On February 7, 2023, FM Amy Parker sent in a California Public Records Act request (#23-255) to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department “Discovery Unit”, a part of their Risk Management Bureau, requesting the videos (or justifications of why they are not available) of 2022 deputy involved shootings that had not been uploaded to the archive website. On February 15 (day 8), LASD submitted their initial response, stating that they were invoking the 14-day extension, as they needed to collect the records from other field offices and examine “voluminous amounts of records”. Whether this can be invoked is debatable – but that’s not the main issue here.
On February 28, 2021, the 21st day of the request, Captain Shawnee Hinchman of the Risk Management Bureau followed up, saying that there are matching documents, and that there is no BWC footage for two of the incidents because the Homicide Bureau has not yet turned it over. However, he also said:
We anticipate to complete the review in 30 days. When it is completed, we will advise you as to the availability of the records responsive to your request.
Captain Shawnee N. Hinchman, LASD Risk Management Bureau
This is a clear violation of the Public Records Act. All the documents must be made available within the initial 10-day period, unless the extension rule is invoked, giving them 24 days. What is not allowed is to arbitrarily delay records reporting for either a fixed amount of time or for an indefinite period, like LASD is doing here. This would lead to corrupt agencies having absolutely zero accountability; they would be able to just delay records reporting ad infinitum. FM Amy Parker called Hinchman on this, saying:
Hello, This is not a legal extension. The PRA allows for extensions of at most 14 days (to an absolute maximum of 24 after considering the initial 10-day period). Any further extension is illegal and a violation of state law and the state Constitution. Please process the documents as fast as possible to fulfill the PRA requirements; in addition, please log this interaction with the next level of administration, so as to demonstrate that an illegal response was generated here. Thank you.
Founding Member Amy Parker
Hinchman the next day then tried to claim that there is no time requirement for the availability of records:
Pursuant to Government Code section 7922.535(b), [the PRA’s 10-day limit] may be extended in unusual circumstances by providing written notices of such and by specifying the date on which a determination … is expected to be dispatched, no more than 14 days. … As indicated in the February 28, 2023 response letter, we anticipated that the review of such records for any applicable exemptions would be completed by 30 days and provided this time frame as an estimate to when any non-exempt records would be disclosed. To clarify, the 30-day estimate was not identified as an extension of time, rather, was provided as a good faith effort to provide you with the estimated date of when such non-exempt records could be disclosed.
Captain Shawnee N. Hinchman, LASD Risk Management Bureau
FM Amy Parker then provided a detailed explanation of the relevant law, including showing how other statutes would not hold up if LASD’s interpretation was used, and how it would clearly violate the intention of the State Legislature. She also detailed that “it is plainly unreasonable that these records would take 30 days (or more) to provide,” as “these are digital records stored in a centralized database, and as such are far easier to search for than say, paper records.” Sending a contact message to the LASD contact page herself asking for a referral, she also requested that, if the disagreement in policy persisted, the case be referred to the Undersheriff, the direct supervisor of Hinchman.
Because all videos except for the two withheld by the Homicide Bureau were eventually uploaded to the LASD site, FM Parker withdrew her request on March 2. However, this doesn’t change that the policy implemented by LASD is illegal and violates the California Public Records Act. This isn’t a one-off case, either; several other community advocates have posted on various platforms that they’ve seen similar results. Vishal P. Singh, a community advocate, posted on their Mastodon about LASD extending requests:
I filed this public records request to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in April 2022. Last September, they said they just needed 30 more days. After the 30 days were up, I asked for an update and received no reply. Last week I threatened the department with legal action. Now they’re saying 7 more days?
Vishal P. Singh (@VPS_Reports@kolektiva.social)
It should be noted that Captain Hinchman, who is the primarily handler for all Public Records Act requests to LASD, is listed in the Knock LA Deputy Gangs database as an associate of the 3000 Boys and the 2000 Boys. The person who would normally handle these types of cases where the law is being flaunted is the Undersheriff; this position is currently held by April Tardy, a new appointee of Robert Luna, who was recently found to have a tattoo from the Temple Station V-Boys deputy gang.
Full copies of the request proceedings will be uploaded eventually to the LASD PRA file archive here on the OIC page. The OIC strongly opposes this violation of California state law, and demands that LASD correct their policies to properly disclose records within the required legal timings.