Ruling Denies Public Access to Police Officer Records

[madmusic]

State Supreme Court determines that the public has no right to information about law enforcement personnel involved in disciplinary cases.
By Maura Dolan, Times Staff Writer
September 1, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — Police disciplinary records will become more secret under a far-reaching ruling Thursday by the California Supreme Court.

The court ruled 6 to 1 that the public may not have access to police discipline records filed during administrative appeals, including the names of officers who have been terminated, unless the officers waive their rights to privacy.

....

Several media lawyers expressed hope that the Legislature would pass a law overturning the ruling. But Bobbitt, the lawyer for the police and sheriff deputies, said the police union's lobby has "typically been stronger than the newspaper industry's."

Police unions across the state are elated with the ruling, he said. "Trust me, they will fight any changes to this decision," Bobbitt said.

EDIT: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-police1sep01,0,3284882.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-california

A lot of DUers are unconditionally pro-police and pro-prosecution, in short, pro-executive branch of government, but does this strike even you has striking down the checks and balances of the Constitution? More alarming, their lobby is more powerful than "the newspaper industry's"? Though I'm not a big fan of the MSM, as Jefferson said, "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."