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1 40. On or about March 26, 2021, without prior notice to the involved <br /> 2 employees or the SAPOA and/or without complying with Penal Code §§832.5-832.8 <br /> 3 and/or Evidence Code §1043-1046, the City Attorney's office, the City of Santa Ana, <br /> 4 under the supervision of Defendant Ridge and/or the Santa Ana Police Department, <br /> 5 under the supervision of Defendant Valentin, intentionally and purposely produced <br /> 6 confidential records from the involved officers' personnel files. It is believed that this <br /> 7 disclosure included data that identified the individual officers involved which is a clear <br /> 8 violation of Penal Code §832.7(d). <br /> 9 41. Defendants Carvalho, Valentin, Ridge, City of Santa Ana and/or the Santa <br /> 10 Ana Police Department are aware that peace officer personnel records are confidential <br /> 11 and exempt from disclosure. <br /> 12 42. On or about April 21, 2021, Deputy Chief of Police Eric Paulson, on behalf <br /> 13 of Defendant Valentin, conceded in a letter to the Voice of OC that confidential peace <br /> 14 officer personnel had been produced to the Voice of OC, including, but not limited to <br /> 15 the names of the officers in connection with administrative investigations. Deputy Chief <br /> 16 Paulson requested that the confidential records be returned. Plaintiffs are informed and <br /> 17 believe, and thereupon allege that after the Voice of OC refused to return the <br /> 18 confidential records, Defendants failed to take any action to force the Voice of OC to <br /> 19 return the documents. <br /> 20 43. On or about April 27, 2021, Defendants started notifying certain of the <br /> 21 impacted officers of the unlawful actions by Defendants. The Notification did not advise <br /> 22 the impacted employees of what specific information had been released and did not <br /> 23 notify them of any rights they may have. The notices also did not indicate if the <br /> 24 Defendants would be taking further action to enforce the employees' rights. <br /> 25 44. Also on or about April 27, 2021, Deputy Chief Paulson informed the Santa <br /> 26 Ana Police Officers Association of the Defendants' unlawful disclosure of the <br /> 27 confidential peace officer information of members of the Santa Ana Police Officers <br /> 28 Association. The notification of Defendants' unlawful action did not identify to the POA <br /> I <br /> COMPLAINT <br />