Page 1
Court of Appeal:
Police Officer’s Records Not Subject to Public Disclosure
2018 Amendments Don’t Authorize Release of ‘Sustained’ Findings of Dishonesty Where There Was No Notice,
Opportunity for Appeal Because Officer Left Employment, Poochigian Says, but Notes Jan. 1 Change in Law
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A judge properly enjoined a school district from releasing personnel records of a former lieutenant in its police force because certain adverse findings were made after he left the district’s employ and, with no prospect of discipline ensuing, no notice and opportunity for an administrative appeal were afforded, the Fifth District Court of Appeal held yesterday, but signaled that such a request might be granted under legislation effective Jan. 1.
Requests had been made under the California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) for information relating to former police officers for the Kern High School District (“KHSD”) Former KHSD police lieutenant Jerald Wyatt in 2020 successfully made a reverse-CPRA motion before Kern Superior Court Judge J. Eric Bradshaw to block release of his records.
Effective Jan. 1, 2019, Penal Code §832.7 and §832.8 were amended by SB 1421 to authorize release of records KHADR of police officers under certain circumstances, including “sustained” findings of dishonesty. Such findings were made as to Wyatt, as he was informed when requests under the CPRA were received by the district, by which time he was no longer a KHSD employee.
Whether he voluntarily resigned or was constructively fired is the subject of separate litigation.
|
|
|
JERALD WYATT Former school police officer |
Fifth District Opinion
Writing for the Fifth District, Justice Charles Poochigian said:
“In our review of the legislative history for Senate Bill 1421, we have found nothing indicating the Legislature considered the situation where alleged ‘sustained’ findings were made by a law enforcement employer following a peace officer’s separation of employment through resignation, constructive termination, or otherwise. We cannot say the legislative purpose of Senate Bill 1421 is in any way violated by a construction that holds the subject records are not within the definition of ‘sustained’ findings and related documents. Had the Legislature considered such a situation, it is plausible the Legislature might have provided that such records should be subject to disclosure in response to a CPRA request. It is equally plausible, however, the Legislature would have found policy considerations warrant continued protection of such documents to protect an officer’s privacy interests due to the lack of notice and an opportunity to appeal the findings—as argued by Wyatt.”
He added that the Legislature might have viewed that absent an appeal process, meritless claims might be publicly released.
“We cannot conclude that the judgment, if affirmed, yields an absurd result,” he wrote, adding:
“To the extent this case exposes circumstances not addressed by the Legislature in Senate Bill 1421, it is for the Legislature, not the courts, to make the relevant policy determinations necessary to achieve the appropriate balance between protecting a peace officer’s privacy interest while at the same time providing public disclosure of allegations or sustained findings related to officer conduct and misconduct….
“We conclude the subject records are not subject to disclosure under the 2018 amendments to Penal Code section 832.7 and 832.8.”
New Amendments
However, he noted, further amendments to §832.7 went into effect on Jan. 1. It now says that “[r]ecords that shall be released pursuant to this subdivision also include records relating to an incident” of one of the types specified “in which the peace officer or custodial officer resigned before the law enforcement agency or oversight agency concluded its investigation into the alleged incident.”
Poochigian pointed out:
“Because we take no position on whether Wyatt resigned from the KHSD police department, was constructively terminated from said employment, or separated from his employment with KHSD under other circumstances, and because the CPRA requests at issue predate enactment of the 2021 amendments, we do not address whether a different result would obtain under current Penal Code section 832.7.”
The judgment must be modified, he said, to limit the injunction to CPRA requests made before Jan. 1 of this year.
The case is Wyatt v. Kern High School, 2022 S.O.S. 2983.
Wyatt is now an investigator for the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
Copyright 2022, Metropolitan News Company