SDTMA FW: CPRA Request for Release of Peace Officer Information

Mon Jul 27 16:47:17 CDT 2020

Good Afternoon SDTMA!

Please see the below email from POST and respond accordingly by the deadline given.  Thank you.

Brooke Amash
Training Coordinator
San Diego County Probation
10111 Carroll Canyon Rd.
San Diego, CA 92131
(858) 267-5919
Brooke.Amash at sdcounty.ca.gov<mailto:Brooke.Amash at sdcounty.ca.gov>
Mailstop: P-83

[cid:image001.png at 01D66424.D065A190]
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:  This communication with its contents may
contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is
solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized
interception, review, use or disclosure is prohibited and may
violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications
Privacy Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact
the sender and destroy all copies of the communication.

From: "POST News" <postnews at post.ca.gov<mailto:postnews at post.ca.gov>>
Subject: CPRA Request for Release of Peace Officer Information
Date: July 27, 2020 at 11:53:23 AM PDT
To: <ralph.brown at post.ca.gov<mailto:ralph.brown at post.ca.gov>>

[POST]
[CA.GOV]
[cid:400800_096801595876003002 at Checkout_2576]
[cid:400800_097801595876003003 at Checkout_2576]
[Alert]

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
CPRA Request for Release of Peace Officer Information
Date: July 24, 2020
To: Chiefs, Sheriffs, and Directors
Cc: EDI Operators
The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) has received a California Public Records Act (CPRA) request from Kevin Valine, a Modesto Bee reporter, requesting an electronic spreadsheet or listing showing:
• Officer name
• Employment start date, and
• Officer’s former agency with dates of employment
Background:
On August 27, 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled that certain information in the Peace Officer Database, maintained by POST, is public information subject to release in response to a CPRA request pursuant to California Government Code sections 6250 et. seq. (See Commission Peace Officer Standards and Training v. Superior Court (2007) 42 Cal. 4th 278 [names of peace officers, their employing departments and dates of employment are public records subject to disclosure]. Hereafter “the POST decision.”)
For the full text of the court’s decision, go to:
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1387579.html
In its decision, the California Supreme Court acknowledged that there may be some peace officers “who, because of their particular responsibilities require anonymity in order to perform their duties effectively or to protect their own safety.” For example, the Court left open the possibility that a particular officer, working undercover, could be at risk if the officer was operating under his or her true name and he or she was publicly identified as a peace officer. To protect the identity of peace officers who require anonymity to perform their duties effectively or to protect their own safety, departments are being offered by this notice the opportunity to exclude the names of those individuals. Any such requested exemptions are made through the POST’s encrypted Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system.
Current Request:
Prior to providing responsive records, POST will provide all affected departments the opportunity to claim an exemption of individual officer’s names from release in response to this request through the EDI system if the Department believes that the disclosure of the requested information is exempt under the CPRA and the POST decision. Current agency rosters for each department will be uploaded to the EDI system.
It is recommended that each department designate only one EDI operator to process the department’s response back to POST. Once you, the department head, have decided which, if any, names are to be claimed as exempt from release, the designated EDI operator must use the CPRA function in EDI to check the names in order to claim the exemption and click “Save.” If no names are to be excluded, the EDI operator will click the “Do Not Withhold” button to verify they have received this notice. POST will then generate the reports, without the excluded names, and provide the remaining information requested.
Departments wishing to withhold any names from the response to the CPRA request should contact their legal advisor to determine whether the exemption is legally justified under the California Public Records Act. POST is not the custodian of, nor would it normally be aware of, specific factual information that would justify a department’s decision that a particular officer’s name should be exempt from disclosure. The officer’s employer is the only entity that would be able, in the event of a challenge, to fully support the claimed exemption by providing the factual and legal justifications for withholding a particular name from disclosure. For this reason, if the excluded names are challenged in legal proceedings, the department that claimed the exemption will become involved in the legal proceeding in order to justify the exemption. Departments should not request exclusion of any particular name unless a proper statutory basis for the particular exemption has been identified, and unless the Department is willing to fully participate in any litigation in order to justify each exemption, if necessary. In making a request for exclusion, the Department is affirming that: 1) A proper statutory basis for the exemption exists under the California Public Records Act, and 2) Should the exemption be challenged, the Department will fully cooperate with POST in any actual or threatened litigation arising out of the Department’s exemption request, and that it will take all steps deemed necessary by POST in order to justify the exemption in response to any such challenge.
Alternatively, a Department may instead seek appropriate relief from any court of competent jurisdiction prior to the date of POST’s response to the CPRA request. Please notify the below listed individuals immediately if any such order is being sought.
To allow departments sufficient time to respond, it is requested that EDI operators should transmit the requested information to POST, or alternatively, to serve POST with a court order restraining the production of the information, no later than 5 P.M. on Friday, August 7, 2020. If departments do not respond to this request by that date, it will be assumed there are no names to be excluded.
The requested reports are scheduled for release to Kevin Valine on Monday, August 10, 2020.
Questions regarding EDI access may be directed to the POST EDI help desk at (877) 275-5872.
Questions regarding this CPRA request may be directed to CPRA at post.ca.gov<mailto:CPRA at post.ca.gov>.
Thank you for your assistance and cooperation in responding to the request.

CALIFORNIA COMMISSION ON PEACE OFFICER
STANDARDS AND TRAINING
post.ca.gov<https://post.ca.gov/>
[cid:400800_078801595876003005 at Checkout_2576]Follow @CommissionPOST<https://twitter.com/commissionpost>
Please do not reply to this email.
Unsubscribe from receiving POST Email Alerts and Newsletters<https://post.ca.gov/e-mail-alerts>.
©2020 Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
860 Stillwater Road, Suite 100, West Sacramento, CA 95605-1630

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: emailtemplateheadertopsmart278x45.png
Type: image/png
Size: 5037 bytes
Desc: emailtemplateheadertopsmart278x45.png
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: emailtemplateheadercagovblue335x44.png
Type: image/png
Size: 8247 bytes
Desc: emailtemplateheadercagovblue335x44.png
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: emailtemplatepostbadgelefttop131x121.png
Type: image/png
Size: 28682 bytes
Desc: emailtemplatepostbadgelefttop131x121.png
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: emailtemplatepostbadgeleftbottom56x46.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2394 bytes
Desc: emailtemplatepostbadgeleftbottom56x46.png
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: emailtemplateheaderalert440x121.png
Type: image/png
Size: 69857 bytes
Desc: emailtemplateheaderalert440x121.png
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: twitterbird124x100.png
Type: image/png
Size: 4569 bytes
Desc: twitterbird124x100.png
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment-0005.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 39369 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://sdtma.org/pipermail/members_sdtma.org/attachments/20200727/8b7de1f1/attachment-0006.png>