Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

The law protects the privacy of everyone's personnel files. That includes police officers. The general public can't see those records.

If you're a criminal defendant, you can bring what's called a Pitchess motion. That's a request for the department or agency to provide the officer's personnel file to the court. If the court grants the motion, it will then review the file confidentially. If that review turns up evidence that might be helpful to your defense, you would receive copies. You would not be allowed to see the rest of the file. And you could only seek the files of officers involved in your case.