Police work is different from other work.
It’s more dangerous. It requires more split-second decisions. Those in the job encounter bad guys wreaking havoc. They help out the rest of us in our times of need.
Officers’ personnel records also are of a different order than the rest of us. Some of their work — undercover — has to be confidential. It’s wrong to ever publish their addresses or phone numbers; each one of them has arrested bad guys, some of whom seek revenge.
But when police officers use potentially deadly force, and when that force hurts innocent bystanders — or anyone, really — state laws in California give the press and thus the citizenry the right to know at least some of the basics of what happened.
And an investigation published last week by the Sacramento Bee shows that the actions of officers who fired their weapons in police-involved shootings are often completely covered up, and that any discipline they faced over even truly bad shootings is almost never released to the public.
“California is one of the worst states in the country on police transparency,” attorney David Loy of the First Amendment Coalition told the Bee. “It’s a little bit better after SB 1421 and 16,” legislation that attempted to make police in the state more transparent. “But if it’s still not a completely black hole it’s a pretty dark hole … There’s all kinds of ways the system can still be gamed to promote secrecy in law enforcement. It’s a totally different standard than other...
Log In Forgot Account? Rappler's Post 31m · #FactCheck#FactsFirstPH rappler.comFACT CHECK: Pangilinan not suspended from Senate after clash with Padilla All reactions: 52 6 comments 6 shares Like ...