The Argus - Californians Aware

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FRID
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January 12, 2007
theargusonline.com
CEO’s
contract
attracts
scrutiny
ᔡ Critic says $450,000
salary is excessive in era
of ‘belt-tightening’
50 cents
ACCESS
DENIED
Audit:
Police
refused
to comply
By Thomas Peele and Matt Krupnick
MEDIANEWS STAFF
California law gives anyone the right to
walk into a police department and inspect
a wide variety of information, from crime
and arrest reports to statistics on officermisconduct complaints.
However, a statewide audit of such access released today shows a wide gap between the law and the reality of what
happens when people ask to see public information at California police stations.
Police often violated laws that mandate
open access to public records and delayed
for weeks the release of ordinary reports,
intimidating people who asked for them
and researching their backgrounds, the
audit of more than 200 departments and
California Highway Patrol offices, including 63 in the Bay Area, finds.
Written requests for records were
sometimes ignored and some departments even refused to accept them.
More than 60 journalists throughout
the state — including one from The Argus
and 12 others from our sister papers in
the Bay Area and KGO-TV — participated
in the audit, which was conducted Dec. 4
in 34 of California’s 58 counties.
The effort was coordinated by Californians Aware, a Sacramento-based group
that advocates for transparent govern-
By Angela Woodall
STAFF WRITER
FREMONT — What started
out as a minor procedural
matter at the Washington Hospital board meeting turned into
a forum on CEO Nancy Farber’s
$450,000 contract and her performance.
Dressed in a
red suit and
Hermes-print
scarf, Farber
sat motionless
Wednesday
night as Ramineni Rao, a
doctor who
practices at
Washington,
FARBER
told the board
of directors that the executive’s
pay — on the high end of the nationwide average — set a “bad
example” for other CEOs and
health care workers.
Health care “is not a growth
Please see CEO, News 4
Please see AUDIT, News 7
Governor
to redirect
transit funds
ᔡ Plan would use tax
‘spillover’ to help schools
By Erik N. Nelson
STAFF WRITER
Attempting to revamp a decades-old tax-control provision,
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
has drawn fire from public
transportation advocates who
like the idea of high gas prices
automatically pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into
buses, trains and ferries.
Using an arcane formula that
weighs gasoline sales tax revenue against sales tax on other
goods, a 1971 law negotiated
with then-Gov. Ronald Reagan
diverts any additional tax receipts into a fund for public
transportation.
Please see TRANSIT, News 4
KARL MONDON — MediaNews Photo Illustration
A STATEWIDE AUDIT of access to public records at more than 200 police stations and Highway Patrol
offices in California found that police routinely restrict or needlessly delay access to records of arrests,
crimes and other data. Journalists from 31 news organizations participated in the audit which
was coordinated by a Sacramento-based advocacy group, Californians Aware.
How the audit
was performed
and how the scoring
was done.
Visit us on the Web
and tell us what you think.
My Word: Most
people in law
enforcement don’t
follow the law.
NEWS 6
InsideBayArea.com
LOCAL 7
Public protests
Bipartisan hostility
greets Iraq plan on Hill
ᔡ Not one committee senator
supports president’s blueprint
By Michael Abramowitz
and Jonathan Weisman
WASHINGTON POST
ANDA CHU — Staff
VALERIE KAULICK of Fremont was one of about 60 people who
attended a rally Thursday evening in front of the Fremont Hall
of Justice at the corner of Walnut Avenue and Paseo Padre
Parkway, to protest the war in Iraq and the buildup of troops.
WASHINGTON — President Bush’s proposal to send about 21,000 additional
troops to Iraq encountered strong bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill on
Thursday, and his top national security advisers, dispatched to defend the strategy,
were greeted with a skepticism not seen
from Congress over the past six years.
Lawmakers said they had little confidence that the Iraqi government has the capacity to deliver on promises to take the
lead in cracking down on violent militias
and providing security in Baghdad, as the
president’s plan contemplates. Democrats and
Republicans alike said
they were concerned
Bush’s plan, announced
Wednesday night in a
prime time, nationally televised address, is too
little and too late, and
does not appear very difBUSH
ferent than previous efforts to secure the capital.
