In The News

Shootings, assaults, lies: Oakland police misconduct revealed on new city website

For decades, investigations of police shootings and beatings, allegations of dishonesty and sexual assault, and other kinds of police misconduct were kept secret from the public. Laws like the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act protected officers from public scrutiny, even those who were disciplined for serious misdeeds. This all changed in 2019 when Senate Bill 1421 went into effect. Authored by East Bay state Senator Nancy Skinner, SB 1421 required cities, for the first time, to hand over certain types of police misconduct case files to the public, when requested.

Now, a new city website is gathering many of Oakland’s police misconduct files in one place. The Oakland City Attorney’s office announced the website Thursday at a meeting of the Police Commission.

 

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