Peace officers: confidentiality of records.

Assembly Member Pacheco’s measure places undercover status considerations at the forefront of confidentiality rules for peace officer records while expanding a defined set of records that may be publicly accessible. The measure would require a court, when evaluating whether compelled disclosure would pose a significant danger to physical safety, to consider whether a particular officer is currently operating undercover and whose anonymity is necessary for duties. It also provides that this bill’s changes interact with related amendments and would become operative only if other related measures are enacted and the sequencing among them is satisfied.

Beyond the undercover consideration, the bill relaxes the confidentiality framework for peace officer personnel records by designating a broad set of records that may be inspected by the public under the Public Records Act. These include records relating to firearm discharge at a person, use of force resulting in death or great bodily injury, sustained findings of excessive force or failure to intervene, sexual assault, dishonesty, prejudice or discrimination, and unlawful arrest or unlawful search. The bill specifies that records to be released would encompass investigative reports, photographic, audio, and video evidence, transcripts or recordings of interviews, autopsy reports, and materials reviewed by prosecutors or oversight bodies, including records related to an officer’s resignation before an investigation concluded. It also provides a time adjustment for records from incidents occurring before January 1, 2022, delaying time limitations until January 1, 2023.

The bill also outlines detailed procedures for redactions and timing, allowing agencies to redact personal data, protect whistleblowers and witnesses, and withhold information where disclosure could pose a significant danger, with periodic written justifications and potential delay up to 18 months in certain cases. It preserves existing discovery processes and court procedures, and it permits limited disclosures such as releasing a complainant’s own statements at the time a complaint is filed and providing aggregated complaint data that does not identify individuals. The measure requires timely notice to complainants about disposition and allows public dissemination of non-identifying disciplinary data, framing its approach to transparency against privacy protections and ongoing investigations.