Those curious about the myriad issues swirling around the Southwestern College Police Department have had difficulty peering beyond the blue wall of silence.
For years the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights (POBAR) made the wall too steep to climb in communities across California. But Senate Bill 1421, which went into effect this year, took a sledgehammer to the wall and required departments to release previously confidential records of officer shootings, sexual misconduct and lying during an investigation. Police officer unions across San Diego County filed a joint lawsuit arguing that the legislation was not retroactive.
In other words, police wanted the sins of prior years to remain unearthed. SWC was no different. The college had five tumultuous years of rule under former Chief Michael Cash before he was placed on administrative leave and ultimately resigned. Cash, according to many accounts, ran a dysfunctional and corrupt department. Among the complaints:
• In August of 2013, Cash fired his gun in police headquarters and the bullets narrowly missed three college employees.
• Cash routinely filed late and inaccurate campus crime reports.
• The department failed to adequately provide police escorts for sexual assault victims who had requested protection.
• Overspent his budget by $1 million.
• Illegally hired and armed friends who were former San Diego Police Department officers.
The college denied numerous public records requests filed by The Sun regarding the investigation of Cash’s weapon misfire in 2013. A recent CPRA response by Vice President of Human Resources Rose DelGuadio said the incident did not fit the parameters of the new law because Cash did not intend to shoot a person.
“The change to POBOR does make some, but not all, records regarding an officer’s discharge of his weapon disclosable,” DelGuadio wrote. “However, the change limits disclosure to records involving the discharge of a firearm “at a person by a police officer.” Chief Cash did not discharge his firearm at a person in the 2013 incident. As a result, the District does not believe the report is disclosable under the new law.”
We wonder if the three people his bullet narrowly missed would agree with DelGuadio’s statement.
Journalists across the state stood in solidarity and took the fight to court. Judge Eddie Sturgeon oversaw San Diego’s battle and ordered the departments within the county to release records prior to 2019.
It is time SWC do the same.
A lack of transparency has been an issue of the college for decades. President Dr. Kindred Murillo has been provided numerous attempts to tear down the wall shielding our campus police and has yet to comply with the transparency she said she wants the college to have.
