San Diego sheriff asks for $350K for records

More than a quarter of a million dollars to provide public police records?

The San Diego Sheriff ’s Department this week told KPBS that it would cost $354,524.22 to provide records on police shootings that the television channel had requested under a new state law.

That response, KPBS said, is “the latest development in a battle between law enforcement agencies and media organizations across the state.”

With lawsuits pending, how much departments can charge to provide records is a new front in what will most likely be a long, multifaceted fight.

Several stories were published last week about departments charging thousands of dollars to meet requests, something the American Civil Liberties Union argues undercuts the intent of the law. In Anaheim, a woman was asked to put down a $3,000 deposit when she asked for records from her son’s killing by Anaheim police in 2009, according to Fox 11.

The Voice of San Diego was told by the Sheriff ’s Department it would have to pay $246,759.32 to obtain the records it wants, Sara Libby, the outlet’s managing editor, wrote on Twitter.

Some departments are citing the precedent of a case in which the National Lawyers Guild sued the California city of Haywood to obtain body camera footage. An appellate judge in that case ruled that those seeking records can be forced to pay the labor costs for officers to review records and make redactions.

But the California Supreme Court agreed to review the case, which means it’s no longer a binding precedent, said Alan Schlosser, senior counsel at the ACLU in Northern California, who is representing the lawyers’ guild in the case.

“Right now the issue is undecided,” Schlosser said.

At stake, he said, is the validity of the new law. Depending on its interpretation, the records “could remain secret unless you pay.”