All private investigators have had this experience. You go to the local police department to get a police report and you're told: 1. You're not a party in the complaint. We won't release it. 2. A juvenile was named. We can't release it. 3. You're not an insurance company. We won't release it. Or the biggest ass coverer of all time, 4. We will only release it with a subpoena. What's a savvy PI to do? In California you carry the current, amended version of the California Records Act with you. A named category of persons to whom a police report must be released is private investigators.
Go to Government Code section 6254 (f)(3). Read it yourself and make a copy. Carry it with you at all times. Refer to this section of the code in your written requests for police records. A handy Pocket Guide to the CPRA produced by The First Amendment Project is a pdf.
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