An Alameda County Superior Court judge on Thursday issued a tentative ruling in favor of the University of California’s plan to release the pepper-spray task force’s report in full.

Judge Evelio M. Grillo will hear arguments Friday morning from UC and the Federated University Police Officer’s Association, a union representing campus police that is opposing the release of portions of the report on the grounds it may reveal personnel information protected under state law.

University attorneys contend that state law covers only the release of details about internal police investigations.

In his 16-page tentative ruling, Grillo wrote that no personnel records were made available to Kroll Associates Inc., the security firm hired to lay out the facts of the Nov. 18 incident in which about a dozen Occupy UC Davis protesters were pepper-sprayed and 10 others arrested.

Kroll’s work and UCD’s internal investigation were conducted separately, Grillo noted, and the officers that spoke to Kroll, under a deal with the union, were not themselves under investigation.

Concerns about more potential harm to the reputation of the officers and further concerns about their safety caused by the release of the task force’s report have been largely nullified by the amount of publicity the incident already has received in the media and online, the judge wrote.

On balance, UC and the public would suffer greater harm if the court barred the report from being released, Grillo wrote.

Kroll’s fact-finding report provided the basis for a report by an independent task force of students, staff, faculty and alumni headed by former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso.

The task force and Kroll reports were to be released in tandem March 6, but Reynoso, acting on the advice of UC counsel, held the reports because of the union’s pending legal action.

Grillo granted a temporary restraining order from March 6 until the end of Friday’s scheduled hearing.

His tentative ruling indicates his plans to keep that order in place until April 2, allowing the union time to file an appeal if it chooses to do so.

UCD Police Chief Annette Spicuzza, incident commander Lt. John Pike and a third, unnamed officer are on administrative leave pending the result of UCD’s internal investigation, which is nearing its conclusion, Chancellor Linda Katehi said recently.

Any disciplinary actions will be based on that report, Katehi has said.

Neither the Kroll nor the task force reports recommend specific disciplinary action, Grillo wrote.

Rather, the Kroll report makes recommendations regarding decision-making by the administration, the organization of the systemwide UC police force and officer training, Grillo wrote.

The task force report assigns responsibility for the incident to individual administrators and officers and makes policy recommendations, the judge wrote.

The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office is conducting its own investigation, which could result in criminal charges being filed. The protesters also have filed suit against the university and police department in federal court.

— Reach Cory Golden at [email protected] or (530) 747-8046. Follow him on Twitter at @cory_golden

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