Carroll

Coronado Police Officers Association and seven other police officers associations (collectively the Association) appeal from a judgment denying them access to a database created by defendants Steven J. Carroll, as the San Diego County Public Defender, and San Diego County Department of the Public Defender (collectively the Public Defender) under the California Public Records Act, Government Code section 6250 et seq. (the Act). (All statutory references are to the Government Code unless otherwise indicated.) The Association contends the trial court erred when it ruled that the database was not a public record within the meaning of section 6252. We treat the appeal as a petition for an extraordinary writ, which we deny on the grounds that the database is not a public record; and even if it is, it would be exempt from disclosure under the Act’s “catchall” exemption (§ 6255) because the public interest in nondisclosure clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Factual and Procedural Background

The Public Defender is an agency organized under the County of San Diego Charter whose principal business is the representation of indigent criminal defendants. It…

The majority opinion, if allowed to stand, will permit an agency of local county government to collect, store and disseminate dossiers on individual citizens who work as police officers, or other public officials, free from the privacy protections of the California Public Records Act. (Gov. Code, 1 § 6250 et seq., the Public Records Act or the Act.) How can it be that records owned and compiled by a government agency, stored and maintained with public funds, that include both public and private information about individual citizens, regardless of their profession, are other than public records? The answer the majority provides is simple: The “core function” of the San Diego County Public Defender’s office is “private,” therefore this particular, publicly owned “database” is not about the “public’s business.” (§ 6252, subd. (e).) I find that answer both amazing and disturbing. That a governmental agency can maintain dossiers on citizens with impunity from any form of public scrutiny is not made more comforting by the fact it is the agency of the public defender that is involved, instead of the sheriff or district attorney, particularly when the record before us makes clear these…

McINTYRE, J.

Coronado Police Officers Association and seven other police officers associations (collectively the Association) appeal from a judgment denying them access to a database created by defendants Steven J. Carroll, as the San Diego County Public Defender, and San Diego County Department of the Public Defender (collectively the Public Defender) under the California Public Records Act, Government Code section 6250 et seq. (the Act). (All statutory references are to the Government Code unless otherwise indicated.) The Association contends the trial court erred when it ruled that the database was not a public record within the meaning of section 6252. We treat the appeal as a petition for an extraordinary writ, which we deny on the grounds that the database is not a public record; and even if it is, it would be exempt from disclosure under the Act's "catch-all" exemption (§ 6255) because the public interest in nondisclosure clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

The Public Defender is an agency organized under the County of San Diego Charter whose principal business is the representation of indigent criminal defendants. It functions like a typical law firm to…