Vol. 30 No. 27 CAN SPEECH ALONE BE A PENAL CODE 148 VIOLATION?

CAN SPEECH ALONE BE A PENAL CODE 148 VIOLATION? On December 18, 2015, the California Court of Appeal held, in the case of In re Chase C.,that a minor did not violate PC 148 when he encouraged others to not cooperate with a sheriff’s deputy. The court stated that “we are asked to decide a […]

Vol. 31 No. 4- NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION AND EXECUTIVE LIABILITY

NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION AND EXECUTIVE LIABILITY Following is an article I wrote for the current issue of “The Police Chief” magazine, which is published by the International Association of Chiefs’ of Police (IACP) and distributed nationally and internationally to all members of IACP. As we all know, the current environment reflects open hostility by certain members […]

Vol. 31 No. 9 – A NEW FIRST AMENDMENT CASE INVOLVING A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE

A NEW FIRST AMENDMENT CASE INVOLVING A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE On April 26, 2016, the United States Supreme Court, in a 6 – 2 decision, held in Heffernan v. Paterson, New Jersey et al. that a public sector employee’s First Amendment right was violated even though the employee had not, in fact, engaged in protected political […]

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT HOLDS THAT A GOVERNMENT AGENCY’S INADVERTENT DISCLOSURE OF PRIVILEGED DOCUMENTS IN RESPONSE TO A PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUEST DOES NOT WAIVE THE PRIVILEGE

On March 17, 2016, the California Supreme Court in Ardon v. City of Los Angeles, 2016 Cal. LEXIS 1572, Case No. S223876 (Mar. 17, 2016), held that the City of Los Angeles’s inadvertent disclosure of privileged documents in response to a Public Records Act request did not waive the privilege under Government Code section 6254.5.[1] […]