OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — A state judge gave the initial green light to a settlement requiring the Oakland Police Department to comply with the California Public Records Act (PRA) and release documents to a class of journalists and activists whose public records requests languished for years in a colossal backlog.
“We think the settlement we achieved in this case goes beyond what is required by the text of the PRA, so we think this is a real victory for transparency,” said Sam Ferguson, an attorney representing a class of journalists led by Scott Morris, Sarah Belle Lin, Brian Krans, the watchdog group Oakland Privacy and its research director Michael Katz, all of whom regularly investigate the department and had to resort to litigation to force the police to abide by state law. “Before we filed [the lawsuit,] there was very little the OPD did to respond to Public Records Act.”
Morris said the agreement should make the police department more transparent, provided it complies with the terms.
“They’ve had a responsibility to comply with the PRA for as along as there has been a PRA,” he said. “I have my doubts as to whether the city will fulfill its obligation. But as written, this creates important reforms.”
The settlement requires it to clear its backlog of California Public Records Act requests within six months and release all records related to police shootings and misconduct within 15 months, with disclosures on a rolling basis every two weeks. The misconduct records fall under Senate Bill 1421, a law that mandates the disclosure of public records on police shootings, use of excessive force and confirmed cases of lying and sexual assault by on-duty officers under the California Public Records Act.
The department must also release all crime reports, not counting homicide reports, within 15 days after a request is made under the PRA, and release tow reports with 10 days. If it cannot comply with these deadlines, the department will have to provide a specific reason for why it needs an extension.
The Oakland police chief and city attorney must also update the Oakland City Council at an open meeting on its progress within four months. They are answerable to Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, who will continue to oversee the case to ensure that the department holds up its end of the deal.
“For the police chief to have to take direct responsibility for this problem is one way to ensure that somebody is held accountable,” Morris said. “That aspect of it hopefully helps motivate them to comply with the terms.”
Judge Roesch preliminarily approved the agreement on Thursday and will hold a final approval hearing in March 2022.
Roesch also ruled in favor of two investigative reporters fighting the police for SB 1421 records. In April, he ordered the department to turn over thousands of documents that the pair requested years ago. He set a six-month deadline for the disclosures.
Ferguson, who also represented the journalists in that case, said the police department hasn’t fully complied with Roesch’s order, despite the city’s claim that it has produced 95% of disclosable documents and audio-video files, spending 5,000 hours and nearly $1 million in taxpayer dollars to do so.
“We think there are a number of outstanding documents they haven’t produced and we are in negotiations with the city for them to complete the production,” Ferguson said.
The class action is broader, he noted, and encompasses records beyond those disclosable under SB 1421, including routine police reports and tow reports. Ferguson said it’s been a steep learning curve, but the department has already addressed a significant portion of its public records request backlog. As of Thursday, the police department had fewer than 950 open requests pending on NextRequest, Oakland’s online records portal.
“The city essentially did nothing until we sued them, so there was a bit of a getting-up-to-speed period for the city while they were figuring out where the documents were and compiling them. They now have more staff working on these cases and are beginning to take this seriously,” Ferguson said. “I think we achieved a really comprehensive settlement and now we need to make sure that Oakland complies. So the work continues.”
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