A trove of Los Angeles Police Department records that were once regularly posted online was suddenly nowhere to be found. Such records had previously been posted online almost daily in response to records requests from members of the public. LAPD records accounted for just over a third of all the requests, which were made between 2017 and 2026. Commonly used by journalists, lawyers, academics and advocacy groups such as the ACLU, public information can be requested by anyone under the California Public Records Act. Local government agencies are not obligated to post public records online, with a few exceptions, according to David Loy, legal director at the nonprofit First Amendment Coalition.