Is a Valley law enforcement agency violating Public Records Law? - KMPH Fox 26
LEMOORE, Calif. (FOX26 News) — Is a back-and-forth over who’s responsible for releasing public records making a Valley law enforcement agency less transparent?
That’s the question FOX26 News is digging into.
The issue is a disagreement over a new law that kicked in this year, AB-1475.
[RELATED: New law says law enforcement agencies can't post most mug shots on social media]
It prohibits “a police department or sheriff’s office from sharing, on social media, booking photos of an individual arrested on suspicion of committing a nonviolent crime, as defined, unless specified circumstances exist.”
The disagreement started on Thursday, February 3rd, when the Lemoore Police Department announced it arrested two people in connection with six separate burglaries.
FOX26 requested booking photos and a Lieutenant with Lemoore PD told us it’s now against the Department’s policy, explaining the Kings County Sheriff’s Office runs the jail, and therefore should release the mugshots. Chief Mike Kendall wrote to FOX26's News Director Jim Jakobs,
I apologize for the confusion in this matter. I understand your frustration and how you have been made to feel that we have been less than transparent. I assure you it was not my intention. I do stand by the fact that booking photos are not a record of the Lemoore Police Department. We do not take the booking photos when booking a person into the jail, we do not own the operating system used to store the booking photos, we are not the custodian of records pertaining to the Kings County Jail’s booking photos . Any request for booking photos should be made to the Kings County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office says it wants each agency to release its own mugshots, explaining:
The Sheriff has given all county agencies access to our system to release mug shots. The Sheriff wants each agency to be responsible for their own release of mugshots pertaining to its cases. For a couple of reasons, KCSO does not have a non-law enforcement PIO like many other agencies, so they do not want its deputy to take on yet another task. They are already working very hard. And they don't know what case they should or should not release a picture for, what if the other agency is trying to do witness line-ups and releasing a mugshot taints the case. A bad guy can have a case dismissed or worse yet, possibly be identified after a witness sees it on TV and thinks that's him when it isn't.
Lemoore’s City Manager says he doesn’t want to open the city up to lawsuits because of AB-1475.
James Arendt is an attorney and an Executive Board Member for Valley Crime Stoppers, who says AB-1475 would not apply here.
“It prohibits them from sharing on social media booking photos. I have to read the letter of the law there and the wording is pretty specific,” said Arendt, looking over Section 13665 of the California Penal Code.
He says posting those photos helps other victims come forward, helps people be on the lookout, and warns people about possible criminal activity.
FOX26 talked to Arendt when AB-1475 was first announced, and we revisited the topic to discuss the issue at hand.
“Without the ability to put pictures up on social media, folks don’t know who we’re looking for,” said Arendt.
California’s Attorney General says citizens have the right to access public information maintained by government agencies.
California’s Public Records Law explains that information does include photographs.
And there’s a reason for that, as Valley Crime Stoppers is well aware of – in 2021, the nonprofit got 3100 tips that led to 250 arrests in our local area.
“These are public safety issues and we all know what’s going on with crime these days,” said Arendt.
FOX26 News talked with several other lawyers for this story, who said law enforcement agencies must provide access to public records. Since those are easily and immediately obtainable online, that request must be met in an appropriately timely manner.
There are certain exemptions that could apply in specific situations. For instance, law enforcement agencies can decline to provide information because a case is ongoing; however, if someone has been charged and arrested, that typically implies the case would be considered closed and thus would not apply in these circumstances.
FOX26 News has reached out to the California Attorney General's office to ask how to proceed.
source: https://kmph.com/news/local/is-a-valley-law-enforcement-agency-violating-public-records-law
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