Thanks to a recent state law, the public now has a right to see investigation files about police officers who were found to have committed serious misconduct. But if you ask the OC Sheriff’s Department for anything older than a few years, you’re largely out of luck.
Tag: SB 1421
Posted inInside the Newsroom
Voice of OC, California Publishers Awarded for Public Service on Police Misconduct Reporting Using SB 1421 Records
Voice of OC and all members of a California journalism coalition were awarded for public service by the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Posted inNEWS
Santa Ana Police Lawsuit Settlements Cost Taxpayers At Least $24 Million Over Last Decade
It has cost Santa Ana roughly $24 million out of the public purse to settle legal claims and lawsuits against the police department over the last decade, according to official data.
Posted inFullerton
OC Judge Orders Fullerton Blog and Resident to Stop Publishing Secret City Hall Documents
Local blog Friends for Fullerton’s Future and resident Joshua Ferguson have been ordered by an OC Superior Court judge to stop publishing confidential city documents. The move comes within a week of Ferguson suing the city for allegedly failing to produce police misconduct and other records. A full hearing on the issue is scheduled for Nov. 21.
Posted inFullerton
Fullerton City Officials Target Local Bloggers in Lawsuit, Want to Search Private Computers
Fullerton city attorneys are asking an OC Superior Court judge to keep local resident Joshua Ferguson, and the blog he writes for, from deleting confidential records and to appoint someone to look through electronics to find the records. Ferguson filed a public records lawsuit against the city last week.
Posted inFullerton
How Did a Former City Manager Get a Ride Home From Police After Drinking and Crashing Car?
Fullerton may have to produce records that could show why former City Manager Joe Felz didn’t get arrested for driving under the influence following his 2016 election night car crash after a lawsuit demanding those records, along with numerous others, was filed by local resident Joshua Ferguson.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: OC Deputy Union Pays Out $50K in Failed Bid to Seal Misconduct Records
The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs paid out nearly $50,000 to Voice of OC, the L.A. Times and Southern California Public Radio this past month after deputies lost their bid in court earlier this year to seal deputy misconduct records.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: OC Sheriff Don Barnes Moves at Sloth Pace to Release Deputy Misconduct Records
Barnes, who benefited from more than $600K in campaign cash from the same OC deputy union that fought disclosure of SB 1421 police misconduct records, has put a tiny staff on the biggest public records challenge ever, likely ensuring that Orange County taxpayers – who have paid out nearly $100 million in legal payouts from Sheriff’s Department misdeeds since 1990 – remain in the dark along with any kind of potential reform.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: California News Media Partnership Forms to Publish Police Misconduct Records
Voice of OC today joins nearly three dozen newsrooms across California that have forged a rare collaborative to report about police misconduct files that recently became available for public review under California’s new police transparency law, SB 1421.
Posted inNorberto Santana, Jr.
Santana: OC Deputies Union Withdraws Lawsuit to Block Public Release of Deputy Misconduct Records
The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs has apparently given up on its lawsuit seeking to prevent the public release of deputy misconduct records, a day after OC Superior Court Judge Nathan Scott rejected all of their court arguments against implementation of a new state law, SB 1421, which would allow the public to review select misconduct records about use of force incidents, sexual assaults on members of the public or lying while on duty. A media coalition, led by Voice of OC and including the Los Angeles Times and Southern California Public Radio, successfully went to court last month to oppose the deputy union effort.
