http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/morning-report-problem-cops-still-a-problem/?utm_source=Voice+of+San+Diego+Master+List&utm_campaign=88b85ae967-Morning_Report_format_updated_3_24_14_new_replicat&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c2357fd0a3-88b85ae967-83525353&goal=0_c2357fd0a3-88b85ae967-83525353
“Last month, a federal jury ruled against a San Diego cop. And it wasn’t the first time the same officer was ruled to have violated a citizen’s rights.
But we don’t know whether the officer, Ariel Savage, is part of the department’s program to monitor problem officers, a program that itself was found to be a problem in the Justice Department’s recent review of SDPD’s policies, Liam Dillon reports.
Chief Shelley Zimmerman has pledged to implement changes based on the Justice Department report. Not everyone is sure things are getting any better. Even if that happens, it will be hard to tell whether the system is working without more transparency.
“We’re going to have to trust that the department gets the system right,” Dillon writes. “Officer discipline histories are shielded from public view and not accessible via the state’s open records laws. The only reason we know anything about Savage’s complaint history is through the lawsuits filed against him.”