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Four Oakland Officers Fired for Falsifying Affidavits

A few months ago, TalkLeft took note of Oakland's desire to fire eleven lazy police officers who found it easier to lie in search warrant applications than to do the work necessary to make their sworn statements truthful. The falsified affidavits resulted in illegal raids against a number of suspected drug dealers and caused sixteen prosecutions to be dismissed, not to mention the two civil rights suits that have been filed against the city.

Last week, Oakland managed to fire four of the eleven.

The terminations, which were officially approved by City Administrator Dan Lindheim, came shortly after an investigation by an independent hearing officer found that seven other officers accused of falsifying warrants should not be fired.

The four who were fired will continue to contest their terminations because, according to one of their attorneys, there was insufficient evidence of intentional misconduct. Their theory seems to be that they were never trained to tell the truth when they swore that they were telling the truth. Perhaps the police academy needs to add a brief training session on the meaning of the word "oath."

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    Same lawyer who explained... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Romberry on Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 09:32:42 PM EST
    ...to me the adage "hard cases make bad law" also relayed to me that in criminal proceedings, the one thing that you can be certain of is that the police will lie if that's what is needed to make their case. Also told me to never go into any proceeding without a court reporter to establish a written record as without a written record, there was nothing to keep the police, the prosecutor and the judge from "working together" against you.

    Cops lying on affidavits doesn't surprise me. I wish that it did.

    just wanted to say that even though (none / 0) (#1)
    by of1000Kings on Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 08:04:10 PM EST
    these types of posts don't get a lot of response they are still extremely worthwhile...one of the reasons I come to this site specifically and not some other blog...

    I just wish our average American would see this stuff more often...

    not to mention that you bring up a point (none / 0) (#2)
    by of1000Kings on Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 08:06:36 PM EST
    that I've been feeling for a while:

    the process of becoming a police officer needs to be SERIOUSLY overhauled...

    start with a bachelor's degree (psychology, sociology, social services...something like that) and then have the academy training, just for starters...

    I fear what these academies are teaching these 22 y/o's that they send out on the street with tasers and guns and all the authority in the world...

    Parent

    I'm here. (none / 0) (#3)
    by AX10 on Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 08:09:04 PM EST
    I've read the post and am pleased to see the result.
    As you do, I am here to read about the issues that matter most to us.

    Parent
    both sides now (none / 0) (#4)
    by diogenes on Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 09:03:09 PM EST
    The officers deserve to be indicted, certainly.  On the other hand, how often do you hear about a criminal defendant who lies about his innocence getting additional charges of perjury with a conviction to be served consecutively?