About those missing Hall of Records documents

My item last week on a flashlight tour of the Hall of Justice questioned a line that read, "reams of once-confidential documents have been incinerated and sent to that great repository in the sky." The historian and packrat in me wondered why public documents would be summarily burned. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavskly's website, which did the story, has since posted a clarification:

Regarding questions about the destruction of documents, sheriff’s officials said Thursday that they removed all records from the Hall of Justice and left behind only trash or outdated forms. Department of Public Works officials said they exercised an abundance of caution and treated all papers left behind as confidential because they were not in a position to evaluate them. They said all documents were destroyed in accordance with the county’s policy.