Residents disgruntled with release - or lack thereof - of Oakland public records

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OAKLAND, Calif. - A total of 70% of people who filed public records requests in Oakland described themselves as "dissatisfied" with the results of their request and nearly ⅔ of those surveyed said they had not received a response to their request within 10 days, according to a report published this month by the Oakland Public Ethics Commission. 

Only 11% found it easy to get the information they sought and 59% described it as very difficult. Requests take 105 days to close on average, according to the results of the survey, which was conducted in December. 

Furthermore, the survey of 1,000 respondents showed that just 28% reported receiving information that satisfied their request and over half reported receiving no documents or information. 

"The low level of satisfaction with request results highlights the disconnect between public expectations and the City’s perception of fulfilled or closed requests as well as the need for methods to verify that responsive records were produced or that no such records exist," the authors of the report concluded.

SEE ALSO: Oakland police flout public records law, journalists claim in pair of suits

The ad-hoc subcommittee members who worked on the report are Michael MacDonald, Jill Butler, Avi Klein, and Joe Tuman. Oakland resident and data scientist Richard K. Belew for acting as a pro bono technical consultant. The commission's staff include lead analyst Suzanne Doran and enforcement chief Kellie Johnson. 

Since going online in 2013, Oakland’s public records request system has received almost 50,000 requests for public information.  In 2020 alone, over 9,000 public records requests were submitted, a 46% increase over 2019.

The people seeking these records run the gamut: One person needed information about a murder, another needed a police report to prove their car was stolen. Lawyers for undocumented immigrants seek police documentation to show that a crime occurred to help those in need get U-visas to stay in the country. The same is true for people fighting eviction. Homeowners, journalists and lawyers also routinely need information from the city and police to conduct their jobs. 

SEE ALSO: Judge rules Oakland police must release public records every 2 weeks over 6 months

In fact, the delay of records means the city is violating the law. The California Public Records Act requires government agencies to respond within ten days to a request for public information and Oakland has its own Sunshine Law, which also mandates the release of public records. 

The survey found that the police department is the worst offender: It gets 58.43% of all city requests but represents 87.83% of all open requests.

Oakland police did not immediately respond for comment on the May report. 

However, in response to another story in March about the delay of records, spokeswoman Johnna Watson told KTVU that the Oakland Police Department Records Division had 5,376 open Public Records Requests and 4,171 are backlogged. In February, she said, the department was authorized to increase the staffing to seven. 

And in a prior email, City Attorney Barbara Parker said that she is dedicated to transparency, but "during the past few years, the sheer volume" of Public Records Act requests has increased dramatically. Oakland does not receive special or additional state funding to handle these requests, "which often require significant, time-consuming work to collect, review, redact, and produce documents."

Parker added that police transparency record requests are often thousands of pages and may be stored only in hard copy or off-site, often contain sensitive information that must be "meticulously reviewed."

SEE ALSO: Oakland police have not yet released tear gas report and thousands of other public requests

The responses from police and the city attorney's office are similar to what the Public Ethics Commission found. 

Most city staff said it was very important to respond to public records requests, but 57% spend less than eight hours a week processing the request. 

Several city staffers said the 10-day response time was not practical given their resources. 

They also pointed out the length of time spent determining the custodian of a requested record and difficulties when the person in direct possession of the requested records puts the task "on the back burner" and must be repeatedly reminded about the request. 

The Public Ethics Commission recommended that the city form training teams for better service, collaborate across agencies to more deeply understand workflow issues, identify key staff who will lead the public records system and create a performance tool to monitor their success and failures. 

"Overall, this report shows what many Oaklanders already know: that the City must do better to comply with the spirit and the letter of state and local law," the Public Ethics Commission authors wrote. 

READ SOME OF THE COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC RECORDS SURVEY:

• I requested files pertaining to several police murders and it took over a year to receive the files. I had to continuously follow up (weekly!) and would again and again be told a new deadline had been set, then the records would not be provided to me, and then I would again have to reach out, ask over and over for the records, and be told there was a new deadline. It was intensely frustrating, not only for me, but especially for the impacted family members who requested the records. My files also got mixed up, inappropriate information was shared with the wrong parties, etc. It felt like OPD was purposefully withholding the information at times.
• I requested police records to prove that my car was stolen when it received 3 handicapped parking tickets, that was months ago and I still can't clear the tickets because I have not received the police reports. How was I being ticketed by one city agency while another still had not found my car? Please let the parking ticket folx share who they are ticketing and let police run that against stolen cars I am sure a lot of stolen cars are parked illigally and it would help people find their cars. And it would help clear tickets encurred when cars are stolen!
• It almost took a YEAR to receive a traffic record and clear a ticket I received on my stolen vehicle. Utterly ridiculous.
• We routinely submit requests for police reports and wait 4-6 months for the actual report. We often only receive the report once we've followed up 2-3 times with the records office. It is extremely frustrating, particularly because we are trying to get police reports on behalf of crime victims who need support services and immigration services. Oakland considers itself a "sanctuary city" but making sanctuary REAL means properly resourcing offices like the OPD records office.
• I requested a copy of a police report where there ware threats made against my life and pretty much the whole report was redacted. I’m an ex police officer, All the information I needed was blacked out. I am very dissatisfied with the documents I received.
• I never received anything and I requested years ago. Then received an email recently asking if I still wanted my request and I responded yes only to get this survey months later. Still waiting on any documents related to Donald Bolande from 1946-1969. Would like to get documents related to any criminal history as well as his death in 1969 which was ruled either an accident or suicide as he fell/jumped from hotel room.
• I have sued Oakland twice for repeated violations of the PRA. Second suit pending. Oakland officials really don’t understand that this is a constitutional obligation.
• Received one canned "Due Date Changed" response 10 days after my request of 9/25/2019. The has been no further communication from the department since then even after follow-ups.
• I NEVER got my police report I requested. I received an email saying it was being postponed due to workload, but after that I have heard NOTHING back.
• Although I requested a copy of a police report, dealing with a drug addicted man and his mother ( my daughters father). I need the report to attain a restraining order. I still have not received it or a response. Incident happened June 3rd 2020. Request was sent just days later.
• It’s amazing how easily you arrest someone, not have the DA press charges because it would NEVER hold up on court but still get the satisfaction of ruining someone’s dreams of hold a profession that requires a background check, and then not supply them with their own record so they cannot truthfully give a background investigator the exact information.

Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@foxtv.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez