According to the Orange County Register, “the Peace Officers’ Bill of Rights, introduced in 1976, was intended to protect cops from overzealous investigations. Since its passage into California law, it has protected officers from much more.” A 2009 Orange County Register investigation found that the law has often been a safety net for bad cops.
The Register asked a number of cities for information about the “total number of internal affairs investigations conducted against sworn officers that were conducted internally versus externally.” Several cities complied and provided that information to the Register, including La Habra, Seal Beach, Tustin, Huntington Beach, Placentia, Los Alamitos, Irvine, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Brea and Anaheim.
What about the City of Santa Ana? Unfortunately Santa Ana took the position that all such investigations are secret. Continue reading