Re: When a reporter wouldn't betray his source, cops came with guns and a sledgehammer

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Mustang wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 7:52 pm
highdesert wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 11:29 am It has nothing to do with race/ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, the SF Board of Supervisors (city/county council) is very diverse and the mayor is African-American. Where is the liberal outrage, their silence speaks volumes. The right wing doesn't own hypocrisy.
https://sfbos.org/inauguration
This^^

The raid wasn't done in a vacuum by some rogue elements of the SFPD. This was supported by most of the liberal SF political establishment, who only now are starting to flip flop on their support because of the huge blow back the city is getting for violations of the press shield law.

Re: When a reporter wouldn't betray his source, cops came with guns and a sledgehammer

27
Mustang wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 7:52 pm
highdesert wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 11:29 am It has nothing to do with race/ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, the SF Board of Supervisors (city/county council) is very diverse and the mayor is African-American. Where is the liberal outrage, their silence speaks volumes. The right wing doesn't own hypocrisy.
https://sfbos.org/inauguration
This^^

The raid wasn't done in a vacuum by some rogue elements of the SFPD. This was supported by most of the liberal SF political establishment, who only now are starting to flip flop on their support, because of the huge blow back the city is getting for violations of the press shield law.
Only two members of the BOS protested publicly about the search and the mayor who first supported it is now questioning it. Adachi made enemies could even be some in SFPD who leaked the report as payback. The police chief serves at the pleasure of the mayor and got pressured to investigate, but this botched search isn't helping Chief Scott or the department.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: When a reporter wouldn't betray his source, cops came with guns and a sledgehammer

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After two weeks of growing outrage, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott apologized Friday for raiding a journalist’s home and office in a bid to unmask a confidential source, admitting the searches were probably illegal and calling for an independent investigation into the episode. Police “should have done a better job,” Scott said in an interview with The Chronicle. “I’m sorry that this happened. I’m sorry to the people of San Francisco. I’m sorry to the mayor. We have to fix it. We know there were some concerns in that investigation and we know we have to fix it.”

Scott said he has now reviewed all material relating to the May 10 search of freelance videographer Bryan Carmody’s home and office, which was part of an investigation into who leaked him a salacious police report on the February death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi — a report Carmody then sold to three television stations. The chief said he was “concerned” that the applications for the search warrants didn’t adequately identify Carmody as a journalist — particularly a warrant to search his phone. Scott said the department will drop its investigations and turn them over to independent agencies. The department relinquished a criminal investigation into the leak, which could prompt charges, and an internal affairs investigation, which could lead to discipline for officers. It’s not clear who will step in to investigate the criminal side, but he said the city Department of Police Accountability — an independent oversight body created to look into complaints against police — has agreed to investigate any administrative violations.

The chief said Mayor London Breed had requested the independent probe. He also said the department will not use any evidence seized in the raids and will not turn it over to other investigators. In a statement Friday, Breed said she was glad the chief “acknowledged the department's mistakes and apologized” but was “deeply disappointed by the actions taken in this case up to today. This is unacceptable and we have to do better.” “The actions being taken today are the right thing for the department and for the city,” she said. “We have to restore the trust among the department, the public, and the media. An independent and free press is essential in our city and our society.”

Scott’s position on Friday was a reversal of his earlier public comments on the raid, which sparked outrage locally and nationally from lawmakers and press-freedom advocates. Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris on Thursday joined in condemning the police action. Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who was the first of many on the Board of Supervisors to criticize the raid, said Scott’s apology and the independent investigations are “absolutely the right thing to be doing.” “I understand that it took him a couple weeks, but the fact that he is unequivocally apologizing and laying out clear actions that he’s taking in response is what you would want from a leader,” she said.

Carmody said he obtained a police report from a confidential source shortly after Adachi’s death at age 59 on Feb. 22 before selling it. Some city officials were outraged over the leak and suspected someone in the Police Department was trying to smear the late public defender, who was a police watchdog and crusader against officer misconduct. In a news conference Tuesday, Scott said his department had suspected Carmody took part in a criminal conspiracy to steal an internal police report. Carmody said he did not pay for the report or conspire to steal it but simply acquired it as part of his work as a journalist.

A week earlier, Scott had defended the raid in front of the city Police Commission, saying, “We went through the legal process and the appropriate legal process for a criminal investigation.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/art ... 895536.php
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: When a reporter wouldn't betray his source, cops came with guns and a sledgehammer

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The San Francisco Police Officers Assn. is calling on Police Chief Bill Scott to step down after he apologized for his officers’ raid of a journalist’s home.

“It is time for Chief Scott to go. There’s no other way around it,” union leaders wrote in a statement released Saturday, one day after Scott issued the public apology.

The statement described the chief’s public concession as a “pathetic, deceitful and shameful display of self-preservation, finger pointing, and political kowtowing.”
The San Francisco Police Officers Assn. said Scott oversaw and ordered the investigation and raid of Carmody’s home, and that he knew of Carmody’s status as a member of the press.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la- ... story.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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