The administration’s emissaries, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense
Please see IRAQ, News 4
.......
INSIDE: U.S.-led forces make arrests
in Iraq.
News 3
OPINION: Bush’s plan will fail. Local 7
INSIDE
...............
Comics ...........................Business 6
Legals............................. Class 6, 7
Lottery ................................ News 2
Horses ............................... Sports 6
Scores................................ Sports 7
Movies................................Preview
Obituaries............................Local 6
Opinion ...............................Local 7
Puzzles............................Business 5
Wonderword....................... Class 4
Television........................Business 7
...............
Forecast
Sunny
Highs: lower 50s
Lows: upper 20s
Details on
Business 8
...............
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THE ARGUS
FRIDAY, January 12, 2007
How the audit was performed
and how scoring was done
On Dec. 4, journalists from
31 newspapers and broadcast
news organizations visited more
than 200 police and sheriff’s departments and California
Highway Patrol stations in 34
California counties ranging from
San Diego to Oakland to Siskiyou. Presenting themselves as
ordinary citizens with no special
affiliation, they requested records both verbally and in
writing.
POLICE AND SHERIFF REQUESTS: At police stations and
sheriff’s departments, audit
participants asked to see statements of economic interest and
public information on the occurrences of and arrests for
burglaries, armed robberies and
sexual assaults for a two-week
period in November.
They also submitted a
written request asking to inspect 10 sets of documents, including:
៑ Asset forfeiture fund disbursement records
៑ Statistical data on officer
discipline
៑ Officer salary schedule
៑ Individual officer compensation records
៑ The latest death-in-custody
report filed to the state Department of Justice
៑ Records copy fee schedule
៑ The department’s media
policy
៑ The police chief’s employment contract
៑ Officer second-job records
៑ Worker compensation
claims
In
CHP REQUESTS: At CHP
stations, the participants asked
to see citations and arrest information for all drunken
driving and reckless driving
stops for a two-week period in
November.
They also submitted a
written request to inspect the
following documents:
៑ Officer salary schedule
៑ Individual officer compensation records
៑ Worker compensation
claims
៑ Officer second-job records
៑ The latest death-in-custody
report filed to the state Department of Justice
GRADING: Police and sheriff
departments and CHP stations
were graded based on the response, cooperation, service and
access allowed by the government employees who work
there.
Each department or station
began with a score of 100.
Points were subtracted each
time:
៑ Someone at the department or station asked the requester questions such as “who
are you” or “what do you want
these records for” that are not
required under the Public Records Act
៑ Someone at a department
or station demanded the requester’s name, occupation, intent, employer or identification
as a condition of allowing inspection of public records
៑ The requester was re-
quired to fill out a form for records
៑ Arrest and crime information failed to contain all legally
required public information
៑ A department took more
than 10 days to allow a record
to be inspected
៑ A department referred the
requester to another agency to
inspect records
៑ A department refused to
allow inspection of each requested item without citing specific legal reasoning
៑ Crime and arrest reports
failed to contain the full level of
details required by law, such as
suspect’s name, age, occupation
and information such as when
and where the crime or arrest
occurred
Departments that failed to
accept the requester’s written
request for public records automatically failed the audit.
THE JOURNALISTS: Journalists from seven MediaNews
newspapers in the Bay Area and
KGO-TV participated in the
audit. They were: Malaika
Fraley, Scott Marshall, George
Kelly, Quynh Tran, Matt Krupnick and Thomas Peele of the
Contra Costa Times; Cecily Burt
of the Oakland Tribune; Roman
Gokhman of the Tri-Valley
Herald; Martin Ricard of the
Daily Review; Angela Woodall of
The Argus; Leslie Griffy of the
San Jose Mercury News; Kelly
Pakula of San Mateo County
Times and Steven Fyffe of KGOTV.
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FRIDAY, January 12, 2007
NEWS 7
THE ARGUS
What police departments are required to make public about crimes and arrests
........................................................
