In March 2017, a Napa State Hospital police officer slammed a 64-year-old patient’s face into a concrete wall, breaking his eye socket and teeth. The patient, who has bipolar disorder, spent seven months in jail before charges against him were dismissed. The officer, along with three others who filed misleading reports, all kept their jobs. The incident is one of many police misconduct cases uncovered recently by KQED and other news groups around the state who are using a new California law to obtain once-secret police records. We’ll talk to two KQED reporters about what they learned about the Napa State Hospital case, and how their work, known as the California Reporting Project, is stirring calls for reform.
More KQED Reporting on Police Records: