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Reporting a police officer for a crime is no small matter. They’re well-versed in the law and may work for the agency that’s conducting the investigation.
It doesn’t necessarily get any easier when the victim is an officer herself.
In a new story for our criminal cops series, Jesse Marx takes a closer look at a stalking case involving a male SDPD sergeant and a female officer. It made headlines several years ago and many of its participants are still bothered by the way it went down.
Robin Hayes was reluctant to file a criminal complaint. It meant putting the career of her ex-boyfriend — a fellow member of law enforcement — at risk. And to some extent, it meant putting herself and her credibility on trial, too.
She was painted as a “drama queen” in court and left the San Diego Police Department shortly after the case resolved, eventually moving out of state. Kenneth Davis was demoted but went on working for several more years.
Looking back, though, he told Marx that he’s troubled by his actions.
“I have a lot more patience now, a lot more compassion, a lot more humanity that has been instilled in me,” Davis said. “And if that was the price, maybe I’m grateful for being thrown on the coals like that.”
The Sacramento Bee also reported that more than 1,000 California law enforcement employees have misused police computers over the last 10 years, checking people’s personal information for non-investigative purposes. Only 54 have been prosecuted.
Chula Vista had the highest number of violations, according to stats compiled by the California attorney general’s office. The city’s police department portrayed the violations, however, as innocent mistakes, made in the course of checking the criminal history of retired police officers who’d applied for a concealed carry permit. A captain said personnel has been retrained on the issue.
Just last week, NBC San Diego highlighted a pair of computer misuse cases locally. Prosecutors said one sheriff’s deputy had looked up a minor he’d groped in a restaurant. Another officer who worked in Carlsbad was flagged for suspicious searches around the same time he broke into an ex’s apartment.
‘Digital Humanities’ Is a Field That Exists
You may not have heard of digital humanities, a research field that examines technology through a humanities methodology. Well, we’ve got you covered.
In this week’s Culture Report, VOSD contributor Julia Dixon Evans explores the intersection of data and culture and how data shapes our relationships with the arts and humanities.
“This sense of data-driven artistic generation is bigger than just programming a bot to write like Shakespeare,” Evans writes. “It’s the ways in which analytics and algorithms influence or dictate the work that’s created next. In a ratings, awards and hype-obsessed culture, that isn’t particularly new.”
Also in this week’s arts and culture round-up: free research archives tours at the San Diego History Center’s “History Outside Our Walls” program, Rufus Wainwright is performing with the San Diego Symphony and a Brief History of San Diego Stadium Renderings — an art project by Scott Lewis.
Schumacher to Run for Carlsbad District 1 Seat
Carlsbad City Councilwoman Cori Schumacher will run in the special election to fill the vacancy in Carlsbad City Council District 1.
The resignation of Carlsbad Councilwoman Barbara Hamilton in October created a path for Schumacher to move from her at-large seat to the safer district seat.
When Hamilton abruptly resigned, Schumacher, who lives in District 1, recused herself from voting on whether to proceed with appointing a successor, saying she had a conflict of interest but without disclosing what the conflict was, the Union-Tribune reported last month. Mayor Matt Hall, also a District 1 resident , did not recuse himself. Without Schumacher the vote ended up 2-2, leading to the special election instead of an appointment.
We now know the apparent conflict of interest that led to Schumacher’s recusal: She intended to run for the seat.
Schumacher was elected for the first time in 2016, the last year Carlsbad’s Council members were chosen at large by the entire city. Carlsbad began its shift to Council districts in 2018 and the newly created District 1 seat, where Schumacher lives and which is mostly Democratic.
New Accusations Against Saved in America Charity
William Lynch has sued Saved In America, an Oceanside nonprofit organization that says it rescues girls from sex traffickers, the Union-Tribune reports.
Lynch accused the organization of fraud, breach of contract and failing to meet its fiduciary duty.
Saved In America uses former Navy SEALs and Marine Recon Raiders to find and rescue girls from sex traffickers.
San Diego County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, who served on the charity’s advisory committee and as chairwoman of its gala fundraising banquet last year, recommended the nonprofit to operate a $2 million shelter for sex-trafficking victims. Initially the Board of Supervisors approved Gaspar’s recommendation, but reversed course last month after questions arose about the organization.
In Other News
- A new mural in Chicano Park pays homage to lowrider culture. (Union-Tribune)
- A federal court ruled Tuesday that border officers can’t search travelers’ electronic devices without reasonable suspicion. (Washington Post)
- A new Los Angeles Times podcast has been examining the long-lasting impact of Prop. 187, which sought to ban immigrants from most aspects of public life. In a new episode, former Gov. Pete Wilson says he has “no regrets” about championing the measure.
- A teenager from Tijuana is one of the best young fencers in the world. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Maya Srikrishnan and Jesse Marx, and edited by Sara Libby.