The corrupt and anti-sunshine district attorney of San Francisco, one George Gascon, set up a blue ribbon panel last year to look at transparency and accountability at the police department. There's not been nearly enough transparency about the panel he established and controls, and I filed public records requests to make it transparent.
Instead of complying with my request to scan the responsive records into PDFs, making it easy for me to share them with the public, the DA printed and copied what he says are 15,000 pages of SFPD and related files.
At least they didn't charge me a thing for the records!
They were hand-delivered to me in a large cardboard box capable of holding 5,000 page, according to the Staples info on it, and the stack of documents which clearly didn't reach maximum capacity.
Could the DA be exaggerating about number of pages released? Imagine that, an ambitious prosecutor not telling the truth and using a blue ribbon panel, totally under his control to advance his career!
There are hundreds of SFPD use-of-force logs printed on both sides of the pages covering a 3-4 year period, listing officers' names and badge numbers and other pertinent info about when and where episode of force took place.
Sure wish the DA had simply hit the scan button when copying these responsive records, to better get them out and read by police accountability advocates. I need assistance in poring the files.
That is why I've reached out to community advocate Mesha Irizarry of the Idriss Stelley Foundation and her network of cop-watchers.
We need to do whatever we can to hold DA Gascon and his publicity-stunt blue ribbon panel accountable.
Finally, a reminder that there is no page at the DA's web site about this panel, their meeting agendas and minutes, how it's operating, etc, nor is there a stand-alone Facebook page or web site allowing the public to keep track of the records acquired and generated by Gascon's panel.
Just one indication of what a sham it is.
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