Long Beach Police Officers Want To Know Who's Requesting Public Records

In a chilling article from the Long Beach Post News claims that the new contract for the city’s officers includes a provision that should be terrifying for privacy advocates.

Under a new provision of their contract, Long Beach police officers would get a heads-up about who is asking to see public records cataloging their misconduct or times they used potentially deadly force.

The contract, which is set to be considered by the City Council Sept. 17, would require the city to tell officers when they’re the subject of records being released under a new police transparency law.

As part of that notification, officers would be told the name of the person or organization requesting the records, the date of the request and a description of what’s being sought.

Officers would also be given copies of the records at least five days before they’re released to the person who requested them.

Attorneys who have litigated police records issues say this process could create space for officers to try to dictate redactions or lobby the city before documents are made public.

Also disturbing would be the idea that an officer who’s used deadly force could suddenly have the name and address of people looking to investigate them. The potential for abuse here is grandiose.

The contract goes up for consideration September 17th. Yes, today!

Please call the Long Beach City Council and tell them to remove "Section IX Public Records Requests" from the LBPD MOU before they vote on agenda #21 today at 5PM.

1ST DISTRICT
(vacant)

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Jeannine Pearce
(562) 570-2222
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Suzie Price
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4TH DISTRICT
Daryl Supernaw
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Stacy Mungo
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Vice Mayor Dee Andrews
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7TH DISTRICT
Roberto Uranga
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8TH DISTRICT
Al Austin II
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9TH DISTRICT
Rex Richardson
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