LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
August 25, 2004 Mr. xxx xxx Dear Mr. xxx xxx: This correspondence is prepared in response to your letter, dated August 5, 2004, to the Los Angeles Police Department (the Department), requesting the place of birth and occupation of several individuals who appear on the Department's web-site under the "Most Wanted" link. Additionally, your request also sought a link to the "Wanted Poster" web-site of any persons on the LAPD "Most Wanted" list for violent crimes against children not explicitly listed in your request, and their place of birth and occupation. This request was made pursuant to the California Public Records Act (the Act). The Department is cognizant of its responsibilities under the Act. It recognizes that the statutory scheme was enacted in order to maximize citizen access to the workings of government. However, the Act does not mandate disclosure of all documents within the government's possession. Rather, by specific exemption and reference to other statutes, the Act recognizes that there are boundaries where the public's right to access must be balanced against such weighty considerations as the right of privacy, a right of constitutional dimension under California Constitution, Article 1, Section 1. The law also exempts from disclosure records in cases where disclosure might endanger a legitimate governmental interest, e.g., an ongoing criminal investigation or prosecution, California Government Code 6254(b); 6254(c); 6254(f); 6254(k); and 6255. The Department is unable to comply with your request. According to Government Code Section 6254(f), records of investigations conducted by, or investigatory files compiled by, any local police agency for law enforcement purposes, are exempt from disclosure. Although Section 6254(f)(1) does set forth a list of specific arrest information that must ordinarily be disclosed from law enforcement investigatory files, this information need only be provided if it relates to contemporaneous arrest information. (See County of Los Angeles v. Superior Court (Kusar) (1993) 18 Cal. App. 4 th 588, 22 Cal Rptr. 2d 409.) As the investigative records responsive to your request are exempt from disclosure and the information therein not contemporaneous, your request is therefore respectfully denied. AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY - AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER Mr. xxx xxx Furthermore, the Department's "Most Wanted" list is available on-line at the Department's public web-site, www.LAPDOnline.org, under the category Most Wanted. Links to other web pages responsive to your request can be accessed via this web-site. The Department has no other records or information responsive to this request. We hope the above information will be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions regarding this matter, please contact Management Analyst Ken Tran in the Discovery Section of Risk Management Group, at (213) 978-2154. Very truly yours, Signature STUART A. MAISLIN, Commander * This document was scanned and processed using OCR.
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