Consider This from NPR - On Our Watch: Conduct Unbecoming

Episode Date: July 25, 2021

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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, Consider This listeners, it's Elsa Chang. For the next few weekends, we're featuring a new podcast from NPR and KQED. It's called On Our Watch. The show looks inside the typically hidden world of how police departments discipline their officers. This is episode two. It's called Conduct Unbecoming. If you missed episode one, you can go listen to that right now at npr.org slash on our watch. Host Suki Lewis takes it from here. Okay, Officer McGrew, how long have you been employed as a peace officer with the California Highway Patrol? Over 13 years. Okay. It's September 2016, and Officer Morgan McGrew, a white guy in his 30s, is being questioned by Sergeant Jimmy Ryland. And what is your current assignment at the West Valley area?

McGrew's a VIN officer, so he checks out-of-state or salvaged cars to make sure they're not stolen and have working safety features. McGrew, or someone like him, has to sign off before you can get your car registered or legally drive it in the state. So we're looking at appointment at 10 o'clock in the morning. Sergeant Ryland printed out a copy of McGrew's Outlook calendar, and he brings up an appointment McGrew had about five months earlier, back in May. The driver's license that's copied on there at the bottom, that's presumably the person who came in that brought the car in that day? Correct. Do you remember her as the person you dealt with that day? No. Does she look familiar to you? Not really, no. I don't remember. I don't recognize her.

Okay. But then as Sergeant Ryland presses him, McGrew does start to remember some details. I think her son was with her. Her son? How old was her son? I don't remember. At any point during this appointment, did you have a conversation? Yes. That weird blank sound you hear is because the woman's name was redacted by the California Highway Patrol. What was the conversation about? I tried to explain to her several times that she needed to get the light fixed.

She kept on saying that she didn't understand. McGrew speaks English. The woman mostly speaks Spanish. And that's when the conversation suddenly takes a turn. He gives her two options. She can get her car fixed. Or we could get a hotel room or a motel room, something like that. I don't remember the exact words. What did you mean when you asked her, when you told, suggested to her to get a motel room? What does that mean? To be intimate. Okay, so you were proposing to her a motel room for the purpose of having sexual relations with her? Yes.

Why would you ask her that question? I don't know why I said it. Was it a joke? I guess. Are you trying to be funny? No. I'm not following you, Morgan. I gotta be honest. Earlier you told us the reason you said that was to be intimate.

Didn't say anything about it being a joke. And now you're saying it's a joke. Please clarify. Please elaborate on that and clarify it for me. I wasn't serious. I don't know why I said it. What's your reason for asking that question if it's not to foster a relationship? Just to see if they'll say yes.

Just to see if they'll say yes. I'm Suki Lewis, and this is On Our Watch, an investigative podcast from NPR and KQED. When the Right to Know Act, or Senate Bill 1421, unsealed internal affairs records for the first time in decades, it didn't just open up shootings and use of force investigations. It also gave us a look at what happens when police officers commit sexual misconduct while they're on duty. Right after the law passed, we sent out blanket requests for records from every policing agency in the state. Now, two and a half years later, many agencies are still dragging their feet, so we don't have a complete picture. What we do have is an analysis of over a hundred sexual misconduct cases. And here's what we can see so far. Most of the victims were female, women and girls. And in a lot of these cases,

they were people who are vulnerable, easy to exploit. They were arrestees, confidential informants, incarcerated people, sex workers and explorers, teenagers interested in a career in policing. We found most of the time they did not or could not give consent. And then there were the cases where the coercion was more subtle, and that's what we're focusing on today. So while this episode is explicit at times and there's language some may find offensive, you're not going to hear about violent assault. The two cases we're looking at are both from the California Highway Patrol, or CHP. I reported these cases with Sandhya Dirks,

who covers race and equity for KQED and is also a producer on this show. She's going to help me tell this story. And reporting on this, what interested us was looking at how police power works and the power that officers hold even in these more mundane situations. Like getting a car registered or filing a collision report. Things we all have to do. And the reason we're looking at the CHP is

because it's this really big agency that employs 7,000 officers. And how this statewide agency investigates sexual misconduct allegations might tell us something, not just about this agency, but how smaller agencies with fewer resources and less oversight might also deal with these kinds of issues. We're focusing on the investigations into two officers. I'm going to tell you the story of what happened to that VIN officer, Morgan McGrew, in Los Angeles, who tried to use his position to get women to say yes. And I'm going to tell you the story of another officer, a front desk officer named Frank Miranda in the Bay Area. A woman says he harassed her and used police resources to do it. Neither Frank Miranda nor Morgan McGrew responded to multiple requests for comment.

