Oakland to pay settlement for illegal search warrants
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
OAKLAND, CA (KGO) -- The city of Oakland has agreed to pay out millions of dollars because of mistakes made by the police force. In some cases, those mistakes were outright lies.
The $6.5 million settlement is the result of lawsuits over cops who reportedly gave false information in order to get search warrants.
More than 100 people had joined in that lawsuit. Some will get more money, some will get less -- it all depends on their cases. All of the cases came out in 2008 and the lawsuits claim the judges were given false information by the Oakland Police Department, in order to obtain search warrants.
Back in 2008 one Oakland home was raided by Oakland police. According to the complaint, police got in by telling a judge they had evidence that proved there were drugs in the house, but the search warrant was reportedly falsified.
Attorney's John Burris and Jim Chanin represented some of the people that were served with warrants. They say in some cases, police got the wrong information or addresses from their informants.
"Houses were being searched that were the wrong houses, even at the time they knew them to be wrong. People were being harassed in these houses," said Burris.
According to the suit, sometimes the drugs police obtained from informants were never tested -- something required in order to get a warrant.
Chanin says in some cases, women and children were treated harshly.
"We have all sorts of people who are as much victimized by drug activity as anyone else and perhaps even more so in the neighborhood where they live," said Chanin.