Court Orders Inglewood Police to Preserve Records After PJLC Lawsuit

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ordered the Inglewood Police Department to stop destroying police misconduct records after legal action brought by the ACLU of Southern California and litigated by the Peace and Justice Law Center (PJLC). The order preserves critical records tied to serious uses of force and police misconduct and prevents the permanent loss of evidence needed for public accountability.

The ruling came after Inglewood moved to destroy broad categories of internal affairs and use-of-force records, even though multiple public records requests had been pending for years. Those requests, first submitted in January 2019, sought records that California law requires police departments to disclose, including investigations into officer-involved shootings, serious uses of force, and sustained findings of misconduct.

Despite repeated follow-ups over nearly three years, the Inglewood Police Department had not produced a single responsive record. Then, in December 2021, the City Council adopted a resolution authorizing the destruction of internal investigations and use-of-force records dating back years, including records directly responsive to those outstanding requests.

At the ACLU’s request, PJLC filed an emergency application for a temporary restraining order to prevent the destruction. The filings showed that allowing the records to be destroyed would irreparably harm the public’s right to know, violate California’s Public Records Act, and undermine state transparency laws designed to expose serious police misconduct.

The court agreed and issued an order requiring the department to preserve the records while the case proceeds. The decision ensures that records related to officer-involved killings, serious injuries, and other misconduct cannot be erased before the public has a chance to review them.

This preservation order matters far beyond a single records request. Police misconduct files are often the only way families, journalists, and community members can learn what happened in cases involving police violence. Once destroyed, that information is gone forever. By stopping the destruction, the court protected the integrity of California’s transparency laws and reaffirmed that police departments cannot evade accountability by shredding records.

PJLC will continue representing the ACLU as the case moves forward, seeking full compliance with state public records laws and the eventual release of the records. The case is part of PJLC’s broader work to ensure that transparency laws have real force and that communities are not denied the truth about how policing is carried out in their name.