American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County

The scan data gathered by automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology in this case was not subject to Cal. Gov. Code 6254(f)’s exemption for record of investigations.Petitioners filed a request under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) for all ALPR data collected during a one-week period by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. At issue before the Supreme Court was whether the requested ALPR data was exempt from disclosure as falling within the CPRA provision protecting police and state records of investigations under section 6254(f). The trial court concluded that the data came within section 6254(f)’s records of investigations exemption. The Court of Appeal affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal judgment insofar as it rendered anonymized or redacted ALPR data exempt from disclosure, holding that the ALPR scan data at issue was not subject to section 6254(f)’s exemption for records of investigations. The court remanded for further consideration of whether raw data may reasonably be anonymized or redacted such that the balance of interests would shift and disclosure of the data would be required under the CPRA. View "American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County" on Justia Law