Transcribed versions of hand-written surveys completed by police
could become public
GILROY
Nearly a month after the city attorney approved the release of a controversial police study’s draft reports and all city e-mails related to them, it may also release the surveys of police personnel that the study partially relied on, according to Assistant City Attorney Jolie Houston.
Berliner Cohen, the city’s San Jose-based law firm, will consider releasing transcribed versions of the hand-written surveys.
It rejected to the potential release Nov. 19 because, Houston wrote, police personnel filled out the surveys with the understanding that they would be kept confidential.
This is the latest development in an ongoing struggle with City Hall to release as much material as possible related to Matrix Consulting Group, an outside auditor the city paid $55,000 to analyze the Gilroy Police Department’s efficiency.
In an unusual move, the city council voted unanimously Oct. 15 to release the last two drafts of Matrix’s report, but not the first two reports because city staff said they did not exist. Matrix had allegedly written over the original drafts, according to city officials at the time.
But that turned out not to be true.
The Dispatch is reviewing the first two draft reports and the e-mails related to all drafts exchanged among city administrators and police managers.
Outgoing City Administrator Jay Baksa has said only top-level police officials and Matrix employees saw the two preliminary reports, while councilmen and other city administrators simply received as much as the public – the final report and its third draft last month.
When it comes to the surveys, open government laws on the book prevent the release of officers’ identities. Although officers filled out the surveys anonymously, only Matrix reviewed the surveys, and some city officials say that identities could become apparent by looking at the hand writing.
This might lead to retribution if a particular officers’ survey results are harsh.
But some councilmen such as Dion Bracco have said typed transcripts of the surveys would satisfy open government advocates and city officials concerned with keeping the surveys confidential.
“If they’re anonymous, they should be released. I see no reason why they shouldn’t be released because per council direction, the city attorney should be looking at ways to release stuff, not hold things back,” Bracco said.
Councilman Craig Gartman said last month that he was hesitant to release the hand-written results because sometimes identities come through in a person’s hand-writing and idiosyncratic phrasings.
Assistant City Administrator Anna Jatczak agreed and said the potential for identifying officers who expect to remain anonymous jeopardizes candor within the city.
Just the details, though – no identifiable information: That is what the city should release, according to Terry Francke, counsel for the non-profit, open-government group Californians Aware.
“You can withhold an officer’s identity, but you don’t withhold what they say because it doesn’t make any sense to do an audit and expect it to have credibility and not disclose what was said,” said Francke.
He criticized the city attorney’s denial that relied on what he said was a misconception of court precedent and a subsequent pro-transparency referendum that challenged that precedent.
