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Dec. 4, 2025

Legislative changes continue to clarify the right to access police officer personnel files

Recent California legislation expands public and oversight access to peace officer personnel records while maintaining confidentiality protections for sensitive duties.

Jason M. Ewert

Partner
Cole Huber LLP

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Legislative changes continue to clarify the right to access police officer personnel files
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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...

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