Episode 30: How Police Unions Are Fighting California's New Transparency Law

The Appeal

A primary demand of the Black Lives Matter movement is more transparency into police misconduct. When an officer improperly arrests, unduly harms, sexually assaults, or kills someone, any previous record of misconduct ought to be a matter of public record. To that end, the state of California recently passed Senate Bill 1421, legislation designed to make police records more readily available to media, civil rights groups, defense attorneys, and the public. But as our guest, Appeal contributor Darwin BondGraham explains, police unions and local governments aren’t enacting the law without a fight.