These men didn't work together or even know each other as far as we can tell. But if you take their stories together, this pattern starts to emerge, which shows not just what police sexual misconduct looks like, but also how departments treat victims who come forward and officers who cross the line. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. The investigation looking into VIN officer Morgan McGrew, which you heard a bit of at the start of this episode, began in 2016 after a woman who came in for an appointment filed a complaint. The case was given to Sergeant Jimmy Ryland to investigate, and the records show one of the

first things he did was start going through McGrew's Outlook calendar so he could figure out who the women were who'd made appointments and find out if McGrew had said anything weird or inappropriate to them. One of the women he reached out to, her name is Nicole, were using only her first name because, as you'll hear, she was a victim of police sexual harassment. I started to get phone calls to which I thought at first were automated asking for me to take a survey about my experience with CHP. And I just kept hanging up because I'm just never the survey person. I always hang up on those things. But Sergeant Ryland, the investigator, was persistent. He kept trying.

And finally, she picked up. Hello? Hi, this is Sergeant Ryland at the California Highway Patrol. How are you today? Good. How are you? Good. Everything is okay. I'm just calling you to follow up with you. The man that was on the phone asking me to take the survey said, ma'am, please do not hang up. He was like, the officer that you met with that day is in question. We have received several complaints. Basically, we're looking at if the officer was courteous and professional and there was nothing inappropriate that was said or done during your visit. So, like, I'll just tell you, he said he would pass my car if I took him out to dinner. So there was that, and I just looked at him and didn't say anything,

and he just carried on. Being totally upfront with you, that is exactly the kind of thing that we're looking for, and it's not appropriate. And there's a reason I'm making the effort to call you today, because not that I knew anything that happened with you, but just in the timeline. There's been other reports. Yeah. It turns out there were a lot of other women. The more women Ryland surveyed and called, the more reports he found. These are the recordings of those calls from the Internal Affairs Investigation.

Hello? Hi, this is Sergeant Ryland. Hi, this is Sergeant Ryland calling you back. This is Sergeant Ryland at the California Highway Patrol in Woodland Hills. Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to follow up with you on an appointment that you had with us back in January to have your vehicle inspected. As soon as I got your voicemail, I knew exactly what it was. Over the next few months, Ryland reaches out to around 150 women who'd had appointments with McGrew.

I still remember that day. I remember it was a rainy day that day. And not everyone gets back to him. But Ryland can see McGrew had a pattern. He told me he would make an exception and I could come in a half an hour early before the office opened. So when I went in, everything seemed fine. He, like, took maybe five or ten minutes looking at my car. And did the officer engage you in any conversation during your encounter with him?

You know, normal chit-chatting me, like, weather bullshit. And then he definitely made some inappropriate comments. Fifteen women told Ryland that McGrew made comments that ranged from asking intrusive personal questions to outright proposing sex. I'll always, you know, take a cute girl. Oh, when can I take you on a date? She's like, OK, well, I'll pass your car if you go to dinner with me. A hotel and dinner? Dinner.

Well, we could go get a room, you know, have dinner or something. Wine and stuff like that. And I was like, oh, I don't drink. Four women tell the internal investigators that McGrew offered them a quid pro quo. You know, I'll pass your vehicle if you'll go on a date with me or to a nearby motel with me.

Asking for sex in exchange for an official favor could be seen as soliciting a bribe, which is a crime. He was like, oh, this is like my phone number. He used to call me whenever. He had is like my phone number, so you can call me whenever. He had actually got my phone number from the system. He sent me a text message directly to my cell phone.

