On Our Watch from NPR & KQED
Snap Judgment
Snap Judgment and PRX
4.8 • 11.2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2021
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One officer in Los Angeles used car inspections to hit on women. Three hundred miles away in the San Francisco Bay Area, another woman says an officer used police resources to harass and stalk her.
This episode investigates these two cases of sexual misconduct by California Highway Patrol officers. While the officers were fired, the agency did not refer potential crimes to prosecutors. And the files show some women who came forward were met with suspicion, discouragement, or what one woman saw as intimidation.
Snap presents, “Conduct Unbecoming,” the second episode of On Our Watch, an investigative podcast from NPR & KQED.
This episode contains instances of sexual misconduct but it does not contain sexual assault. Sensitive listeners, please be advised.
Thank you, Sukey Lewis, Sandhya Dirks, Alex Emslie, and the entire On Our Watch team!
On Our Watch is an amazing seven-part podcast series, hosted by Sukey Lewis. It was created after a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files. NPR and KQED reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. Learn more about On Our Watch at KQED.org. Listen & subscribe now!
On Our Watch is produced as part of the California Reporting Project, a coalition of news organizations in California.
Artwork by Nicole Xu for NPR
Season 12 - Episode 25
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Snap Judgment Studios |
| 0:16.0 | Okay, so Monday morning, we're all in the Snap Judgment Underground Studios' meeting room. |
| 0:22.0 | This is wrapping up, eating vegan scones, no masks, pre-pandemic, we're talking trash about whatever. |
| 0:29.0 | I'm gonna knock on the door. |
| 0:31.0 | It's Suki Lewis, Alex Imzli, and Sondia Durks. |
| 0:36.0 | The reporter's from KQED and they're talking about, can we use this room? |
| 0:40.0 | Mark said we can meet here for some super secret podcasts about police records, and they look serious. |
| 0:45.0 | No fooling around, it turns out they are serious. |
| 0:49.0 | Those early days of the California reporting project, a massive collaboration, |
| 0:55.0 | investigating police, internal affairs, and since then, I've heard rumors, whispers of what they were up to in that room, |
| 1:03.0 | but it's all been hush, hush, until now, after two full years of painstaking investigation, we get to peer behind the curtain. |
| 1:16.0 | Since a listener should know, this story does contain references to sexual misconduct by police. We proudly present, On Our Watch. |
| 1:25.0 | It's a partnership between NPR and KQED, a podcast series hosted by Suki Lewis, and for the very first time anywhere, |
| 1:33.0 | taking the full hour to broadcast episode two, conduct on becoming. |
| 1:39.0 | Snap Judgment. |
| 1:41.0 | Okay, Officer McGrew, how long have you been employed as a peace officer with the California Highway Patrol? |
| 1:49.0 | Over 13 years. |
| 1:50.0 | Okay. |
| 1:51.0 | It's September 2016, an officer Morgan McGrew, a white guy in his 30s, is being questioned by Sergeant Jimmy Ryland. |
| 1:59.0 | And what is your current assignment at the West Valley area? |
| 2:02.0 | McGrews of Vin Officer. So he checks out of state or salvage cars to make sure they're not stolen and have working safety features. |
| 2:10.0 | McGrew or someone like him has to sign off before you can get your car registered, or legally drive it in the state. |
... |
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