911 Call Transcripts

Dear Sovereign Bodies Institute,

Pursuant to California Government Code Section 6253(c), we write in response to the inquiry that you made to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office under the California Public Records Act, which we received on, November 3, 2020. We note that the requests are limited only to records in our custody and control.
Please note that we will not produce documents that are privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure pursuant to California Government Code Section 6254(k). This includes documents protected by the attorney-client privilege, attorney work product, and official information privileges.

No preliminary drafts or memorandum not normally kept in the ordinary course of business will be produced pursuant to California Government Code Section 6254(a).

We will not produce documents that are subject to copyright protections, contain trade secrets, and/or proprietary and/or confidential information. See California Government Code Sections 6253.9, 6254(k), 6254.9; California Evidence Code section 1060.

We will not produce documents exempt from disclosure under the deliberative process privilege. See Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court (1991) 53 Cal.3d 1325.

No documents will be produced where "the public interest served by not disclosing the record clearly outweighs the public interest by the disclosure of the record" under California Government Code Section 6255. Additionally, no documents will be produced if they contain personnel, medical, private, confidential, or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under California Government Code Section 6254(c). And, to the extent any of the records you are requesting are the subject of ongoing litigation and/or pending investigations, and/or are law enforcement investigatory records, such records are exempt from production. See Government Code Sections 6254 (b), (f); Cal. Evidence Code § 1040.

In addition, no documents or records will be produced to the extent such a production would violate California Penal Code §§ 832.7, 832.8, 11076, 13300 et seq. or Evidence Code § 1043.

Regarding you request for transcripts of all 911 calls from 2015 through 2019, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office objects to this request as drafted. This request is unduly burdensome and would be impossible to fulfill with the monthly average, for calls to our 911 dispatch, to be around 10,000.

Please also note that burden is appropriately considered as justifying denial of PRA requests. (See Cal. Gov. Code § 6255; American Civil Liberties Union Foundation v. Deukmejian (1982) 32 Cal.3d 440, 452 ["Because the public has an interest in the cost and efficiency of government, a public agency's expense and inconvenience associated with making a record available to the requestor must be factored into this balancing."].) "When weighing the benefits and costs of disclosure, any expense or inconvenience to the public agency may be properly considered." (Bertoli v. City of Sebastopol (2015) 233 Cal. App. 4th 353, 372, as modified (Jan. 30, 2015).) The California Supreme Court has explained that "[r]easonable efforts do not require that agencies undertake extraordinarily extensive or intrusive searches .... " (City of San Jose v. Superior Court (2017) 2 Cal. 5th 608, 627.) As such, "[a] clearly framed request which requires an agency to search an enormous volume of data for a 'needle in the haystack' or, conversely, a request which compels the production of a huge volume of material may be objectionable as unduly burdensome." (California First Amendment Coalition v. Superior Court (1998) 67 Cal.App.4th 159, 166; see also Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court (1991) 53 Cal. 3d 1325, 1345 [holding that "whatever merit disclosure might otherwise warrant in principle is simply crushed under the massive weight of the Times's request in this case .. . We are not persuaded that any identifiable public interest supports such a wholesale production of documents."). Given the lengthy timeframe and data fields requested, as well as privacy redactions required, as your requests are currently framed ACSO is unable to respond without an unreasonable expenditure of government resources.

Please let me know if you'd like to narrow your request.

Best regards,

Cynthia Wilson - Sheriff's Technician
Alameda County Sheriff's Office - Internal Affairs (Public Records Request)
1401 Lakeside Drive, 7th Floor | Oakland, CA 94612
office: 510.208.9805|fax: 510.208.9803|qic: 26017
cwilson@acgov.org<mailto:cwilson@acgov.org> |https://www.alamedacountysheriff.org/