(a) An employee of a law enforcement agency who personally receives a report from a person, alleging that the person making the report has been the victim of a sex offense, shall inform that person that his or her name will become a matter of public record unless he or she requests that it not become a matter of public record, pursuant to Section 6254 of the Government Code.
(b) A written report of an alleged sex offense shall indicate that the alleged victim has been properly informed pursuant to subdivision (a) and shall memorialize his or her response.
(c) A law enforcement agency shall not disclose to a person, except the prosecutor, parole officers of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, hearing officers of the parole authority, probation officers of county probation departments, or other persons or public agencies where authorized or required by law, the address of a person who alleges to be the victim of a sex offense.
(d) A law enforcement agency shall not disclose to a person, except the prosecutor, parole officers of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, hearing officers of the parole authority, probation officers of county probation departments, or other persons or public agencies where authorized or required by law, the name of a person who alleges to be the victim of a sex offense if that person has elected to exercise his or her right pursuant to this section and Section 6254 of the Government Code.
(e) A law enforcement agency shall not disclose to a person, except the prosecutor, parole officers of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, hearing officers of the parole authority, probation officers of county probation departments, or other persons or public agencies if authorized or required by law, names, addresses, or images of a person who alleges to be the victim of human trafficking, as defined in Section 236.1, or of that alleged victim’s immediate family, other than a family member who is charged with a criminal offense arising from the same incident, and that information and those images shall be withheld and remain confidential. The law enforcement agency shall orally inform the person who alleges to be the victim of human trafficking of his or her right to have his or her name, addresses, and images, and the names, addresses, and images of his or her immediate family members withheld and kept confidential pursuant to this section and Section 6254 of the Government Code. For purposes of this subdivision, “immediate family” shall have the same meaning as that provided in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 422.4 of the Penal Code.
(f) For purposes of this section, sex offense means any crime listed in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 6254 of the Government Code.
(g) Parole officers of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, hearing officers of the parole authority, and probation officers of county probation departments shall be entitled to receive information pursuant to subdivisions (c), (d), and (e) only if the person to whom the information pertains alleges that he or she is the victim of a sex offense or is the victim of human trafficking, as defined in Section 236.1, the alleged perpetrator of which is a parolee who is alleged to have committed the offense while on parole, or in the case of a county probation officer, the person who is alleged to have committed the offense is a probationer or is under investigation by a county probation department.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 644, Sec. 2. (AB 2498) Effective January 1, 2017.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018