When a crime occurs, California law
gives the public the right to inspect records that show “the time, date, and location of occurrence, the time and date
of the report, the name and age of the
victim” (other than certain sex or abuse
crime victims), “the factual circumstances surrounding the crime or inci-
dent, and a general description of any
injuries, property, or weapons involved.”
— Government Code Section 6254,
subdivision (f), paragraph (2)
When an arrest occurs the public has the
right to inspect records that show “the
full name and occupation of every indi-
Audit finds refusal to comply with law
៑ AUDIT, from News 1
ment and records access. The
group aims to educate government workers and the public
about information that every
person — not just public officials or journalists — is entitled
to see.
To gauge the response an average citizen might face in
making a public records request, journalists participating
in the survey asked police for information without identifying
themselves as working for news
organizations.
Auditors first asked verbally
to look at the local police chief’s
statement of economic interest,
a form that all high government
officials are required by law to
fill out, disclosing their financial
holdings. They then asked to see
crime and arrest documentation
for armed robberies, burglaries
and sexual assaults covering a
two-week period in November.
The auditors also gave the
departments a written Public
Records Act request asking to
inspect documents that should
be public, such as the police
chief’s employment contract, records of how the proceeds of assets seized from criminals are
spent, reports on the deaths of
people in the department’s custody and the forms officers
must submit if they take second
jobs.
But, “the common experience
was for a person to go in and be
forced to identify themselves
and their purpose and then
walk away with nothing,” said
Terry Francke, Californians
Aware’s general counsel.
So many departments’ responses were so “absurdly
wrong,” Francke said, that taxpayers should have legitimate
questions about the administration of police agencies.
One auditor was ordered to
give an officer her Social Security number so her record could
be checked for arrest warrants.
Another was told he could see
records only if county supervisors voted to allow it.
Several auditors reported officers and record clerks yelling
or laughing at them and being
told they weren’t going to be allowed to see anything.
Francke said police departments were chosen to be audited for openness because, like
any other public agency, they
need intense citizen scrutiny
over spending and policy.
Adding to that need, he said, is
the critical mission of law enforcement and its power to
place people in custody, make
urgent decisions about emergencies and even, in extreme circumstances, take people’s lives.
“We don’t notice that our
freedom is run on a system of
being able to find out what the
government, on all levels, is
doing,” he said.
Departments were graded on
a scale of zero to 100 based on
the records provided, the timeliness of the information released
and the way the requester was
treated.
The statewide median grade
was 40. The median grade was
30 among the agencies in the
nine-county Bay Area, where
scores ranged from a low of five
for the East Palo Alto Police Department to a high of 94
awarded to the Dixon Police in
Solano County, the highest
grade in the state.
The lowest statewide grade
was a zero, given to police in the
Los Angeles suburb of Pico
Rivera, where the auditor reported that the records clerk
said that people “can’t just walk
in here and make these kind of
requests.”
California Highway Patrol offices averaged a score of 29,
sheriff’s departments averaged
39 and police departments averaged 44. Only three departments statewide — or 1.4
percent — had scores of 90 or
higher.
CHP spokeswoman Fran
Clader said the agency needs to
take “appropriate action to improve our customer service”
based on the responses auditors
received at stations. She defended the agency’s handling of
written requests, which were all
forwarded to the office of its
general counsel in Sacramento.
openness is far from the norm.
Among the findings:
៑ At the Sacramento County
Sheriff’s Office the person
asking for records was asked to
provide her Social Security
number so she could be
checked for pending arrest warrants before records were provided. The law prohibits officials
from requiring the identity of
people inspecting public records.
៑ A records clerk at the Napa
County Sheriff’s Office told a requester he couldn’t inspect arrest records and other documents unless the county supervisors voted to allow it. No special action is needed to make
such records public.
៑ The clerk in charge of records at the Benicia Police Department told the requester that
arrested people had to “sign off”
on the release of information
about them and referred the requester to a public library to
look up arrest and crime information in the back issues of
newspapers. People arrested
have no right to keep that information secret.
