The Informant

Today, The Informant published a two-year joint investigation with Colorlines, The Nation’s Investigative Fund and UC-Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program into California’s laws regarding the confidentiality of police misconduct records and their impact on the Oakland Police Department.

Prior to the California Supreme Court’s 2006 ruling in Copley Press v. Superior Court of San Diego, misconduct complaints filed with independent police watchdog agencies such as Oakland’s Citizens’ Police Review Board were public and contained extensive identifying information for police officers.

Following Copley, police review boards throughout California began redacting the names of officers from complaint records. Police accountability experts say that tracking officers’ allegations of misconduct is crucial to curbing misconduct early in their career. Studies show that officers frequently involved in low-level uses of force have a higher risk of shooting at a suspect.

This investigation focused on officers involved in repeat shootings in the Oakland Police Department. From 2000 to 2010, 16 OPD officers have been involved in more than one shooting, including 11 who are still on the force. Three officers have shot four times, including Sgt. Patrick Gonzales. Sgt. Gonzales has been involved in four shootings over the course of his career. Records from pre-Copley CPRB hearings and lawsuits also allege numerous instances of misconduct by Sgt. Gonzales. The investigation focuses on his career and documents the sort of misconduct allegations that have been deemed confidential information by the Copley Press decision.

An investigation last year into officer-involved shootings in Fresno revealed 29 Fresno Police officers had been involved in shooting incidents, 27 of whom were still on FPD’s roster.

An excerpt from the article is after the jump.

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