apparently many police depts feel they can ignore [f.o.i] laws

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jim Warren <[email protected]>
Date: January 12, 2007 4:19:38 PM EST
To: [email protected], State and Local Freedom of  
Information Issues <[email protected]>, Dave Farber  
<[email protected]>
Subject: apparently many police depts feel they can ignore [f.o.i] laws

[A former editor of mine just sent this URL to me.  The web-link has  
adverts that load first, from an outrageously turgid ad-"server", but  
if you wait long enough, the full article is worth the wait ... in an  
appalling sorta way.  The California Public Records Act is quite  
clear about much of what these law-"enforcement" agencies chose to  
refuse to do.  I suspect one would find similar disregard in most  
states, for their open-government "laws".  --jim]

> http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_4999581

Audit: Cops deny records access
Survey gives median average score of 30 out of 100 to Bay Area  
departments

By Thomas Peele and Matt Krupnick, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Last Updated: 01/12/2007 07:04:09 AM PST

California law gives anyone the right to walk into a police  
department and inspect a wide variety of information, from crime and  
arrest reports to statistics on officer-misconduct complaints.

But a statewide audit of such access released today shows a wide gap  
between the law and the reality of what happens when people ask to  
see public information at California police stations.

Police often violated laws that mandate open access to public records  
and delayed for weeks the release of ordinary reports, intimidating  
people who asked for them and researching their backgrounds,  
according to the audit of more than 200 departments and California  
Highway Patrol offices, including 63 in the Bay Area.

Written requests for records were sometimes ignored and some  
departments even refused to accept them.

More than 60 journalists across the state - including the Alameda  
Times-Star and six other MediaNews newspapers in the Bay Area and KGO- 
TV - participated in the audit, which was conducted Dec. 4 in 34 of  
California's 58 counties.

The effort was coordinated by Californians Aware, a Sacramento-based  
group that advocates transparent government and records access. The  
group aims to educate government workers and the public about  
information that every person - not just public officials or  
journalists - is entitled to see.

...<BIG snip>...


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