Ali Winston
Allegations of police misconduct against individual cops are confidential, according to California law
When there are police shootings – they usually make front page news. Any officer involved in a shooting is usually immediately put on administrative leave, and the police department conducts an investigation. Reporters follow up on these stories, but their access is limited. That’s because five years ago, the California Supreme Court decided to bar the public from seeing misconduct allegations filed with police watchdog agencies. The case was called Copley Press v. San Diego.
I spent the past two years looking at the effect of this ruling and how police departments deal with officers involved in multiple shootings. Yesterday, Colorlines Magazine published my story about the state of police oversight in Oakland – a city where shootings by Oakland and BART police have led to civil unrest. The piece article focuses on the story of one officer involved in four high-profile shootings and other instances of misconduct. His behavior has cost Oakland $3.6 million in settlements – and he is still on the police force.
Yesterday, I sat down with KALW’s Hana Baba to talk about the findings of my investigation.
(Transcript after the jump)