Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Policing Reform
A Moment of Simple Justice - Undercover Lover
A Moment of Simple Justice - Ferguson
BB&K's New Law Guidance for a Happy New Year - In Part Two of our “In With the New” series, BB&K’s ARC: Advanced Records Center team covers important new legislation and case law related to the California Public Records...more
BB&K to Host Webinar Discussing SB 16 and Agency Duties to Produce Police Records Under Public Records Act - New police records rules mandating additional disclosures of personnel records will go into effect next year with...more
Gov. Gavin Newsom Must Sign or Veto by October 10 - The California Legislature approved Sen. Nancy Skinner’s Senate Bill 16 on September 2, putting the question of whether to require disclosure of more police records...more
In a decision applauded by citizens of the City of Chicago and its leadership, the Illinois Supreme Court found that a provision in the collective bargaining agreement between the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge No....more
Earlier this week, in response to a nationwide outcry for police reform, the New York Legislature repealed Civil Rights Law § 50-a, a decades-old statute that largely prohibited the disclosure of police disciplinary records....more
The California Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that analyzes the public disclosure of police body camera footage and demonstrates the overlap between e-Discovery processes and other records production schemes. The...more
California Public Records Act Provision Permitting Public Agencies to Charge for “Extraction” Analyzed - Government agencies are prohibited from charging a fee to redact police body camera footage in response to a...more
Police Records Must Be Disclosed Even if Created or Officer Employed By Different Agency, California Appellate Court Says - The California Attorney General and Department of Justice must disclose all police misconduct...more
Part 1: New CPRA Laws for 2020 - While an expansive array of records can be sought via a California Public Records Act request, the right to inspect public records is not without limits. The CPRA does not give unlimited...more
BB&K's Christine Wood Gives Updates on AB 748 and SB 1421 in PublicCEO - Now, more than ever, Californians have greater access to police personnel records, body and dashboard camera footage and other recordings acquired by...more
In September 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1421, amending sections of California's Penal Code to allow the public to obtain some peace and custodial officer (collectively, peace officer) records with a...more
In the first court ruling on Senate Bill 1421, a judge held that the new California law only applies prospectively, but still requires disclosure of pre-2019 police personnel records in response to Public Record Act requests...more
While an almost exhaustive amount of information can be sought via a Public Records Act request, the right to inspect public records is not without limits. ...more
Senate Bill 1421, which dramatically changed the scope of a public peace officer record, has generated a number of legal challenges since it went into effect on Jan. 1....more
Senate Bill 1421 affords the public access to police personnel records related to reports, investigations and findings, via the California Public Records Act process (not the familiar Pitchess process)....more
The California public will have a greater right to access police body camera footage, and any other audio or video recording acquired by any police agency or state prosecution office, under the Public Records Act with the...more
The California Supreme Court recently denied considering an appellate court ruling from a case in Eureka that police arrest videos cannot be considered confidential officer personnel records and therefore kept from public...more
The bill establishes a more restrictive process for obtaining video than the courts have provided for under the Right to Know Law. The Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill on October 19 that would prohibit police body...more
Is Your Police Department Ready for Body Cameras? - Police use of force has been heavily scrutinized for more than a year. In May 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was providing $20 million in grants...more
BB&K attorney Gary Schons examines police body cameras from a variety of angles for the California District Attorneys Association’s Prosecutor’s Brief. The use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement officials and what...more