Yesica Prado
Co-founder
Yesica is a photojournalist and advocate. She leads the project’s field reporting, photography and video.
California public records · Police use of force
Public records should be public. We sue to get them out.
Across California, government agencies too often disregard the California Public Records Act, delaying or withholding records the law makes public. When violations rarely lead to court, there is little pressure to comply. We bring cases to enforce the law and publish the records we obtain.
What we do
- Request
We file California Public Records Act requests for shooting and use-of-force records, body camera video and 911 audio.
- Sue
When an agency misses its deadline or withholds records without a lawful reason, we file a petition in superior court in our own names.
- Publish
We post the filings and the records we obtain, with reporting and short videos explaining what they show.
Who we are
The project is run by Yesica Prado and Robbie Powelson. Each case is filed by one of us as an individual requester, and we publish what we file.
Authors
Robbie Powelson
Co-founder
Robbie is a law student and advocate. He leads the project’s public records requests and its self-represented court filings.
Ethics
We follow the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, with one exception: we do not adopt its guidance to avoid political and other outside activities that may compromise impartiality or credibility.
Conventional ideas of neutrality can reflect dominant institutional values. Journalists whose lived experiences, backgrounds, or identities diverge from those values have too often been labeled “non-neutral,” delegitimized, or excluded. We evaluate journalism by its accuracy, transparency, and fairness—not by a journalist’s identity or outside activities. We make no apology for standing up for the communities we come from.