៑ A clerk at the San Mateo
Police Department said each arrest and crime record would
cost $50 to look up on the department’s computer. State law
allows charges only for making
photocopies.
៑ Police at the Bay Area’s
three largest departments —
San Francisco, Oakland and
San Jose — failed to release any
requested records. Oakland and
San Jose wouldn’t accept
written requests.
៑ The Los Gatos, American
Canyon, Berkeley, Redwood City
and San Mateo police were
among Bay Area departments
The CHP requested a 14-day that refused to accept written reextension to Dec. 28 to provide
quests for records.
access to the records, but that
៑ The Fremont, Santa Clara,
deadline was missed. Clader
Pleasanton, St. Helena and San
said documents were being
Leandro departments were
mailed to auditors this week.
among those that accepted a
Francke said the CHP scores written request for records and
were especially troubling bethen failed to answer it. State
cause agency lawyers attended a law requires agencies to reCalifornians Aware training ses- spond within 10 days.
sion on the Public Records Act
When confronted with these
last year.
lapses, police chiefs offered a
The audit shows that memvariety of responses.
bers of the public “have a much
“We screwed up,” said Fretougher time” than journalists in mont police Chief Craig
obtaining information from poSteckler. A part-time clerk aclice, said Tom Newton, general
cepted the auditor’s written recounsel of the California Newsquest and it wasn’t forwarded to
paper Publishers Association.
the right people, he said, adding
The Public Records Act clearly
that he has instructed the re“requires agencies to help the
cords manager to “make sure it
public” obtain records, Newton
doesn’t happen again.”
said. But that didn’t happen in
The majority of police adminmost cases.
istrators contacted about the re“It’s these kinds of occursults said they were disaprences that create a huge dispointed in their departments’
tance between government
failures. Most pledged to reagencies and the people that are vamp procedures to prevent fusupposed to be served by them,” ture problems.
Newton said.
In some cases, even departBy cutting off the public from ments that earned high scores
information to which it is legally behaved questionably the day of
entitled, police are cutting them- the audit. In El Cerrito, for exselves off from the type of comample, records supervisor Lomunity cooperation that can
ralee Palfini laughed and shook
make law enforcement more ef- her head as she read the written
fective and the public safer, said request and then assured the reMark Schlosberg, police-pracquester she would be able to
tices policy director for the
track down his identity even
American Civil Liberties Union
without his last name.
of Northern California.
Agencies were scored in part
One of the more troubling as- on their willingness to give inpects of the audit is that ageformation, and also on whether
ncies fared badly while being
they improperly cited state laws
asked for just “very basic inthat allow some information to
formation,” Schlosberg said.
be kept confidential, or erro“You have to create a balance neously claimed they were not
between the department and the required to give out information.
community,” he said. The audit
In Berkeley, where police reshows “the opposite (relationcords clerks refused to accept a
ship) of what police should want written request, Mayor Tom
to foster with the public.”
Bates said “it is totally unacceptable behavior. I have never
Some police chiefs vowed to
heard of anything like this.”
improve access.
Oakland, Benicia, San Fran“Collectively, I think law encisco and Contra Costa County
forcement has gone through
some tough times. The only way all have better-government ordito regain the public’s trust is by nances that require greater
being open,” said Pleasanton Po- transparency than the state
Public Records Act. Police in the
lice Chief Tim Neal.
three cities all received scores of
Neal, whose department received a score of 30, decried the 32 or lower. The Contra Costa
County Sheriff’s Department repersistent secrecy that characceived a 51.
terizes many law enforcement
In Oakland, an auditor
agencies. “I really believe most
of what we do could be done on waited 45 minutes but was unable to get anyone at police
a picnic table in a public park,”
headquarters to accept a written
he said.
request for records or even tell
Neal said he has tried to inhim who to ask for crime and
still more openness in his dearrest records.
partment and plans to instruct
“That is unacceptable,” said
his staff on records laws compliance and openness at a meeting Mark Morodomi, supervising attorney of the city’s Open GovMonday.
ernment Program. “We need to
The audit results show that
of release or the location where the individual is currently being held, and all
charges the individual is being held
upon, including any outstanding warrants
from other jurisdictions and parole or
probation holds.”
