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Field Operations Directives (FODs)

97-003 Disclosure of Arrestee Information the Public Record Act


97-004 Press Interviews
97-001 Procedures for Re-Filing Criminal Cases on Inmates Prior to their Release

DISCLOSURE OF ARRESTEE INFORMATION THE PUBLIC RECORD ACT

The Public Records Act allows members of the public to obtain certain limited information regarding an agency's arrestees. This Field Operations Directive is intended to guide personnel in those instances in which arrestee information is requested.

Per section 6254 (f)(1) of the Government Code, the arrestee information we are obligated to release to the public consists of the arrestee's:

  • Full name
  • Occupation
  • Date of birth
  • Physical description, including sex, hair and eye color, height, and weight
  • Date, time, and location of arrest
  • Date and time of booking and where the arrestee is currently being held
  • All charges the arrestee is being held on including warrants, parole, or probation holds
  • Bail amount
  • Time and manner of release
  • The factual circumstances surrounding the arrest

EXCEPTIONS TO THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT

The exception to the above is section 841.5(a)PC, which states in part:

"No law enforcement officer or employee of a law enforcement agency shall disclose to any arrested person, or to any person who may be a defendant in a criminal action, the address or telephone number of any person who is a victim or witness in the alleged offense." We will also not release information on juveniles or cases where release of the information would endanger another investigation.

Pursuant to a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision, no address of any crime victim shall be disclosed by a law enforcement agency as public information. As indicated above, the same prohibition applies to the release of an arrestee’s home address.  Persons who claim a privilege to the information under a qualified exemption to the Public Information Act shall be referred to the Records and Identification Bureau.

INFORMATION REQUESTS

Most information requests will come from the public calling to inquire about a friend or relative who has been arrested. In these instances, releasing the charges, bail and court date verbally is permissible and should suffice for their purposes.

Questions arise when entities (such as a defense attorney's firm) request that we provide them with daily lists of arrestees. We will provide these lists to them, however, we are not required to prepare the lists in any particular format for the convenience of the requestor.

The requestor must separately request the information from each station in writing, will need a new request for each day's records, and must pay the actual costs associated with the duplication of records prior to receiving the information. The station jailer will review the gate book and provide the requested information on a continuation sheet ensuring that the exceptions above do not apply. If there is any doubt, the jailer should check with the detective assigned to handle the case in question and confirm whether or not the information can be released. If the detective is not available the information should not be disclosed.

CHARGES FOR INFORMATION

The appropriate charge for the information requested will be $.75 per order and $.03 per page. Thus, for a one page document, the charge would be $.78, a two page document would be $.81, etc. The collection of money would be handled in the same manner in which we charge persons for reports.

Please direct any questions that arise regarding the procedure outlined in this Field Operations Directive to Department Legal Advisor at [REDACTED TEXT] or Field Operations Support Services at [REDACTED TEXT]