SLIGHT OVERSIGHT

San Francisco Police Didn’t Tell Judge Target of Search Warrant in Controversial Raid Was a Journalist

Newly released records raise more questions about the police raid against journalist Bryan Carmody that sparked public outrage.

San Francisco Police are facing new questions about the controversial May 21 raid against journalist Bryan Carmody after new records showed Tuesday that they failed to inform the judge who signed off on the search warrant that the target was a journalist, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. The warrant, which was issued on March 1, was the first of five that SFPD executed on Carmody, a freelance videographer who found himself at the center of a criminal investigation after he refused to identify to police the source who gave him information about the death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi. In the application for a warrant to search Carmody’s phone, Sgt. Joseph Obidi reportedly left out that he was a journalist, a fact that would have protected him under the state’s press freedom laws. California’s shield law protects Carmody from being forced to reveal confidential sources, handing over unpublished information, and being subject to police searches. San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott apologized for the mishandling of the investigation in May, following outrage over the raid on Carmody’s apartment.