Two women shared with the investigator text messages that McGrew sent from his secret burner phone, soliciting sex after he got their phone numbers out of his police database. Cops are not allowed to use police databases to look people up for personal reasons.

So this could be a crime too. So I do remember thinking that it was weird. Kind of an odd thing for a police officer to say. 100% inappropriate. Feeling a little bit uncomfortable. Kind of like shocked. It wasn't like he was trying to ask me out. It was like he was trying to take me.

Cops are not that friendly. But I didn't want to be too disrespectful, like, cuss him out or anything. Yeah. Because he is an officer, you know? If this is happening with other people, I feel badly that I didn't say anything. But I also, I don't know, like, I feel badly

that I'm saying anything now. I don't know, like, I feel badly about saying anything now. I don't know. I mean, he was nice. There's a line when a professional and nice become something more than that. Right, yeah. All right, thank you. All right, bye.

Bye-bye. Thank you so much. Okay, bye. We don't know the identities of all these women because their names were redacted in the records we got from the CHP. We do know that 21 women told Ryland that McGrew propositioned or harassed them. The review we did of about 100 cases of sexual misconduct from multiple agencies shows that McGrew was not an anomaly.

32 officers were repeat offenders who'd engaged in sexual misconduct with multiple people before they were investigated or stopped. We'll get back into McGrew's story later in this episode. Sandhya is going to take it from here and tell you about the other CHP officer we looked into. Officer Frank Miranda worked the front desk at a CHP office in Northern California. In 2017, his bosses started looking into some emails they found on his computer. How many total women do you think you have engaged in communication with through the state email system for personal reasons. I don't have an exact number, sir. A woman would come into the office to file a collision report or ask about points against her license.

And that's where she would meet Officer Frank Miranda. There's been a few people who provided me compliments while working at the friend desk. It started out as light flirting, maybe a little more than that. And he'd follow up with a text or an email. Then he'd begin to ask for things. Here's Miranda, reading some of his messages out loud to the internal affairs investigator. Can you send me a picture? Can you send me a picture?

Show me some pictures of your body, babe, of what you are wearing right now. Hey, take a picture for me. Let Daddy see. And he'd take pictures for them, too, during his graveyard shifts at the quiet patrol station. I would go into the regiment and try to send them a quick picture if I didn't have one. Internal affairs also talked to these women. You sent me pictures of his penis. Sitting on the toilet, sir. And I had my pants down.

Pants down. I was in the stall and I had my penis out of my pants, sir. Coming or ejaculating. I was taking a picture drive of the record show, from his flash drive to the front desk computer, and from there, he'd email those pictures to women, all from his work address. During a two-month period in 2017, an investigation found he sent over 1,000 personal emails to eight different women.

A lot of them were explicit. Sometimes he got their info because they gave it to him, but they also found he sometimes looked them up on a police database. Did you ever think that the department could see what you were doing? There are a couple of times it did cross my mind. But because it never happened, I didn't think that it would. He just didn't think he'd get caught. And it wasn't all online, according to the records. He met up with a few of the women in person on his break.

He'd go to a nearby parking lot and they'd have sex in her car. Miranda says it was all like that, consensual. Yes, he's made some bad choices. He's cheating on his wife. That's why he uses his work email. Everything was mutual, sir. Some women told investigators that while they were into it at first, Miranda became a little much, a little pushy, like he sent way too many explicit pictures. But there was another woman who says she didn't want anything to do with Frank Miranda at all. I knew I would never date him. I've never dated a police officer before. This woman didn't want us to use her name because

she's scared of retaliation from police. So we're going to refer to her the way the CHP identified her to us, Witness D. It's just my own personal beliefs and where I'm from and like my family and who I'm surrounded by. We don't look at police as protection. She's a black woman raising her two kids in a suburb east of Oakland. Like from my children being four and nine years old, you know, we tell them, you get pulled over, you sit down, be quiet, don't talk to them, don't, you know, we don't raise them to trust police officers. They've never got our trust.

