Cops stung by sting
01/25/2007
Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian says an undercover audit conducted by freedom of information supporters with the help of a Pasadena Star-News reporter is not only unfair, but misleading.
The Northern California-based group Californians Aware recently gathered a group of volunteers to request public information from law enforcement agencies as a test of their compliance with the state Public Records Act. Like most organizations, Pasadena failed the test.
On Dec. 4, an unidentified Star-News reporter in contact with the group requested copies of arrest records, officer discipline statistics and reports concerning suspects who died in custody. The reporter also asked to see records indicating the financial interests of Melekian commonly known as state Form 700.
Police admit they could have been more efficient — the officer who received the request did not know what Form 700 was and forwarded the other requests to department spokeswoman Janet Pope via interoffice mail — yet feel the test was rigged against them.
“I am not resisting the Public Information Act, and we never have,” said Melekian. “I don't think this was a measure of compliance. It was an effort to play gotcha. I think the format is not valid in any measurable way. I really have some concerns about using newspaper reporters as undercover agents, and the story ran [in the Star-News] with no broader context. I think there was a great deal of interest in proving the hypothesis set by Californians Aware.”
Star-News Editor Larry Wilson could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Despite his concerns, Melekian said the department has issued a memo to officers on how to deal with requests for public information.
Part of the problem with the public records sting, said Melekian, was that requests for statements of financial interest are handled by the city's Human Resources Department, where police refer such requests. Deferring the request cost police 30 points on Cal Aware test, making a failing grade nearly impossible to avoid.
Furthermore, Melekian said the reporter did not attempt to follow up on her request and made it at the department's community relations window, not at the records counter, which typically handles such information.
Melekian also said the amount of information requested would have taken close to the state-imposed 10-day limit to compile and some of it may have been withheld as not falling under the state Public Records Act.
In a letter to the Star-News, Melekian said he believed the test was designed for the department to fail. He also did some grading of his own, giving both Cal Aware and the paper “an “F minus for integrity.”
— André Coleman
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