Policy Text
Field Support Division Page 1 of 6 61/00 (NEW)
OPERATIONS ORDER
PREPUBLICATION REVIEW UNIT
The purpose of this Order is to describe the general responsibi lities of personnel
assigned to the Prepublic ation Review Unit
I. General Responsibilities
A. The primary mission of the Prepublication Review Unit is to review all
information identified for disclos ure to prevent misuse, place human life in
jeopardy, result in the denial of due process, obstruct justice , prevent the
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Depar tment from effectively dischar ging its
responsibilities, or violate lo cal, state or federal laws.
B. Personnel assigned to this unit shall function as the cleari nghouse for
records requiring redactions in response to California Public R ecords Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with sect ion 6250) of Division 7 of Ti tle 1 of the
Government Code) requests or reco rds containing Law Enforcement
Sensitive information intended for public release.
C. Redaction of information sha ll, at a minimum, occur followin g the
provisions identified in Califor nia Penal Code section 832.7(b) (5) and
832.8, California Government C ode 6254 and 6255, or California
Evidence Code 1040, 1041, or 1042.
D. This Operations Order shall be read in conjunction with Gene ral Order
3/14 Request for Records accordi ng to the California Public Rec ords Act
and Professional Standar ds Division Operati ons Order 5/06 Reque sts for
Peace Officer Personnel Records.
II. Procedure
A. Upon receipt of a California Public Records Act request, Pro fessional
Standards Division personnel sha ll determine if any responsive records
exist and, if identified, be res ponsible for facilitating colle ction.
B. If records require redacti on, the Professional Standards Div ision shall
assign the request through the Sher iff’s Department’s Public Re cords Act
system to the Prepublication Re view Unit’s supervisor.
Field Support Division Page 2 of 6 61/00 (NEW) C. The Prepublication Review Unit’s Record’s Specialist, or des ignee, shall
retrieve all identified records from the Profe ssional Standards Division and
deliver the items to the Prepublicat ion Review Unit’s superviso r.
D. Upon receipt of the material the Prepublication Review Unit supervisor will
read the material, determine wh at types of records require reda ction, and
provide an estimate of the effort needed.
E. The supervisor will disseminat e the records requiring redact ion to either
the Multimedia Team or Document Team.
1. The Multimedia Team will be responsible fo r the redaction of the
following types of files: a. Audio records b. Audio transcripts c. Video records d. Video transcripts
2. The Documents Team will be responsible for the redaction of the
following types of files: a. Any digital document with re cognizable text including, but
not limited to, the following types:
(1) .doc, .docx, .docm,.dotx, .dotm, .docb, .txt, .rtf
(2) .xlsx, .xlsm,. .xltx, .xltm, .csv (3) .tiff, .jpeg, .jpg, .bmp, .pdf
F. Once a member of either team c ompletes the redactions requir ed for the
records, another member will con duct a peer review of the produ ct.
G. After the peer review is compl ete, the redacted records will transfer to the
Prepublication Review Unit’s supervisor for review.
H. The Prepublication Review U nit’s supervisor will consult wit h Legal Affairs
for any questions about the aut hority to redact records.
I. After the review, the redact ed records will be digitally pac kaged and
transmitted to the appropriate lab or union(s) and the Professio nal
Standards Division to initiate a five day review period.
J. The final decision to disclos e, redact or delay disclosure o f responsive
records, shall be at the sole d iscretion of the Sheriff.
Field Support Division Page 3 of 6 61/00 (NEW) III. Redaction
A. For this Order, redaction incl udes the obscuring of text, bl urring of
imagery, or generating audio data to protect information as req uired by
law.
B. Requests requiring disclosure un der California Penal Code se ction
832.7(b)(1) shall have the followi ng information redacted accor ding to
section 832.7(b)(5) and 832.8: 1. To remove personal data or i nformation (such as home address ,
telephone number, or identities of family members), other than the
names and work-related informati on of peace officers and custod ial
officers.
2. Information to pre serve the anonymity of complainants and
witnesses.
3. Confidential medical, financial , or other information which
disclosure is expressly prohibit ed by federal law or would caus e an
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy that outweighs the str ong
public interest in records about m isconduct and serious use of force
by peace officers and custodial officers.
4. Where the agency believes ther e is a specific, articulable, and
particularized reason to believe that disclosure of the record would
pose a significant dang er to the