She says it doesn't make a difference to her that Officer Miranda is also Black. She's just not messing with police. So to even think about dating one, it just wouldn't be an option. It's like a scary thing. It's kind of like, avoid them as much as possible, not go jump in a relationship with one. Yeah. Witness D goes to the California Highway Patrol office about a towed car in 2015.

Frank Miranda is working the front desk. They make small talk, she fills out a form with her personal contact info, and then she leaves. It should be over. But then she gets a phone call from a strange number. And I was like, did he just call me? And Miranda keeps calling her. She says sometimes two or three times a day. He would say, you know, hey, how's your day going? Can I see you? Can you send me a picture? Can you call me? She changes her number, but she says he just looks it up in the police database. He sends text after text. She says she blocks his number. He calls from a new one.

And in these photos, he's in his uniform with his gun. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. I don't think that he had an illusion in his mind that he had a relationship with me at all. I think he knew what was going on. I think he was just hoping for one day she'll give in. Frank Miranda would later tell investigators that they were just friends, that nothing sexual was going on. Witness D says she never sent back naked pictures of herself and she didn't engage with his dirty comments. But she also didn't directly tell him to stop. I didn't want to be

too aggressive with him. I didn't want to be rude. I didn't want to be directly, like, kind of like confrontational in any type of way. Her responses were polite but not encouraging. Her strategy? Ignore and placate. Eventually, she says it worked. The messages eased off. For two years, she said she didn't really think about Frank Miranda. But then he showed up again when she was out at a shopping mall with her kids. They drove past each other in the parking lot, and she says she went into a children's clothing store to avoid him. Next thing I know, I turn around and he's in the store. And he's like, hey, long time no see. How

you been? I saw you. You just drove past me. Can I have a hug? Before she could respond, she says he put his arms around her. She tried to make polite chit-chat. And like that, he was back at it. We're going to come back to Witness D. But before we do that, Suki picks up the story of VIN officer Morgan McGrew. Remember how the guy investigating officer McGrew contacted about 150 women and found 21 who said they'd been propositioned or harassed? That whole investigation started with one woman,

the one who decided to file a complaint. She came in in May 2016 for an appointment. She had her kid with her. McGrew looked over her Mercedes. There was an issue with the airbags. Then he started saying to me, you know what, you want me to get one motel room for me and you? I said, what?

But unlike all the other women who'd heard this kind of stuff from McGrew, motel room for me and you? She's not having it. She walks inside the West Valley CHP offices and says she wants to talk to another officer. So they bring her into a private room and start asking her questions. And they record it. That sound you hear in the background is her kid playing with something in the room. Is there any way that she could, is there any way she misunderstood? Is there any way that you misunderstood what

Officer McGrew was saying? No, I understand everything. That's Sergeant Jeremy Key. But there's also another officer in the room, Sergeant Fernando Martinez, who's there to help translate. You don't need anybody to speak in Spanish. You understand English. I understand English, but... She says she wanted to speak to an officer who speaks Spanish because she wants to make sure they understand her. Here's Martinez. Just to tell you, this is highly unusual for a citizen to tell me this with this officer. I just, I'm not saying I don't believe you. I'm just saying it's

very out there, you know, it's very very out in the field for this exchange to happen. No, but I don't lie. I tell you exactly what he's saying. I don't believe you're lying to me, but understand that this is very unusual. They ask her if anyone else witnessed this, and she says no, just her little boy. Then Key asks her, Ma'am, did you have any alcohol to drink last night? No, sir. I don't drink alcohol. I don't make drugs. I don't smoke.

I have four kids. I'm a mother of four kids. He doesn't drop the issue. I'm just going to let the next minute of the interview play out. I just, I feel like I smell some alcohol in here, and I mean no disrespect or anything, but I just, that's why I asked. Well, I know. You haven't had something to drink in the last 12 hours? No, not yet. Can I, I'm just going to walk over there. I'm going to have you follow my finger.

Yeah, sure. We can leave my thumb here? No, this will just be right here. I was just going to have you follow my finger with your eyes. Try not to move your head, okay? Okay, thank you ma'am. I just, sometimes, I don't know if it's this room, but I felt like I was smelling alcohol. Maybe it's from that breath's this room, but I felt like I was smelling alcohol. Maybe it's from that breath machine right there. So I apologize. Martinez asks her if McGrew suggested going to a motel as a way to help her.

