Claremont-Upland Voice

2/6/04

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

$150 to $15? Now that's service

By Paul M. Anderson  

Hey, all you City Council watchdogs: The next time you're given a hard time at City Hall when you put in a public records request, try firing off copies of the request to some public officials. It worked for Marc Grossman.

OK, well, yeah, Grossman's an attorney and he threatened to sue the city and had plenty of ammunition to do so, but still... 

He got service in minutes recently after mailing a demand for a two-page police report and sending copies to the mayor, a councilwoman, the chairman of the police commission and the president of the California First Amendment Coalition. The police chief was on the phone to Grossman in moments explaining it was all a mistake, that his office wasn't supposed to charge him $150 for a copy of the report. That's right. 1-5-0. Bucks.

Turns out it was $15. For two pages? For that price, does Jennifer Love Hewitt deliver it to you personally? The report comes complete with an audiotape so maybe that explains the higher cost. But at least it wasn't $150, Grossman says. Police Chief Roy Brown could not be reached for comment. Grossman said Brown told him it was a clerical error, but Grossman's not buying it.

"This wasn't a mistake. Give me a break. I don't believe it. I don't buy it," Grossman said.

Grossman has had his run-ins with the Claremont Police before regarding public records requests. He recalled how last year he was stonewalled when he asked to see the videotape that showed a Claremont Police officer fatally shooting David Guy Pearson after a car chase. Grossman represented Pearson's family. Grossman, you might recall, also represented the family of Irvin Landrum Jr., the teenage driver gunned down by Claremont Police during a traffic stop. The city didn't want to turn over a copy of the Pearson tape even after showing it to reporters, Grossman said.

"When they finally gave us the tape, they edited it," Grossman said.

So you can imagine how his blood pressure soared when he was told to fork over $150 for a two-page police report. He noted in his angry letter to the city demanding the report that he had just made a similar request from the La Verne Police Department recently and was told it would cost him $1.

"Please also note that this letter is the last time I will waste my time with CPD regarding such a blatant and intentional disregard for the law and the public's right to access public records," Grossman said in his letter to the city. "Next time around, I will simply file suit as I will not continue to play this game with CPD, which wastes my time and derogates my client's rights to have access to records within your control."

Whew! Can you blame him? Maybe it was just a goof-up, but it would sure get me riled up if I were in his shoes.

Claremont Police Commission Chairman Richard Fass thinks it was an honest mistake.

"When I got this I immediately sent it over to City Hall with a copy to the police chief and said, 'Throw it in our agenda packet since that's our role to consider complaints,' " Fass said. "Within minutes I got a message back that it was a mistake and it was corrected. Given the quickness of the response I figure it was just a mistake."

Maybe. But what do you think, all you city watchdogs out there? You ever get the $150 runaround?