Two reporters have been told that it is against the law to even possess a copy of the never before released list of convicted cops. 10 years of convictions with nearly 12,000 names were released in response to a public records request.
Some cops on the list are murderers. Some cops sexually molested children, or were convicted of having child pornography, or beating wives, girlfriends, children. Some of them sexually assaulted people they arrested, others took bribes or lied in court.
The revelations are alarming, but Californians have no right to see them. When Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office learned about the records release, they warned the two reporters that simply possessing the list is against the law. Becerra’s office threatened the reporters with legal action if they didn’t destroyed the records.
The organizations the journalists work with, the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and its production arm, Investigative Studios, have rejected Becerra’s demands.
The Berkeley journalists chose not to publish the entire list until they could spend more time reviewing it, to avoid misidentifying people among the nearly 12,000 names in the documents, said John Temple, director of the Investigative Reporting Program.
Image: “DON’T ACT LIKE YOU COULDN’T SEE IT COMING!! i rite it down becuz your mind is a fork not a spoon & how PERFORMANCE ARSON has taken the stage AGAIN: painting by scott richard, san francisco (2013)” by torbakhopper is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
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