Is there any reason why you think he would say this to you? Is it maybe to help you get a certificate or help you pass to get registration for your vehicle? She says no. Why do you think he was asking for a motel room for you and him? Because he no respect the ladies. What does that mean? He no respect the ladies. Me está diciendo que no es respeto, pero ¿a qué se refiere? Because... In Spanish, Martinez asks her to spell out exactly what she means. Okay.

She said, well, it's disrespect to her. And I go, what does that mean to you? And she says it's sex between him and her and the officer. Okay. She said, well, it's disrespect to her. And I go, what does that mean to you? And she says it's sex between him and her and the officer. Okay. In Spanish. Sergeant Key writes down a basic summary of her allegations, asks her to confirm that it's correct, and then she signs it. Do you have any questions for us?

No. Me siento muy como con miedo. She's describing that she's scared. Confused. Confused. And she doesn't understand. What this department? That she's worried that we're going to protect him.

There wasn't a reason for this to happen. Well, ma'am, we take complaints seriously, and we will fully investigate this incident. So just know that we're not going to dismiss this and think that it's no big deal. It's a big deal to us. I asked the CHP if these two supervisors, who asked this woman if she was drunk and questioned her language skills, violated policy, or if they were ever disciplined or given additional training after this incident. The CHP didn't answer those questions. They did say, quote,

The CHP takes all allegations of employee misconduct seriously and expects only the highest standards from our employees. When employee misconduct is suspected, the department takes swift and appropriaterew after this mom came forward. And as you heard, Sergeant Jimmy Ryland started calling all those women. The women he talked to said they thought they wouldn't be taken seriously, and some were scared. A couple refused to give him any kind of statement on the record at all because they thought that McGrew or his fellow officers might retaliate.

And hearing how this initial conversation went for this mom, it's not hard to understand why some women don't want to come forward. In our other case, Witness D didn't make a complaint, at least not at first. Not even after Frank Miranda popped back up in her life and her inbox. And the email started back and I was like, no way. Witness D says she decided she was going to try to handle Officer Miranda her own way and sent him one last email. I replied by email and asked him, you know, could you stop messaging my wife as if I was someone else?

She says she posed as her own made-up husband, and she wrote this, quote, It appears that you and my wife are having an affair and have been for years looking at all these nude exchanged pictures. What is going on? End quote. When she didn't hear from Officer Frank Miranda again, she says she relaxed. She thought it was over. But just a month later, witness D and her boyfriend were out and they stopped for gas. She says she stayed in the car while her boyfriend went inside the station. When he came out, she says he was upset. He asked her if she'd been sleeping with a cop. I was like, why would you say I'm having

an affair with an officer? And he was like, well, the police just called my phone and they said that you're having an affair with one of the officers. And I was like, yeah, right. All she says she could think was why were the police calling her boyfriend and how could they frame what had happened as an affair? Surely the phone rang again. Witness D says she recognized the number that popped up on her boyfriend's cell immediately. She would.

It was the same CHP office number Miranda had used. This time, she answers, not her boyfriend, and she puts the call on speakerphone in her car. Hello? This is Sergeant Lau with the CHP. Okay, hi, how are you? Sergeant Kirat Lal with the California Highway Patrol, Officer Miranda's supervisor. Lal is recording the call.

He doesn't mention this on tape or ask for her consent. We got this tape from the CHP, and you'll hear parts where her name and her boyfriend's name are redacted. Why wouldn't you call me? Why would you call me? How would you get his information? There was an email that was sent from your email address, and it was from your husband. So that's how I got a hold of your husband. Witness D says this call comes out of the blue. She says she sent that email from her own email address. So it doesn't make sense for Lau to be calling her boyfriend.

The email didn't have her boyfriend's name in it. It didn't have his phone number. They didn't have the same last name. As far as she knows, there's nothing that would connect them. Yes, but again, I would like to know how you got my name or number. Well, I got it from doing some follow-up. If he wanted to get information about Frank Miranda's misconduct, he should have contacted me directly. I felt like at that point I was being harassed by these two officers at CHP.

