BY: RANDY DOTINGA
Late Wednesday, San Diego Police Chief
William Lansdowne announced the department’s sexual misconduct scandal had
grown to include another officer. This officer is under investigation for
allegedly touching and exposing himself to an arrestee while transporting her
to jail about a year ago.
Lansdowne said all transports of women
arrestees now will be done by two officers. Christopher Hays, an officer who
was charged earlier this week with on-duty sexual misconduct, resigned
Wednesday.
Our Liam Dillon asked Lansdowne after
the press conference why allegations of officer sexual misconduct keep
happening.
“I can’t tell you about human
behavior,” Lansdowne said. “But I can tell you we’ll root it out and we’ll take
care of it.”
• The San Diego Police Department has
had a very rough last few years amid multiple misconduct allegations. Lansdowne
appears to remain popular, though, and it hasn’t hurt that he’s announced that
he wants an external review of the department.
So how will this “audit” work? One way
would be to bring the city’s own independent auditor into the picture. But he
tells us he’s out of the loop. In a new story, we also look at how a similar
process unfolded in Philadelphia and why the Justice Department could be
brought into the mix.