— Government Code 6254,
subdivision (f), paragraph (1)
vidual arrested by the agency, the individual’s physical description including
date of birth, color of eyes and hair, sex,
height and weight, the time and date of
arrest, the time and date of booking, the
location of the arrest, the factual circumstances surrounding the arrest, the
amount of bail set, the time and manner
know where the roadblocks
are.”
Oakland Police spokesman
Roland Holmgren said the city
complied with complex requests
for public records and it was
unfortunate that the department
is being downgraded based on
one incident.
“This isn’t the type of service
we want to provide,” Holmgren
said. “It’s a problem, we recognize that, and we are sitting
down at the table and evaluating
our policies and procedures so
things like this don’t happen
again.”
Alameda and Piedmont
didn’t fare much better.
In Alameda, the auditor was
required to divulge who she was
and why she wanted the records
before she was given access to
the employee who handles such
requests. The auditor was told it
would cost $15 “upfront” to research crime records.
Alameda Police Capt. Jim
Brock said his agency encourages the public to make inquiries, but obviously there is a
need for more training among
the public service staff.
“We’ve got it squared away
now,” Brock said. “It was an unfortunate mistake, but something we’ve already addressed,
and something we’ll keep an
eyeball on.”
In Piedmont, the requester
felt physically intimidated by a
police captain and was told she
“had no right to see” the police
chief’s Statement of Economic
Interests, a report filed annually
that itself states it is a public
document.
“I think we might have a
breakdown of communication
here,” said Piedmont Police
Chief Lisa Ravazza. “If there are
things we need to modify and
adjust, we’re all open to suggestions.”
East Palo Alto police Chief
Ron Davis said he was dismayed
about receiving the lowest grade
in the Bay Area, a score of 5.
“Whether it’s one day or ongoing, it absolutely concerns
me,” he said. “It sounds like we
have room for much improvement.”
In Newark, which scored a
78 largely based on what Californians Aware described as a
very helpful response from the
city attorney, Police Chief Ray
Samuels objected to the way the
audit was performed.
“There was a better way to
test open government than a
complex document that required significant staff time to
put together,” he said.
Samuels said he looked up
information about the auditor
on the Internet because he was
curious who she was after
hearing that other departments
received similar information requests.
The results of the audit did
not surprise San Bernardino
County Sheriff Gary Penrod,
president of the California State
Sheriffs’ Association. His agency
received a score of 73.
“Most departments are going
to take it as a learning experience and put some policies in
place,” Penrod said.
Livermore Police Chief Steve
Krull, president of the California
Police Chiefs Association, said
the departments should release
“lawful public information in a
short period of time.”
But, Krull said, “that probably isn’t a walk-in, walk-out situation. It may take some time to
compile the data.” His department received a score of 40.
The auditor who visited that
department was told by a records clerk that crime and arrest information was available
on the department’s Web site.
Krull said he was fine with providing information to the public
in that way.
However, because of a problem with an Internet server,
Krull said the information
couldn’t be accessed by computer on the day the clerk referred the auditor to the Web
site.
Staff writers Cecily Burt and Angela Woodall and MediaNews writer
Leslie Griffy contributed to this story.
អអអ
Reach Thomas Peele at (925)
977-8463. Reach Matt Krupnick at
(925) 943-8246.
PUBLIC RECORDS REPORT CARD
About the audit: Law-enforcement
agencies in the Bay Area were graded by
Californians Aware
based on how they
A: 100 to 90
responded to requests B: 89 to 75
for public documents.
C: 74 to 60
Audits were
conducted by
D: 59 to 45
MediaNews and
F: 44 to 0
KGO-TV.
ALAMEDA
POLICE
DEPARTMENT
ALAMEDA COUNTY
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Grade: Sheriff’s office requests
extension to release
records, no documents
Score: ever released.
