Supreme Court of California

In a suit brought by the L.A. Times seeking the disclosure of information in an agency's database pertaining to California peace officers, a court of appeals' ruling reversing a decision directing disclosure of the records is reversed, as: 1) the California Public Records Act required the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to disclose the names, employing departments, and hiring and termination dates of California peace officers included in the Commission's database; and 2) such records were not rendered confidential by Penal Code sections 832.7 and 832.8.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/27/2007
• Published 08/27/2007

Judges

• GEORGE, C.J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Jacob A. Appelsmith, Assistant Attorney General, Vincent J. Scally, Jr., Elizabeth Hong and Michael E. Whitaker, Deputy Attorneys General, for Petitioner., Law Offices of Jones & Mayer, Martin J. Mayer, Fullerton, and Paul R. Coble, Los Angeles, for California State Sheriffs Association, California Police Chiefs Association and California Peace Officers Association as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner., Rains, Lucia & Wilkinson and Alison Berry Wilkinson, Pleasant Hill, for The Legal Defense Fund of the Peace Officers Research Association of California as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner., Kasey Christopher Clark and Joshua C. Walters, for Cause Statewide Law Enforcement Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner., Davis Wright Tremaine, Kelli L. Sager, Alonzo Wickers IV, Rochelle L. Wilcox, Los Angeles;  and Karlene W. Goller, Los Angeles, for Real Party in Interest., Law Offices of Merrick J. Bobb and Merrick J. Bobb, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest., Levy, Ram & Olson, Karl Olson, San Francisco;  Thomas W. Newton;  Jon Donnellan;  Stephen J. Burns, Sacramento;  Harold W. Fuson, Jr., La Jolla;  Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, James E. Grossberg;  Charles Glasser;  DLP Piper RudnickGray Cary, James Chadwick, San Francisco;  Peter Scheer, San Francisco;  Lucy A. Daglish and Gregg P. Leslie, for California Newspapers Publishers Association, Hearst Corporation, Contra Costa Newspapers, Inc., McClatchy Company, The Copley Press, Freedom Communications, Inc., dba The Orange County Register, Associated Press, Bloomberg News, San Jose Mercury News. California First Amendment Coalition and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest., Alan L. Schlosser, Mark Schlosberg, San Francisco;  Peter Eliasberg, Los Angeles;  Law Offices of Amitai Schwartz, Amitai Schwartz, Lisa Sitkin, Emeryville;  and Jordan C. Budd, San Diego, for ACLU of Northern California, ACLU Foundation of Southern California and ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest.


• For Appellees:
  
• No appearance for Respondent.