EDITORIAL: California AG Becerra must stop protecting bad cops

Feb. 28-- Feb. 28--Politics is poisoning the office of state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

It's not the first time. But the recent stonewalling by California's top lawyer on release of records documenting police abuse shows, once again, that he's putting political ambitions ahead of needed reform.

And now he's making unconscionable threats of legal action against reporters for possessing a list of thousands of cops who broke the law -- a list the reporters legally obtained from a state agency through a Public Records Act request.

The list contains early 12,000 names. Their crimes include shoplifting, embezzlement and murder. Some cops molested kids and downloaded child pornography. Others beat their wives, girlfriends or children; trafficked drugs; stole money from their departments; and, in one case, robbed a bank.

The attorney general should be working to expose this behavior, not hide it.

Becerra was a congressman when then-Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him two years ago to fill the post left vacant by Kamala Harris' election to the U.S. Senate. Since then, he has made a national name for himself challenging President Trump in court 46 times on issues ranging from immigration to the Affordable Care Act.

But on state and local issues, Becerra has shown himself to be more a manipulative politician than a defender of the public interest. He has pandered to:

--Doctors by delaying implementation of a statewide prescription database to curtail opioid overdoses.

--Brown and labor unions by skewing summary wording for initiative petitions to reverse the state's gas tax increase.

--Labor unions by suddenly relinquishing representation of Brown's state Supreme Court challenge to pension-vesting rules.

Meanwhile, he has never explained what happened to his office's four-year-old investigation of Brown-ally Michael Peevey's atrocious behavior as president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

And his thus-far unsuccessful attempt to block Santa Clara County's purchase of two bankrupt hospitals should boggle the mind of anyone who cares about South Bay health care.

Now comes his stonewalling on the long-overdue release of records about law enforcement abuse.

For decades, police in California enjoyed unparalleled insulation from public accountability. But a new state disclosure law, effective Jan. 1, began prying open the door of secrecy. It requires release of records pertaining to cops' discharge of firearms, use of major force, sexual assault and dishonesty.

Police unions up and down the state claim the law does not apply to records created before this year. Thus far, three of four local judges have rejected that tactic. But the issue is headed for the Court of Appeal and probably the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, local jurisdictions complying with the new law have produced records showing exactly why it is so badly needed and why the retroactivity is crucial.

In Burlingame, police department findings concluded that a cop had offered to help a suspect in exchange for sex.

In Rio Vista, an officer put false information in a report to bolster felony charges against a suspect. Another officer without a warrant entered the home of a suspect, shoved him against the wall and put him in a potentially deadly chokehold -- then later lied about what happened.

In Watsonville, two officers repeatedly had sex with civilians while on duty -- in the front seat of a squad car and at private residences when they were supposed to be working.

In Kensington, officers accessed a highly confidential state law-enforcement database at least nine times to gather information on an elected official who was critical of the police department.

An investigator for the San Bernardino County sheriff and state Department of Consumer Affairs stole thousands of rounds of ammunition and other items for decades -- but was never charged.

In Capitola, a sergeant violated harassment policies by sending hundreds of texts -- with escalating inappropriate comments and photos -- to a young police volunteer.

In Fairfield, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, three police officers engaged in sexual misconduct with members of the public and four others had sustained findings of dishonesty.

Despite clear evidence that the new law is doing exactly what it was intended to do -- cast sunshine on abusive police behavior -- Becerra is blocking release of records about law enforcement officers in his own agency.

This from the attorney who is supposed to defend the state's laws. And who has even agreed in a tangential case that the new law should be applied retroactively.

Becerra says he's waiting for the courts to rule on the retroactivity issue. That could be a year or more. The First Amendment Coalition last week had to sue Becerra to try to force release of records from his office. If he sincerely believed in the law, he would be complying with it and trying to ensure other agencies did too.

Meanwhile, reporters for the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and its production arm, Investigative Studios, filed the request with the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training for the list of police convicted of crimes.

Becerra's insists the records were mistakenly released -- even though the state agency took four weeks weighing the reporters' request. He is demanding the reporters return the records and is threatening them with legal action.

Becerra must decide whether he wants to rid the state's police departments of bad cops, or enable them. And he must decide whether he will run his department with the integrity it deserves, or continue pandering to special interests.

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