F-
20
ALBANY
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Grade: Police Lieutenant says he
Grade: Department releases
has to know requester’s
identity before accepting
Score: request. $15 fee for crime
reports.
detailed crime reports 10
days after being asked.
Score: Refers requester to other
city departments for
several documents.
BERKELEY
CHP
F-
25
POLICE
D-
45
DUBLIN
DEPARTMENT
Grade: Department clerks
Grade: Requester told DUI
repeatedly tell requester to
go “to the Web site.” Clerks
Score: refuse to accept written
request for public records.
information “is private.”
Station staff refuses to
Score: accept written request
for public information.
CHP
CHP
HAYWARD
SAN JOSE
F-
10
Grade: Requester’s identification
F-
F+
40
Grade: Requester told that DUI
F-
required. No information
released. Extension
Score: deadline passed with no
release of public
information.
information available only at
“the court house.”
Score: Requester’s identification
demanded and held for 10
minutes.
CONTRA COSTA
DUBLIN
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
POLICE DEPARTMENT
10
Grade: Twenty-four days after
30
Grade: Requester told that
receiving written request,
sheriff's department refers
Score: requester to other county
departments.
department is required by
law to know occupation
Score: and affiliation before
accepting written request
for public records.
EAST PALO ALTO
FREMONT
D
51
POLICE DEPARTMENT
D+
55
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Grade: Department receives
lowest score in the
Bay Area. It makes no
Score: information public.
F5
Grade: Department does not
acknowledge written
request for public records.
Score: No records are released
nor answers provided.
F-
20
HAYWARD
LIVERMORE
POLICE DEPARTMENT
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Grade: Requester asked for
Grade: Requester told arrest
identification and what
information would be used
Score: for. Requester asked
multiple times for identity.
records found only on
Internet; city attorney says
Score: department does not make
summary of records
against officers public.
NEWARK
OAKLAND
POLICE DEPARTMENT
POLICE DEPARTMENT
F-
25
Grade: No arrest or crime
F+
40
Grade: No one will answer ques-
information provided. City
attorney provides detailed
Score: and helpful written response
to written request; some
documents released.
tions or accept written request. Requester told that
Score: the department has no
budget to provide public
information.
PIEDMONT
PLEASANTON
B-
78
POLICE DEPARTMENT
F-
20
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Grade: Police capt.says no one in
Grade: Requester told that only
the department is required
to release their financial
Score: information; capt. tells
requester he has discretion
not to release information.
reporters, not members of
the public, are entitled to
Score: inspect arrest and crime
records.
RICHMOND POLICE
SAN FRANCISCO
F-
30
DEPARTMENT
F-
30
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Grade: Chief’s secretary tells re-
F+
Grade: Department referred
quester she has the chief's
economic statement but says
Score: he can't see it. Requester told
department unsure if it can
release arrest information.
most requests to
other city agencies
Score: or the city Web site.
SAN JOSE
SAN LEANDRO
POLICE DEPARTMENT
POLICE DEPARTMENT
40
Grade: Chief’s aide yells at request-
F-
er, claims no information
about chief is public record.
Score: Department refuses to accept written request for public records.
10
D-
20
Grade: Officer who wouldn't give
F-
her name told requester
she wouldn't accept a
Score: written request unless she
knew what the records
would be used for.
20
Letter grades and comments are compiled and issued by Californians Aware.
EDITOR’S NOTE
ONE OF THE FIRST things journalists are taught is to always identify themselves as reporters.
But on Dec. 4, journalists from 31 news organizations
across California went to police and sheriff departments and
California Highway Patrol stations and asked for records
without saying they were reporters.
We did this to determine how those agencies respond to requests for information from citizens.
While the participants were told not to identify themselves
as journalists, they also were given strong instructions not to
lie.
If asked, “Are you a reporter?” they replied, “Is that required to view public information?”
The answer is no. Journalists have no greater right to access government records than anyone else in California.
The law allows people to inspect government records
without identifying themselves or providing any personal information. All anyone has to do is ask. In this case, that’s what
we did.
Kevin Keane
Executive Editor