Opinion ID: 2463751
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: crpa

Text: ¶ 36 As an alternative basis to the PRA, the BIPG and Officer Cain argue that the CRPA, chapter 10.97 RCW, exempts the PCIR from production, and to the extent it contains the PCIR, the MIIIR as well. The court's objective when construing a statute is to determine the legislature's intent. In re Pers. Restraint of Cruze, 169 Wash.2d 422, 427, 237 P.3d 274 (2010). The plain meaning is to be discerned from the ordinary meaning of the language, as well as the context of the statute where that provision is found, related provisions, and the statutory scheme as a whole. Id. CRPA generally provides for the completeness, accuracy, confidentiality, and security of criminal history record information. RCW 10.97.010. RCW 10.97.080 states in pertinent part: No person shall be allowed to retain or mechanically reproduce any nonconviction data except for the purpose of challenge or correction when the person who is the subject of the record asserts the belief in writing that the information regarding such person is inaccurate or incomplete. The provisions of chapter 42.56 RCW shall not be construed to require or authorize copying of nonconviction data for any other purpose. (Emphasis added.) RCW 10.97.080 bars only the retention and copying of nonconviction data, therefore it would not prevent appellants from viewing or inspecting the nonconviction data. Hudgens v. City of Renton, 49 Wash.App. 842, 844-45, 746 P.2d 320 (1987). As for their right to retain or copy, `[n]onconviction data' is defined as all criminal history record information relating to an incident which has not led to a conviction or other disposition adverse to the subject, and for which proceedings are no longer actively pending. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that proceedings are no longer actively pending if more than one year has elapsed since arrest, citation, charge, or service of warrant and no disposition has been entered. RCW 10.97.030(2) (emphasis added). Nonconviction data only includes `[c]riminal history record information,' which is defined as information contained in records collected by criminal justice agencies, other than courts, on individuals, consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations, or other formal criminal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom, including acquittals by reason of insanity, dismissals based on lack of competency, sentences, correctional supervision, and release. The term includes information contained in records maintained by or obtained from criminal justice agencies, other than courts, which records provide individual identification of a person together with any portion of the individual's record of involvement in the criminal justice system as an alleged or convicted offender. RCW 10.97.030(1). The PCIR did not arise from an arrest, detention, indictment, or other formal criminal charge, and would not include any descriptions and notations of those events. Therefore, the PCIR does not contain any criminal history record information beyond the individual identification of Officer Cain as the alleged offender. ¶ 37 The BIPG and Officer Cain cite to Hudgens as authority for the proposition that RCW 10.97.080 exempts an entire record such as the PCIR from production if it contains any criminal history record information. In Hudgens, the Court of Appeals declared, without analysis, that police investigative records relating to an arrest were exempt from retention and copying under RCW 10.97.080. 49 Wash.App. at 844-45, 746 P.2d 320. We reject that interpretation, and hold that RCW 10.97.080 requires redaction of only criminal history record information. In other words, the statute does not exempt information relating to the conduct of the police during the investigation. See Lynette Meachum, Private Rap Sheet or Public Record? Reconciling the Disclosure of Nonconviction Information Under Washington's Public Disclosure and Criminal Records Privacy Acts, 79 WASH. L.REV. 693 (2004). ¶ 38 Interpreting criminal history record information as not including all the contents of an investigative record is also consistent with the surrounding statutory context. Statutes in pari materia should be harmonized so as to give force and effect to each and this rule applies with peculiar force to statutes passed at the same session of the Legislature. Int'l Commercial Collectors, Inc. v. Carver, 99 Wash.2d 302, 307, 661 P.2d 976 (1983) (citing State ex rel. Oregon R.R. & Nav. Co. v. Clausen, 63 Wash. 535, 540, 116 P. 7 (1911)). The first paragraph of RCW 10.97.080 explicitly draws a distinction between criminal history record information and data contained in ... investigative ... files. Moreover, companion legislation enacted during the same legislative session as RCW 10.97.080 draws the same distinction: Criminal history record information includes, and shall be restricted to identifying data and information recorded as the result of an arrest or other initiation of criminal proceedings and the consequent proceedings related thereto. Criminal history record information shall not include intelligence, analytical, or investigative reports and files. RCW 43.43.705 (emphasis added); LAWS OF 1977, 1st Ex.Sess., ch. 314, § 14. RCW 43.43.705 establishes the Washington State Patrol as the central clearinghouse for criminal history record information in Washington. We interpret criminal history record information in a manner consistent with RCW 43.43.705, holding that it does not include the entire investigative report. In the context of the PCIR, RCW 10.97.080 requires nothing more than redaction of Officer Cain's identity in connection with the allegation, but the PCIR's description of the police department's investigation is not criminal history record information and must be produced.