Opinion ID: 6107678
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Senate Bill 1421 excludes certain information from section 832.7(a) 's provision of confidentiality

Text: Senate Bill 1421 amended Penal Code section 832.7. The plain text of the amended statute excludes certain information from the confidentiality afforded by section 832.7(a). As amended, subdivision (a) applies [e]xcept as provided in subdivision (b). Subdivision (b) declares in turn that, [n]otwithstanding ... any other law, certain peace officer or custodial officer personnel records and records maintained by any state or local agency shall not be confidential and shall be made available for public inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act. ( Pen. Code, § 832.7, subd. (b)(1), italics added.) It follows that if subdivision (b) deems records not ... confidential, they are not confidential under subdivision (a). And if records are not ... confidential because of subdivision (b), it would be nonsensical to conclude that subdivision (a) renders information obtained from those nonconfidential records confidential. Thus, if subdivision (b) deems a record nonconfidential, the record, or information obtained from it, is not confidential. Senate Bill 1421 deems three types of records nonconfidential. First, records relating to the report, investigation, or findings of an incident in which an officer (i) discharged a firearm at a person or (ii) used force against  a person resulting in death or great bodily injury. ( Pen. Code, § 832.7, subd. (b)(1)(A).) Second, records relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency  that an officer engaged in sexual assault involving a member of the public. ( Id. , § 832.7, subd. (b)(1)(B)(i).) And third, [a]ny record relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency of dishonesty by a peace officer or custodial officer directly relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly relating to the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another peace officer or custodial officer, including, but not limited to, any sustained finding of perjury, false statements, filing false reports, destruction, falsifying, or concealing of evidence. ( Id. , § 832.7, subd. (b)(1)(C) ; see also id. , § 832.7, subd. (b)(2)-(4).) Any portion of a Brady list based on these types of records is not confidential, and section 832.7(a) does not restrict dissemination of such information. It is true that Senate Bill 1421 does not affect the discovery or disclosure of information contained in a peace or custodial officer's personnel file pursuant to Section 1043 of the Evidence Code. (  Pen. Code, § 832.7, subd. (g).) Nor does it supersede or affect the criminal discovery process outlined in Chapter 10 (commencing with [Evidence Code] Section 1054) of Title 6 of Part 2, or the admissibility of personnel records pursuant to subdivision (a), which codifies the court decision in Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531 , 113 Cal.Rptr. 897 , 522 P.2d 305 . ( Id. , § 832.7, subd. (h).) But these provisions are beside the point. It may be that Senate Bill 1421 does not expand the set of information that a criminal defendant is entitled to receive through the Pitchess process, an issue on which we need take no position here. For present purposes, it is enough to say that even if Senate Bill 1421 does not increase the amount of information that a defendant can compel an agency to disclose, the bill, by making certain records nonconfidential, reduces the amount of information that agencies are forbidden from disclosing voluntarily. We do not suggest that nonconfidential records must be fully disclosed, at any time, under the California Public Records Act. As amended, Penal Code section 832.7 contemplates that it may be appropriate for an agency to redact records ( id. , § 832.7, subd. (b)(5)-(6) ) or to delay disclosure of records to avoid interference with certain investigations or enforcement proceedings ( id. § 832.7, subd. (b)(7) ). Moreover, separate and apart from any confidentiality, Penal Code section 832.7, subdivision (b)(8) instructs that [a] record of a civilian complaint, or the investigations, findings, or dispositions of that complaint, shall not be released pursuant to this section if the complaint is frivolous, as defined in Section 128.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, or if the complaint is unfounded. Thus, our conclusion that records described in section 832.7(b) are not confidential  ( § 832.7(a) ) does not mean that they are invariably open for public inspection over the agency's objection. 3 With this revised statutory scheme in mind, we turn to the question whether the Department's Brady list is confidential.