The San Bernardino County Superior Court issued an order to temporarily halt the retroactive release of police personnel records in response to SEBA’s legal challenge regarding Senate Bill 1421. Senate Bill 1421, which went into effect at the beginning of this year, called for the release of certain peace officer personnel records, including uses of force resulting in death or great bodily injury, officer-involved shootings and sustained incidents of dishonesty or sexual assault. SEBA sought to clarify that the law applies only to incidents occurring after January 1, 2019.SEBA retained Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver, PC (RLS) to file the legal challenge on behalf of its members. I...

SAN BERNARDINO – The Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Association filed a legal challenge today against retroactive enforcement of Senate Bill 1421 and asked for an urgent stay against the County of San Bernardino from applying the bill to public records requests of incidents before Jan. 1, 2019.Senate Bill 1421, effective at the beginning of 2019, created four distinct categories in which peace officer personnel records would become public record. While SB 1421 represents a significant change in the laws relating to disclosure of peace officer personnel files going forward, the legislation does not condone the release of those files relating to incidents occurring prior to the effective date. T...