On June 12, 2020, we filed a California Public Records Act Request with the City of Manhattan Beach in order to obtain City and Police Department records on race and policing in Manhattan Beach. Here's what happened.

 

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ABOUT THE CPRA

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The California Public Records Act (CPRA), passed in 1968, is a state law that is similar to the federal Freedom of Information Act. It provides a process and rules for obtaining records, data, and other information from the State of California, local governments, public agencies, and other governmental entities, and is a crucial part of ensuring transparency and accountability on the part of state and local government.

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CPRA TIMELINE

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By law, a governmental agency from which data is requested has 10 days to respond to a request. Responses take a limited number of forms, the most common of which are simply providing the data requested in its entirety or notifying the requester that there aren't any records that are responsive to a request. Ordinarily, this 10 day timeline is a hard deadline, but on rare occasions a governmental entity can request a 14-day extension. The CPRA does not allow for an extension beyond this 14-day period, which means that the longest a governmental agency has to respond to a request even under these circumstances is only 24 days. (These are calendar days, not business days.)

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On July 23, 2020, the City of Manhattan Beach claimed to finish our request, though we're still working to obtain more data.

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OUR REQUEST

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We requested copies of any and all:

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(1) racial, ethnic, and other demographic data and statistics collected by the MBPD; 

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(2) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of encounters involving the MBPD;

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(3) reports concerning racial profiling produced by the MBPD, the City, or by any institution or agency on their behalf concerning the activities of the MBPD;

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(4) information concerning the development, implementation, or operation of a racial profiling data collection system in the City of Manhattan Beach or on the part of the MBPD in line with guidelines developed by the Department of Justice;

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(5) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of traffic stops conducted by the MBPD;

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(6) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of searches conducted by the MBPD;

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(7) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of arrests conducted by the MBPD.

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HOW THE CITY RESPONDED

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The city has confirmed that they do have a variety of data that is responsive to our request. We're working to hold the city accountable and ensure that they follow the law. Regardless of the schedule on which we ultimately receive responses, we'll continue to update this website as the city provides the relevant data.

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Here's what the city has said so far:

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(1) racial, ethnic, and other demographic data and statistics collected by the MBPD; 

See the Arrest Records page and the Analyses page.

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(2) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of encounters involving the MBPD;

The MBPD claimed that the FBI UCR statistics were responsive to this request. They are not—they only cover arrests, not encounters. We're still working to obtain this data.

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(3) reports concerning racial profiling produced by the MBPD, the City, or by any institution or agency on their behalf concerning the activities of the MBPD;

The MBPD says that they have no responsive records. Push them to implement a system that would track these issues—see our Action Toolkit page.

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(4) information concerning the development, implementation, or operation of a racial profiling data collection system in the City of Manhattan Beach or on the part of the MBPD in line with guidelines developed by the Department of Justice;

The MBPD says that they have no responsive records. Push them to implement a system that would track these issues—see our Action Toolkit page.

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(5) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of traffic stops conducted by the MBPD;

The MBPD claimed that the FBI UCR statistics were responsive to this request. They are not—they only cover arrests, not traffic stops. We're still working to obtain this data.

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(6) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of searches conducted by the MBPD;

The MBPD claimed that the FBI UCR statistics were responsive to this request. They are not—they only cover arrests, not searches. We're still working to obtain this data.

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(7) data on the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of arrests conducted by the MBPD.

See the Arrest Records page and the Analyses page.

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Have other data you're interested in learning about, or want to verify any of the data included on our website? Click here for a sample CPRA request letter and here to send it to the City of Manhattan Beach.