Redaction Policy in California Raises Eyebrows

Sign the on the line if you want the address.

This is the Gilroy Police Department's new policy when it comes to making public the residential address of people who are arrested. But not everyone can sign on the line.

Last week GPD stopped releasing the addresses of arrestees to the public, pointing to a part of the California Public Records Act that was amended in 1996 by the state legislature to make it so public agencies do not have to. Another part of the CPRA, though, states that public agencies must release the address to "an individual who is willing to declare under penalty of perjury and file a waiver that the (address) obtained is being used for scholarly, journalistic, political or governmental purposes," according to a letter written by GPD Records Supervisor David Boles.

This means The Dispatch must sign a waiver every morning to get the address of an arrestee along with that person's name, date of birth, the charge against the arrestee and where and when the alleged crime took place. If an eligible party refuses to sign the waiver, then it will not receive the arrestee's address.

More here.