I'm talking to you right now, but if we're going to talk to each other, I would appreciate some honesty. Because first and foremost, you didn't call me, which I would have been the victim. Why would the police go around her, the victim, somehow hunt down her boyfriend's phone number to tell him that she and Miranda were having an affair? Like I said, I have several new photos of your officer inappropriately naked, penis out, and everything. But again, that's not something that I'm interested in even, you know, going forward to. I was actually filing a complaint, a harassment complaint. She says it felt like a threat. Like I said, you're an officer, he's an officer. No, I'm a sergeant.

Oh, you're a sergeant. I'm not sure what the difference is in that, but it's both of y'all police. So y'all both can easily get my address, my phone number. Finally, Sergeant Lau asks her if she'll come into the station and make a statement about Miranda. Is there another number, like your cell phone number, that I can notate? Well, you're an investigator, so you got this one, so I'm pretty sure you can get mine. At this point, Witness D says she doesn't trust Sergeant Lal at all. But she says she'll come in and talk to him if she can bring her lawyer.

He refused to meet with my attorneys present with me. An email in the records we got from the CHP shows that Lal said he couldn't take her statement with her lawyer there. We asked the CHP if this really was a policy because wouldn't it discourage victims from coming forward? They said, quote, the CHP is unaware of any such policy being in place. They said they have no rules that would prevent a victim from having a representative

with them while making a complaint. We asked the CHP if Lal had followed policy in how he dealt with Witness D, taping their call without notification, contacting her boyfriend instead of her, and refusing to take her statement with her lawyer. The agency did not answer these questions, but the records we got don't show Lal was reprimanded. But even how Witness D is identified in the records might show something about how the agency labeled her and the other women as witnesses to an officer's misconduct, not potential victims of it. Witness D ultimately sues the CHP over claims of stalking by Miranda and intimidation by Investigator Sergeant Lau. Miranda and Lau both deny those claims.

The agency admits no fault, but settles with her for $100,000, according to her lawyer. Miranda, however, did face some consequences. And so did Officer Morgan McGrew. When we come back. In September 2016, Sergeant Jimmy Ryland and a couple of other superior officers sit Vin Officer Morgan McGrew down in an office building in Los Angeles. You mentioned a motel room tour. They start off asking him questions about the original complainant,

the mom who came in with her kid. What motel were you going to? What one did you have in mind specifically? I didn't have any motel room in mind. And did she seem happy about the comment? She was confused. What else do you remember about your conversation with her and your encounter with her? I think I gave her son a sticker, a CHP sticker.

Like any internal affairs investigation, McGrew's been given advance notice of this interview and been allowed to prep. McGrew also has a union representative there with him, who pops in from time to time with objections. Over the course of two days and about nine hours, they go over all the evidence. Can you provide us with an explanation as to why you store condoms in your departmental locker? And each of the allegations made by the women that Sergeant Ryland had surveyed and spoken to on the phone. Like the woman who said McGrew suggested he handcuff her in her car. So from your recollection, during your time as a bin officer, you've never made a comment to anybody about getting in the backseat of the car with them. Or the woman with a disability who said McGrew said to her, you don't look disabled from here.

Or this woman. She alleges that you commented to her that, and I'm quoting this, you're young, but not too young for me. McGrew's response to almost every allegation. I don't remember how many times I don't remember texting her or what I texted her. I don't remember the exact words. I don't remember. I don't know what my wording is, but. It's interesting that you don't remember a whole lot. All we're asking you is to give us the information up front without us keep having to ask you.

McGrew very haltingly admits to flirting with women, texting women from his private burner phone, and propositioning them. His justification is that it's really not that big a deal because he was never going to act on any of it. To have her say yes and then to not follow through with it, which was my intention. I do ask them the questions to see if they'll say yes, to see if they would say yes, to see if she'll say yes, but to not follow through with it. Unbelievable. I know. It's completely unbelievable that I would be so stupid. In fact, the internal affairs investigation finds that he did date and have phone sex with at least one of the women he propositioned on duty.

