Public Safety
Years of police misconduct surface in reports made public under new state law
San Diego Police Department officers make a traffic stop along El Cajon Boulevard in 2020.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Some hail the disclosures as an important step toward police accountability. Others say internal investigations -- ‘police investigating the police’ -- still control what gets released.
By
Lyndsay Winkley,
David Hernandez
Jan. 1, 2023 5 AM PT
For subscribers
Early on a Thursday in 2021, San Diego police officers were searching a business in the community of El Cerrito for gambling suspects. Brandon Woodward, then a sergeant, was supervising.
A Latino woman was found inside. As an officer moved to put her in handcuffs, he passed in front of a police dog.
“You’re gonna get bit,” Woodward said to the officer, who is White. Then Woodward added, “(The dog) only likes dark meat.”
A nearby acting sergeant heard Woodward’s comment and reported it, describing the phrase as inappropriate and racist, according to police records.
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Woodward had committed racial discrimination, investigators concluded. Records of the incident show he was suspended for eight days and transferred. Woodward, who is still a sergeant with the department, did not respond to requests for comment.
The case was among more than 80 investigatory files detailing various forms of San Diego police misconduct that were recently released under Senate Bill 16. The year-old state law makes public previously secret law enforcement records that detail when peace officers made unlawful arrests or searches, used unreasonable or excessive force, failed to intervene when another officer used unreasonable or excessive force or practiced discrimination.
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