These are the details about incidents reported to police (which are often referred to

as public requests for assistance or complaints, and which also include accident
reports) that should be made public under the California Public Records Act:

 Time and date of the incident or complaint

 Location of the complaint
 The substance of the complaint
 Time, date and nature of the police response
 Time and date of any police report on the incident
 Name and age of the victim (although this information is withheld in the case
of many specific crimes, such as sexual assault, and it can be withheld at the
request of the victim)
 The factual circumstances surrounding the incident
 A general description of any injuries, property, or weapons involved in the
incident

However, even these details can be withheld if “disclosure of a particular item of

information would endanger the safety of a person involved in an investigation or
would endanger the successful completion of the investigation or a related
investigation.”

What’s Available Online – Sample Incident Logs

Some police departments put their incident or report logs online.

Here are some examples:

California Highway Patrol

California Highway Patrol Traffic Incident Log

To see San Francisco Bay Area traffic incidents, click on the Communication

Centers drop-down menu at the top left and select Golden Gate. To decipher
abbreviations used in the incident logs, in the drop-down menu
under Resources in the upper right select Glossary.

Berkeley Police Department

Berkeley Police Department Daily Crime Log

Posted daily in pdf format.

Martinez Police Department

Martinez Police Department Daily Log

Posted daily in pdf format.

Palo Alto Police Department

Palo Alto Police Department Report Log

Posted daily in pdf format.

Davis Police Department

Davis Police Department Arrest Log & Daily Activity Log

Combines log of arrests and incident log.

Penal Code Sections

Finding the Descriptions of Crimes for Different Penal Code
Sections
Police records usually refer to penal code sections in describing crimes police are
investigating.

For example, section 187 of the penal code is for homicides.

How can you find out which crimes the various sections of the state penal code
stand for?

The Berkeley Police Department has a list of commonly used penal code sections
and which crimes they refer to. That’s at:

Berkeley Police Department Crime Classifications and Codes

For complete penal code listings, you can search by a penal code section number at
the state government’s California Law site to find out what crime it relates to:
California Law website

At the site check the box next to Penal Code. In the search box type in the number
for the penal code section you’re interested in (such as 187).

At the search results page, click on the first listing. That should give you the penal
code section you’re seeking (the other listings are for other sections of the penal
code that make reference to the penal code section you searched for).

Search Warrants
Police must get a judge’s written approval to conduct searches of private property
in criminal investigations (unless the person in possession of the property consents
to a search).

These documents approved by judges are called search warrants.

Search warrant filings thus are court-related public records. And they can have very
detailed information on a criminal case being investigated.

Most courts assign a clerk to manage the files for the search warrants granted by
judges to law enforcement officers.

These search warrant files are separate from the actual criminal court cases in
which people are charged with crimes (search warrants often are obtained by
police before any arrests or formal charges are filed in a case).

Local police agencies in California will file search warrants in county superior courts,
while federal law enforcement officers (FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs, etc.) will file search
warrants in U.S. district courts.

The search warrants are organized differently in different courts. An index usually is
kept by date, and then within each date is a list of the addresses of the places
approved to be searched that day. In other cases the index may just be numerically
arranged by a number the court assigns for each warrant.

Search warrants are not indexed according to the names of the people whose
property is being searched or seized, which can make it difficult for a reporter to
track down the files.
Thus you’ll often need to ask a law enforcement officer or a prosecutor for the
search warrant file number, or for the date a search was approved by a judge and a
description of what was searched, in order to dig the search warrant records out of
the court clerk’s files.

Search warrants have to be obtained to search everything from a residence or

business to a vehicle or other personal property, such as a storage facility or a bank
safety deposit box.

Search Warrant Filings

Here’s what’s in a search warrant file:

 The application for the search warrant filed with a judge by a law

enforcement officer describing what property the officer wants to search.
 An affidavit prepared by the law enforcement officer detailing the criminal
case being investigated and the evidence that exists against the person
whose property is to be searched. The affidavit is required to demonstrate
there is probable cause that a crime has occurred that justifies conducting
the search.
 A list of items being sought in the search. Police can’t just search for
anything, they must specify what they’re looking for and the items must be
related to the criminal case being investigated.
 The judge’s order approving the search warrant.
 An inventory of what was taken by authorities during the search. This
inventory is usually referred to as a return on the search warrant.