California Municipal Law Blog
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Pitchess

LEGISLATIVE CHANGES CONTINUE TO CLARIFY THE RIGHT TO ACCESS POLICE OFFICER PERSONNEL FILES

by on December 8, 2025

posted in Law Enforcement, Public Records Act,

In recent years, the California Legislature has taken significant steps to provide the public with greater access to peace officer personnel files, which were previously only accessible through formal law and motion proceedings, generally referred to as Pitchess motions. First, in 2018 Senate Bill 1421 (Skinner) amended section 832.7 of the California Penal code to require disclosure of certain categories of information from peace officer personnel files in response to California Public Records Act (CPRA) requests for information. Those categories include incidents involving discharge of a firearm ... Continue Reading

tags: New laws, Pitchess, Police,