LOS ANGELES, CA – A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge found that the Inglewood Police Department engaged in “a pattern and practice” of ignoring various public records requests related to contentious police interactions in a ruling from earlier in November.
On November 20th, Judge Gary Tanaka granted a motion brought forth by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU) for summary judgement in a lawsuit filed against the Inglewood Police Department back in 2021.
According to the lawsuit, the ACLU requested various records related to police misconduct and use of force incidents back in 2019 from the Inglewood Police Department, which state law required such records be released upon formal request.
Back in December of 2018, a month prior to SB 1421 taking effect, the Inglewood City Council had passed their own local law which allowed the police department to destroy “decades of use of force and internal investigation records,” which led to speculation that the Inglewood Police Department was attempting to thwart accessibility to potentially contentious records ahead of the transparency law taking effect.
Inglewood Mayor James Butts said at the time of the 2018 controversy to destroy certain police records that, “This premise that there was an intent to beat the clock is ridiculous.”
In Judge Tanaka’s ruling on the matter, he found that the Inglewood Police Department engaged in “systemic violations” of the California Public Records Act, with the police department habitually failing to meet disclosure deadlines as well as having “routinely failed to provide any documents at all to certain requestors.”
The Inglewood Police Department reportedly would create unnecessary delays in rendering requested reports, at times even claiming that the requested records didn’t exist when in reality “the documents did exist.”
As a result of the ruling from earlier in November, the Inglewood Police Department will now have to publish every relevant report and record that would fall under California’s transparency laws on their website without any formal request process for the next three years, making the records available online to all members of the public.
ACLU senior staff attorney Tiffany Bailey issued a statement in light of the judge’s ruling in favor of the outfit’s lawsuit, saying, “This ruling is a rebuke of Inglewood’s sustained, years-long attempt to deny the public rightful access to these records and shroud in secrecy egregious police misconduct and uses of force.”
Mayor Butts nor the Inglewood Police Department have issued any statements related to the ruling favoring the ACLU’s lawsuit.
On November 20th, Judge Gary Tanaka granted a motion brought forth by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU) for summary judgement in a lawsuit filed against the Inglewood Police Department back in 2021.
According to the lawsuit, the ACLU requested various records related to police misconduct and use of force incidents back in 2019 from the Inglewood Police Department, which state law required such records be released upon formal request.
Back in December of 2018, a month prior to SB 1421 taking effect, the Inglewood City Council had passed their own local law which allowed the police department to destroy “decades of use of force and internal investigation records,” which led to speculation that the Inglewood Police Department was attempting to thwart accessibility to potentially contentious records ahead of the transparency law taking effect.
Inglewood Mayor James Butts said at the time of the 2018 controversy to destroy certain police records that, “This premise that there was an intent to beat the clock is ridiculous.”
In Judge Tanaka’s ruling on the matter, he found that the Inglewood Police Department engaged in “systemic violations” of the California Public Records Act, with the police department habitually failing to meet disclosure deadlines as well as having “routinely failed to provide any documents at all to certain requestors.”
The Inglewood Police Department reportedly would create unnecessary delays in rendering requested reports, at times even claiming that the requested records didn’t exist when in reality “the documents did exist.”
As a result of the ruling from earlier in November, the Inglewood Police Department will now have to publish every relevant report and record that would fall under California’s transparency laws on their website without any formal request process for the next three years, making the records available online to all members of the public.
ACLU senior staff attorney Tiffany Bailey issued a statement in light of the judge’s ruling in favor of the outfit’s lawsuit, saying, “This ruling is a rebuke of Inglewood’s sustained, years-long attempt to deny the public rightful access to these records and shroud in secrecy egregious police misconduct and uses of force.”
Mayor Butts nor the Inglewood Police Department have issued any statements related to the ruling favoring the ACLU’s lawsuit.
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The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments
2025-11-28T18:19-0500 | Comment by: Larry
If Law Enforcement would "truly" police themselves, this wouldn't happen. They take an oath just like us Veterans did.