Effective January 1, 2019, SB 1421 requires the disclosure of records and information relating to the following types of incidents:

• Records related to the report, investigation, or findings of an incident involving the discharge of a firearm at a person by a peace officer.
• Records related to the report, investigation or findings of an incident in which the use of force by a peace officer against a person results in death or great bodily injury.
• Records related to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency that a peace officer engaged in sexual assault involving a member of the public. “Sexual assault” is defined for the purposes of bill as the commission or attempted initiation of a sexual act with a member of the public by means of force, threat, coercion, extortion, offer of leniency or any other official favor, or under the color of authority. The propositioning for or commission of any sexual act while on duty is considered a sexual assault.
• Records related to an incident in which a sustained finding of dishonesty by a peace officer directly related to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly related to the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another peace officer, including but not limited to, any sustained finding of perjury, false statements, filing false reports, destruction of evidence or falsifying or concealing of evidence.

As a result of SB 1421, the Martinez Police Department has decided to post links to any incident of which we have internal investigation records relating to any of the above content.

Through the City’s review of its records, the City has identified the following materials that are exempt which may otherwise come within the scope of a request for S.B. 1421 records: Incident reports contain information that is personal and non-disclosable under the California Public Records Act, including persons’ names, addresses, phone numbers, workplaces, driver’s license numbers, as well as other medical, financial and personally identifiable information. The release of such information would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy and would not be in the public interest, as the public interest in disclosure is clearly outweighed by the public interest in retaining the confidentiality of the information. See, e.g., Penal Code Section 832.7(b)(5) and (6); Government Code Sections 6254(c), (f) and (k), and 6255; Civil Code Section 1798.3(a); Evidence Code Section 1040; and City of San Jose v. Superior Court (1999) 74 Cal.App.4th 1008. Communications between the City and its attorneys are subject to attorney-client privilege pursuant to Government Code Sections 6254(k) (Evidence Code Sections 950 et seq.) and 6276.04 and the attorney work product doctrine (Code of Civil Procedure Sections 2018.010 through 2018.080).

Please note that the Martinez Police Department Policy Manual, including our Use of Force Policy and our Involved Fatal Incidents Policy, is located in our Transparency Portal.

SB 1421

The following records have been found subject to release pursuant to SB 1421 and SB 16.