PUBLIC INFORMATION -- Four months after four of Oakland's Finest were gunned down, their department is still sitting on records that might show why two highly trained SWAT sergeants died as they hunted for a gunman who had already murdered two motorcycle officers, writes columnist Tom Peele for the Bay Area News Group.
Oaklanders deserve answers about how things went so horribly wrong. The police and Mayor Ronald Dellums must be publicly forthcoming with details regardless of how ugly they may be.
But a written message that Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan recently sent out, raises doubts about how transparent — if at all — police will be about the killings when lengthy investigations are finished.
Jordan asked officers to close ranks, act like a family, and trust that he would get to the bottom of what happened: Officers should "seek the confidence of those who are willing to help and guide us as opposed to those — the media — who seek to hurt us and discredit us to the public we are sworn to serve."
The Police Department also has rejected requests — with the backing of the city attorney's office and the county District Attorney — for the 911 tapes and dispatcher broadcasts about the shootings, citing an ongoing investigation.In Pittsburgh, Pa., just weeks after the Oakland tragedy, three police officers were also killed. Within days, news organizations had access to 911 tapes that showed a horrible error: a dispatcher had failed to pass on to the responding cops that there were guns in the house.
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