Just Saying
By Raul Hernandez
In 2014, I wrote an article on my website about allegations that officers from the Oxnard Police Department were putting on “shooting tattoos ” after they killed a suspect.
The police chief when much of this happened was Jeri Williams, who later got hired as chief of the Phoenix police department.
“A former Oxnard police officer told American Justice Notebook that smoke can be tattooed to the barrel of the tattoo when the shooting is fatal. He provided the names of nine officers who allegedly have “earned” these tattoos and have put them on their bodies – two are retired, and two of the officers are commanders with the Oxnard Police Department,” my story stated.
“Two of the officers named were involved in fatal shootings in 1994 and 2001. He gave the name of the tattoo shop in Port Hueneme, where he believed these tattoos were put on officers. The former Oxnard officer asked that his name not be used for fear of retaliation,” I wrote in 2015.
The allegations about the tattoos came from two sources, both Oxnard PD cops. Nine officers, including two commanders, had those tattoos.
One innocent man was killed, and the shooting was captured on video. The Youtube video shows witnesses trying to stop cops from shooting multiple times at these unarmed victims was also published in my story.
Chief Williams hired a law firm with big contracts with the city of Oxnard to investigate police tattoos.
The conclusion was obvious. There was no wrongdoing. Oxnard PD was cleared of any liability. No officers were disciplined or fired. Williams got a job as police chief in Phoenix.
The Ventura County Star had little coverage of the gang tattoo story after I left the newspaper in 2013.
In 2001, The Los Angeles Times wrote that Oxnard led the nation in police fatal shootings.
A Times analysis stated that Oxnard police have fatally shot more people in the first eight months of 2001 than peace officers in many U.S. states and major American cities kill in an entire year.
Before the LA Times story was published, a female reporter and I asked the managing editor, John Moore, to let us do an investigative story about these fatal shootings in Oxnard.
Moore said no and gave no reason.
I finally left the newspaper in 2013 when the newspaper, under Moore, promoted to editor, seemed more interested in doing stories about entertainment, titillation, and happy news.
Rather than the corruption and police brutality in Oxnard and Ventura. I packed my stuff in a box and left in 10 minutes. I wasn’t going to be a pretend journalist
I kept an empty box under my desk because of the growing frustration of not being able to report on much other police corruption and brutality, including one where more than a dozen drunk cops got into a bar fight with four Hispanic drunk men.
The cops were allowed to leave. The Hispanic men were prosecuted.
A few weeks later, cops in Oxnard raided these men’s houses, saying they were gang members – one was a janitor, another a mechanic, a longshoreman, and a cook. The cops also hit the wrong house in doing a SWAT raid and terrorized the
family. A few weeks earlier, the woman had just given birth to a baby girl.
A police supervisor finally apologized to the family. I interviewed the family members, and they described what happened that day.
Moore said that the four Hispanic men had been prosecuted by the DA’s office and saw no need to publish this story.
He knew about the Victoria Pub video that was edited by the newspaper’s multimedia reporter Anthony because it was too long. The video showed that the cops started the fight by throwing the first punches. I had two stacks of records and documents about the incident. Many witness interviews.
On my website and on my own dime, I also covered stories about the Ventura District Attorney’s office settlement in retaliation lawsuits by five DA investigators:
The Ventura County Star, under Moore, the new editor, didn’t cover this story either. This was in 2014 after I left the newspaper.
I kept tabs on Chief Williams after she left Oxnard. There were many problems, and understandably, it is a difficult job.
Four years ago, the New York Times wrote about police brutality and shootings in Phoenix.
Three years ago, Chief Williams said this about “new” policies at the Phoenix Police Department regarding the use of force.
Now, the Phoenix Police Department under Interim Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan promised to reform this week.
“I will look at each situation, and we’re going to follow the law,” Sullivan said this week.
Yeah, right.
I love this quote by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black:
“The founding fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to bare the secrets of government secrets and inform the people.”