Police departments stonewall releasing rogue cops’ records
It’s been six months since a new state law required police agencies to release documents pertaining to cops’ discharge of firearms, use of major force, sexual assault and dishonesty.
The records have been eyeopening: Stolen drugs and bullets. Potentially deadly chokehold. Falsified reports. A person’s face smashed into the floor. Sexual assault in jail. Cavorting with sex workers. Domestic violence complaints against an officer ignored.
Just as disturbing is the cover-up: A majority of the records remain secret as law enforcement agencies across the state fail to comply with the new law
Too many police agencies are dragging their feet, ignoring the requirements of the new law, SB 1421, and an appellate court ruling that it applies not only to records about incidents this year but also to those of the past.
State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, authored the law. She says she’s prepared to hold hearings to shame agencies into compliance and look at toughening the requirements to ensure these records are released. We welcome that. It can’t happen soon enough.
SB 1421 is one of the most important transparency laws in a generation. It cracks open the unacceptable secrecy protections for police. Californians deserve to know about rogue cops.
Even with the new law, police enjoy protections against disclosure of their misbehavior that other public employees do not. The new law requires release of records for only the most abusive cases.
Without disclosure, policymakers can never have the knowledge critical for ending the unacceptably high number of police shootings. Without disclosure, defense attorneys can’t know for sure whether cops on the witness stand have a propensity to lie.
Yet, police agencies up and down the state are thumbing their nose at the new law, shamefully covering up for cops. Some agencies have even destroyed files.
The city of San Jose, Solano and Monterey counties, the California Highway Patrol and the state Department of Corrections have yet to turn over a single document about their bad officers. Others, such as Oakland and San Francisco, and many counties, have released only a few.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has refused to search for records, demanding that reporters identify specific cases they are seeking. It’s absurd reasoning. A key reason SB 1421 was passed was because the public has been kept in the dark about what cases of police misconduct are out there.
News organizations, including this one, have banded together to fight the stonewalling. They have been more than patient. They understood there might be some delay at the start, but we’re now six months into this.
Enough is enough. The footdragging must end.