ACLU pushes back against Fresno over access to police dog records

FRESNO, Calif. (CN) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California is suing the city of Fresno over its failure to provide public records about police dogs, saying the city didn’t comply with the state’s Public Records Act.

Pointing to “disfiguring injuries and deaths” caused by police dogs, the ACLU says in its petition it made the records request because of growing concern about the city’s “egregious” use of the dogs and their disproportionate use toward communities of color.

“In 2021, injuries caused by police canines accounted for nearly 12% of police use-of-force cases that resulted in severe injuries or death,” the ACLU says in the petition filed Monday in Fresno County Superior Court. “Notably, many of these attacks are perpetrated against people who are unarmed, and many of them occur accidentally when police officers lose control of their dogs.”

Accidental attacks have happened in Fresno, with canines biting a bystander, a child and a police sergeant, according to the ACLU.

In March 2023, the group filed a Public Records Act request with Fresno seeking documents about police dog use of force. Specifically, it requested use-of-force forms or reports involving police canines, records and reports involving bites and injuries, and records about police dogs that led to death or serious bodily injury, unreasonable force, and dishonestly about any police canine incident.

A back-and-forth began over the following months, which led to the ACLU receiving redacted documents on June 2, 2023. It received 76 use-of-force reports from 2019 to 2022 but none from 2021.

“Fresno also redacted entire pages of narrative information from the K9 use-of-force reports and accidental bite reports it did produce,” the ACLU says.

Additionally, the documents lacked details about the various incidents, injuries received, deputies involved and any disciplinary actions. A majority of the reports have significant redactions, making it impossible to know the nature of what was removed and the basis for its removal.

According to the ACLU, Fresno cited attorney-client privilege, attorney work product, right to privacy, unwarranted invasion of privacy and the investigatory records exemption as reasons for the redactions. Follow-up with the city attorney led to a doubling down, with the city in December stating it considered the Public Records Act request closed.

The ACLU says it appears the city is determined to ignore the obligations it has under the Public Records Act, unless forced in court to comply.  

The petition asks a judge to require Fresno to fulfill the records request.

“Fresno cannot demonstrate that the outstanding responsive records are exempt under express provisions of the (Public Records Act), or any authority, or that on the facts of this particular case, the public interest served by nondisclosure of the records clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure,” the ACLU wrote.

A representative with the city of Fresno could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

The Legislature created the Public Records Act in 1968. However, before 2019, it contained certain exemptions relating to law enforcement. For example, records involving peace officers were shielded from the act if they contained information about discipline, complaints or any information that would be an improper invasion of personal privacy.

The law changed in 2018, when the Legislature included in the act use-of-force by a peace officer that led to death or great bodily injury.

Those documents fall under the Public Records Act, even if they were created before the change in the law, if the request was filed after Jan. 1, 2019.

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