Anna Mae Aquash arrest records and materials, 1974-5 • MuckRock

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Communications

From: Meg Showalter

02/20/2024

Subject: California Public Records Act Request: Anna Mae Aquash arrest records and materials, 1974-5

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To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Any and all materials (including, but not limited to arrest records, documentation of surveillance, transcripts of interviews, correspondence, reports, audio/video tapes, reports, and documents) related to Anna Mae Aquash, an indigenous activist who lived in Los Angeles in 1974 and 1975.

Anna Mae Aquash (who also went by Annie Mae Pictou) was a Canadian Mi'kmaq Indian and high-ranking member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a prominent radical Native American civil rights group in the 1970s. During the years of 1974 and 1975, she was living in Los Angeles and working as the director of the local AIM office. Aquash was under intense FBI surveillance during this time, and was picked up agents and questioned on several occasions, including a September 13, 1975 incident where agents detained her after she got off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport. Aquash's fellow Los Angeles AIM members also reported surveillance by the Los Angles Police Department during that time period, and the arrests of several members, including Aquash.

She may have been using an alias at the time- possibilities include Jeanette Aquash, Joanna Jason, Jeanette Jason, Jeannette Ellis, and Annie Maloney. At one point, she lived at at 191 23rd Ave. in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles.

As Aquash's December 1975 murder on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation may have been related to a rumor that she was cooperating with law enforcement, it is important for the public to know everything about her involvement with all law enforcement agencies in the last few years of her life. I would appreciate any and all material that you can provide.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Meg Showalter

From: Los Angeles Police Department

02/20/2024

Subject: Your City of Los Angeles public records request #24-1775 has been opened.

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City of Los Angeles

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Your record request #24-1775 has been submitted successfully.

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From: Los Angeles Police Department

02/22/2024

Subject: [External Message Added] City of Los Angeles public records request #24-1775

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City of Los Angeles

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A message was sent to you regarding record request #24-1775:

Dear Requester,

Your California Public Records Act (CPRA) request was received and will be assigned to a CPRA Analyst.

If you have questions, please respond to this email.

Respectfully,

LAPD Public Records & Subpoena Response Section, CPRA Unit

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From: Los Angeles Police Department

03/01/2024

Subject: Your City of Los Angeles public records request #24-1775 has been closed.

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City of Los Angeles

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Record request #24-1775 has been closed. The closure reason supplied was:

Dear Requester:

We reviewed your request for various records regarding Anna Mae Aquash.

Your request was made under the California Public Records Act (the Act). The Department is cognizant of its responsibilities under the Act. It recognizes the statutory scheme was enacted to maximize citizen access to the workings of government. The Act does not mandate disclosure of all documents within the government’s possession. Rather, by specific exemption and reference to other statutes, the Act recognizes that there are boundaries where the public’s right to access must be balanced against such weighty considerations as the right of privacy, a right of constitutional dimension under California Constitution, Article 1, Section 1. The law also exempts from disclosure records that are privileged or confidential or otherwise exempt under either express provisions of the Act or pursuant to applicable federal or state law, per California Government Code Sections 7927.200; 7927.700; 7923.600-7923.625; 7927.705; and 7922.000.

You are seeking records that pre-date existing record keeping policies and practices. It should be noted that the records retention policy of the City of Los Angeles provides the authority to purge or destroy records that have been stored ten years or more. Generally, the Department adheres to this policy, although exceptions to this policy are made for specific circumstances such as unsolved cases. Without a report number that would narrow the scope of the search, Department staff would have to manually review voluminous boxes of records in order to determine what, if anything exists at this time. Performing this type of search would place an undue burden on the Department. Additionally, to the extent that responsive records may exist, in accordance with Section 7923.600-7923.625, records of investigations conducted by, or investigatory files compiled by, any local police agencies for law enforcement purposes are exempt from disclosure under the Act. Therefore, we are denying your request.

If you have any questions, please respond to this email.

Respectfully,

LAPD Public Records & Subpoena Response Section, CPRA Unit

From: Los Angeles Police Department

03/01/2024

Subject: Your City of Los Angeles public records request #24-1775 has been published.

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City of Los Angeles

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Record request #24-1775 has been published and is now available for public view.

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