A wise reversal by the chief
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott decided Friday to stop defending the indefensible. It was a wise move, and came as pressure was mounting from the city’s slow-to-react political establishment.
Give the chief credit: He admitted his department was wrong to raid the home and office of freelance videographer Bryan Carmody in search of the source who leaked a confidential police report containing details about the Feb. 22 death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi.
He even apologized in an interview with Chronicle staff writer Evan Sernoffsky.
“I’m sorry that this happened. I’m sorry to the people of San Francisco. I’m sorry for the mayor,” Scott said. “We have to fix it. We know there were some concerns in that investigation.”
One of the big questions — still not fully resolved — is what, exactly, police told the two judges about Carmody’s status as a journalist in the application for a search warrant. California’s shield law, one of the nation’s strongest, establishes the right of journalists to protect the identity of their sources. Law enforcement agencies who are investigating the source of a leak are thus expected to apply for a subpoena — giving a journalist and his or her organization notice and a chance to challenge the request — instead of a search warrant.
Until Friday, Scott had insisted that his department checked all the legal boxes before going to Carmody’s house with a sledgehammer to force their way in. They seized his computers, cameras and phones.
Now he is not so sure that the judges who approved the warrants were fully informed that Carmody was acting as a journalist when he received the report and peddled the contents to television stations.
“There should have been more clarity there,” Scott said.
As we have maintained, San Franciscans deserve to see the documents presented to the court. Scott’s apology was welcome, but it should not be the end of the story. Mayor London Breed should demand full transparency and accountability for this assault on press freedom.