears to believe there are two sets of rules about government transparency—one for his office, and another for everyone else. Back in 2017, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refused to disclose public records about EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s potential ethical conflicts, Becerra promptly sued under the […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
March 6, 2019
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Withholding of Juveniles’ Names in Police Records

[…] involved in crime. But there have been recent cases of juveniles being murdered in gang violence. Even though the juvenile is deceased, the police are still not forthcoming with the victim's name. This is probably not within the jurisdiction of the CPRA. Are there any other laws on the books that would require the […]

June 14, 2009
Latest News

FAC News Press Release

MuckRock, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and the North Coast Journal Honored with FAC’s Free Speech and Open Government Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: fac@firstamendmentcoalition.org SAN RAFAEL — The First Amendment Coalition is pleased to announce the winners of its 2023 Free Speech and Open Government Award: Thadeus Greenson of the North Coast Journal; Al-Amyn Sumar and David McCabe of The New York Times and Leah Nylen of Bloomberg; and nonprofit, collaborative news […]
February 26, 2024
Asked and Answered

Brown Act CPRA

Closed Sessions and Permissible Topics

[…] whether there were public records generated for, or as a result of, the closed sessions. This would give me the opportunity to ask them to justify any exemption and allow me to request a waiver of the exemption. The city now claims that even if there were closed sessions, the documents from such are […]

June 14, 2009
Latest News

Cases Press Release

FAC sues San Diego PD for records on controversial cell phone surveillance technology

[…] "Stingray." The IMSI-catcher technology is controversial because its sophisticated surveillance capabilities, while useful in criminal investigations, can also be misused in ways that infringe citizens’ privacy rights. For example, a Stingray deployed at the site of a political demonstration can detect, not only the phone of a legitimate subject of a legal investigation, but […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
December 17, 2014
Asked and Answered

CPRA Newsgathering Police Records

Requests for crime reports denied by police department

[…] told that they are being withheld because of Government Code section 6254(f). To be clear, one time I requested all crime reports that had been filed over a month period. The second time, I requested the reports for three specific crimes. Both times, the office cited section 6254(f). Is there any guidance you can offer?

July 10, 2017
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Access to sheriff’s e-mail and phone records

Our new sheriff is using his personal cell phone and personal e-mail for conducting county business. He rarely uses his county-issued phone or his official county e-mail address to respond to citizens, instead public inquiries will be answered via his private e-mail. I believe there is some other activity going on as well, including […]

March 22, 2012
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Accessing personal information in police reports

[…] I had made threats against her and filed a police complaint alleging I had threatened her. I went to get a copy of the report as evidence for my impending lawsuit and was told at the police station that I could not get a copy of the report, since I was not the person […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

CPRA

CPRA request on pension investments was denied for the “public good”

[…] clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the record." Gov't Code § 6255. When an agency cites § 6255(a) (often called the "catch-all" or "balancing" exemption of the PRA) as justification for withholding a particular record, this typically means that there is no specific authorization for the agency to withhold the record […]

May 16, 2012
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Agency won’t provide records in electronic format

In response to our public records request for electronic data, public agencies have refused to release data in Excel format. They have instead given us pdfs or hard copies. Their reasons are vague, ranging from concerns we will manipulate the data to saying it's not their policy to release data in that format. I […]

August 18, 2010