OLA#: 016-03B

LEGISLATIVE ANALYST REPORT

TO: Honorable Members of the Board of Supervisors

FROM: Office of the Legislative Analyst

DATE: June 10, 2003

SUBJECT: Employee Suggestion #242: Duplication of Incident Reports

EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION

The employee suggests that the San Francisco Police Department charge for the duplication of incident reports, to offset related operation and labor costs.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The San Francisco Police Department's (SFPD) Report Management Section is responsible for duplicating all reports requested through the Police Department. Though State and City laws allow for the recovery of duplication fees, the SFPD does not collect fees.

ANALYSIS & RECOMMENDATIONS

PROCESS & COSTS

Currently, SFPD does not charge a fee for duplication of incident reports. Either the person involved or their representing attorney may request in writing a duplicate incident report from the investigator listed on the original. After the investigator approves the request, it is sent to the Report Management Section for review and processing. After all confidential information is removed a copy of the report is sent to the requester.

LAWS

California Government Code 6253.b and the S.F.Sunshine Ordinance permit government agencies to charge for the duplication of records. The State set the fee at 10-cents per page. A department may establish and charge a fee higher than the 10-cents presumptive fee if it prepares and posts an itemized cost analysis establishing that the costs per page exceeds $.10 (SEC 67.28.d). The fee cannot exceed the direct costs of duplication.

The S.F Sunshine Ordinance allows the SFPD to charge a fee for duplication. Specifically, SFPD may recover the costs per page impression including: one sheet of paper; one duplication cycle of the copying machine in terms of toner and other specifically identified operation or maintenance factors, excluding electrical power; and one unit of operator labor calculated as the average hourly pay of the employee assigned to copying.

OTHER JURISDICTIONS

The charge for duplication of reports varies among counties. Marin County's Sheriff's Department currently charges $2 for the first page duplicated and $1 for each page thereafter. Though they have not performed a cost analysis to justify exceeding the State allowed fee, they maintain the fee as a matter of practice as it has done for over twenty years. However, not all reports are charged a duplication fee; the staff has discretionary power to waive the fee. Though not all are charged, processing 20 to 30 incident reports a month, the department receives on average $100 a month in revenue from report duplication.

Until February 2003, Oakland charged 5-cents per duplicated page pursuant to Government Code. As government agencies increasingly face the legal challenge of distributing public information, they decided that the cost of possible lawsuits exceeded the 5-cents charged to the recipient. They therefore removed all duplication fees.

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

By not seeking compensation for the costs they incur by duplicating reports, the SFPD loses revenue that both the S.F. Sunshine Ordinance and the Government Code 6253 states it is entitled to. Therefore, the Office of Legislative Analyst recommends the Board of Supervisors in conjunction with Budget Analyst determine the cost incurred by the SFPD to duplicate reports, and the SFPD to begin charging this fee.