The records show he sexted another for weeks afterward. Is there anything you would like to say on your behalf? I was completely honest during this investigation. I'm seeking help to so this never happens again. I wish I could apologize to these women and take away their fear or any negative feelings they have towards the department. The investigation uncovered 21 of McGrew's victims,

but the CHP also made the decision to limit the scope of it. They didn't survey anyone who was underage, and they only looked at Officer McGrew's two and a half years as a VIN officer, not the 10 years he'd worked at the CHP before that. In our other case, the case of front desk officer Frank Miranda, his sexual misconduct apparently went back a ways. Here's Sandhya. In 2013, the records indicate that Miranda's fiancé showed up at the CHP

and told his bosses that he was cheating on her, and he was doing it at work. Miranda got a warning, but he didn't stop. He was told again, and again he didn't stop. All right, it is August 1st, 2017. Time is 9.05. We are back on audio recording with a administrative interrogation of Officer Frank Miranda, ID number 195. That's when his CHP bosses discovered all those hundreds of explicit pictures, videos, and emails on Miranda's work email account. The department said it found

them because of a routine check. But the timing, just three weeks after Witness D's email to Miranda, you know, the one where she says she pretended to be her own husband to get him to leave her alone, is weird. He admitted to sending those messages for years. So if they were doing these checks on any kind of regular basis, how did they miss them until now? Just for the record, your laptop photos, there was 193 that were inappropriate, sexually explicit type photos, and your desktop had 663. Sergeant Kirat Lal and a couple of other supervisors sit down with Miranda and his union rep and start going through the evidence they've got against him. Again, like any internal affairs investigation, he's been given advance notice of this, and he's been allowed to prep for the interview.

When it comes to Witness D, Miranda says that their, quote, friendship was mutual, consensual. Did you send her any photos? From what I recall, they were G-rated photos. I don't recall sending any provocative or sexual photos to her, sir. Okay. Miranda did admit to sending those pictures to other women, women he had sexual relationships with, but not Witness D. A few days ago, you stated that you had taken a picture in uniform with your penis hanging out. Is that correct? In the men's bathroom?

Yes, sir. Why would she tell me that she received a photo and describe it just like that? Honestly, I don't know, sir. I don't recall sending her any sexual photos, sir. Why would she tell us that she's seen that photograph how how would she even know that photograph exists I don't know sir maybe she did receive it I don't know sir okay all right officer Miranda before we conclude our interrogation is there let's give you this opportunity to provide us with any information that you would like to be considered part of this investigation?

Gentlemen, I've never abused my power. I've never abused a badge. I've done everything that I thought was correct. I'm coming to you as a humble man, as a humiliated man of what occurred. I never meant to tarnish the badge and the legacy of the Highway Patrol. Okay, Frank, appreciate that. 1135 will conclude this interrogation. The CHP fired both Officer Frank Miranda and Officer Morgan McGrew. What the agency didn't do is investigate either of them for potential crimes. They're interested in hiding behind the cloak of a bad apple and getting rid of him.

And when you got rid of that one problem officer, they think everything's fine. That's Bowling Green State University criminal justice professor Phil Stinson. I talked to him about the McGrew case. He's one of the few researchers in the country who focuses on studying police crime and misconduct. His research found that sexual misconduct is one of the more common types of police misbehavior. This is normalized behavior within the police subculture in many places. Part of the reason he says that policing has an experienced a Me Too moment is because it's a male-dominated field where sexual harassment is largely ignored. He says it's not every officer. But I can tell you that most police officers across the country

could tell you of a colleague who engages in this type of behavior. In fact, in about a third of the cases we reviewed, we found evidence that other officers knew their colleague had engaged in sexual misconduct and didn't report them. That actually happened in McGrew's case. One of his colleagues admitted to investigators that he'd heard McGrew had made a pass at a woman during an appointment. He never raised it to superior officers. He says he forgot about it.

