Yes, I know this is April Fool’s Day. No, this article isn’t satire. I wish to God it was, but sadly, it’s the real Magilla.
The Oxnard, California police department has a horrible reputation for gratuitous violence. It has paid multiple 7-figure settlements for killings of innocent people. Back in 2001, a Los Angeles Times expose pointed out that Oxnard cops were killing people at 22 times the rate of Los Angeles cops.
Then, last fall, a citizen watchdog group made a startling accusation: Oxnard cops wear “shooting tatoos” as badges of honor, i.e. a cop who shot a civilian gets a “gun and skull” tattoo on his left shoulder, with a depiction of smoke coming out of the tattoo to denote a fatal shooting. Their source, they said, was a former Oxnard cop turned whistleblower.
According to the watchdog group, the city hired a law firm to investigate, and the U.S. Department of Justice also reportedly launched an investigation. But since then, no official announcements have been made, and the local district attorney continues to defend cop killings as “justified” — even as the city settled the latest death of an innocent citizen for $6.7 million.
Meanwhile, Oxnard residents continue to describe their police department as out of control, describe policing in their community as a reign of terror, and demand that killer cops be removed from their streets.
It wasn’t a “citizen’s watchdog group” that published the story. It appeared on American Justice Notebook last year.
http://www.cjnotebook.com/city-oxnard-hired-s-f-law-firm-investigate-alleged-cop-shooting-tattoos-justice-department-reviewing-investigation/
I wrote the story and it was through my sources that I was able to get the information, including the names of 10 police officers who allegedly had these tattoos.
These names were not published but they were given to the Oxnard Police Department chief and supervisors.
I talked to Mayor Flynn of Oxnard a week ago and he told me that the investigation was still pending.
The Department of Justice is also aware of the investigation being done by a San Francisco private investigator by the city of Oxnard.
A spokesman said DOJ would review Oxnard’s investigation after it is completed.
Raul Hernandez
American Justice Notebook Journalist
Thanks, Raul. If you’ll post a comment letting me know how to properly characterize American Justice Notebook (e.g., citizen journalist, blog, etc.), I’ll make the correction.