I thought it was worth posting the audio of San Francisco Interim Police Chief Jeff Godown's defense of the police department coupled with his fit of pique at Public Defender Jeff Adachi, from his press conference yesterday.
Of course, the Public Defender and the Chief of Police will by definition be in conflict in any legal system, but Godown's briefing was interesting because it represented the first real pushback from law enforcement in regard to the ongoing video scandal that has resulted in dozens of cases being dropped or dismissed.
The chief spoke in response to the release of an apartment building security video showing plainclothes police entering a Richmond-district building on the way to make a drug arrest. The video spurred a judge to throw out the case in court. Adachi revealed the video in conjunction with the suspect's lawyer yesterday.
The video comes on top of a recent scandal involving hotel security videos, resulting in the dropping or dismissal of dozens of cases due to discrepancies between what was shown on tape and what officers reported in official accounts of the arrests. The legal issues involved concern proper use of warrants, and in the most recent case, the officers' failure to show their badges.
The original spate of cases resulted in the reassignment of a squad of eight detectives to administrative duties, and an FBI investigation, still under way.