It's not like other police officers or internal affairs investigators necessarily condone this behavior. In both the McGrew and Miranda cases, you can hear the investigators get frustrated with the officers, even disgusted. Still, their focus seems to be on the dishonor the officers have done to the badge. Could you please read the code of honor aloud, please? Yes, sir. CHP officers have a specific code of honor that they're supposed to uphold. And during their internal investigations, Miranda and McGrew each had to read this code out loud. I, a member of the California Highway Patrol, subscribe in good word and deed to the following. To serve the United States of America and the state of California honestly.

The state of California honestly. The agency found both officers broke this code. To uphold and maintain the honor and integrity of the California Highway Patrol. But not that they broke the law. Internal Affairs has the power to decide whether to let the district attorney know about officer misconduct. If they don't think it's a crime, they don't tell the DA. Be loyal to my fellow officers, respect and obey my seniors in rank. From the records, it does not appear that the CHP told the DA about the 21 women

who McGrew had harassed and propositioned, the way he misused his position and his police database. There's no record of the CHP telling the DA about Witness D and her legal claim alleging that one of their officers was stalking her or about their own finding that Frank Miranda repeatedly used his position and his police resources to check up on women he was sexually interested in. My personal conduct shall at all times be above reproach and I will never knowingly commit any act And I will never knowingly commit any act that will in any way bring discredit upon the California Highway Patrol or any member thereof.

And before the passage of SB 1421, the law that opened up all these records, this meant that both of these investigations stayed secret. To all of this, I do solemnly pledge my creed, honor as an officer of the California Highway Patrol. In six other cases of on-duty sexual misconduct by its officers, the CHP made the same decision, to keep the misconduct in-house. This was a pattern among other police agencies as well. I asked the CHP why they didn't pursue criminal charges in these cases. And they said, quote, So basically, they didn't have the evidence, they said. The CHP didn't answer specific questions about either of these cases.

But they said, quote, But where does this accountability process leave the people who were hurt by these officers? I feel like they protect themselves, not others. In situations like this and many other situations, the protection is never for the victim. In our analysis of sexual misconduct by over 100 officers, 85 of them engaged in non-consensual or coercive sexual misconduct. Nearly half of them were never criminally investigated,

as far as we can tell. Most officers were fired or they resigned while they were under investigation. But of that 100, at least 15 are still working as cops today. Most officers were fired or they resigned while they were under investigation. But of that 100, at least 15 are still working as cops today. Coming up next time, when an officer kills an unarmed man. And before I could know it, I just heard a thot bop, so I just turned around and ran. How do police investigate their own?

Nothing's going to bring my son back. But it's unreal that society keeps allowing these police officers to get away with the same thing over and over again. Inside the protections that officers have when they use deadly force and how accountability often hangs on the question, what was in the officer's mind when they pulled the trigger? From NPR and KQED, I'm Suki Lewis. And I'm Sandhya Dirks. This is On Our Watch. The show is produced by me, Suki Lewis, Adelina Lansinis, Cynthia Betubiza, and Nina Sparling. Ho Ching-Nan is our data reporter.

Susie Nielsen helped with data entry and Barbara Van Workum with research. Editing by Leela Day and our senior supervising producer, Nicole Beamster-Bohr, with help from Alex Emsley. Josh Newell engineered the show. Original music by Ramteen Arablui, who also composed our theme,

and Carl Harms. The records highlighted in this podcast were obtained as part of the California Reporting Project, a collaborative effort of 40 newsrooms created after the passage of Senate Bill 1421 to investigate police misconduct and serious use of force. Special thanks to Jerry Holmes, Joe Shapiro, and Kelly McEvers. Liana Simstrom and Emily Hamilton are our project managers.

Mark Ristich and Snap Judgment, thank you for letting us use your studio. Special thanks to our First Amendment lawyer, Thomas Burke, who sued the CHP for us in order to get these records. Thanks also to Micah Ratner and Rebecca Hopkins. And we couldn't have made this show without buy-in from the top. Thank you to NPR's Nancy Barnes, Neil Carruth, Anya Grunman, Bob Little, and Steve Nelson, and KQED's Erica Aguilar, Holly Kernan, Ethan Lindsay, and Vinnie Tong. We'll be back next week. Thanks for listening.