UC Davis pepper-spray report puts spotlight on police officers' rights
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2012 - 7:27 am
Decades of debate over the public's right to know about police actions vs. officers' rights to privacy are coming to a head as a result of the pepper-spraying of students last November on the UC Davis campus.
Lawyers for the officers who pepper-sprayed students and other protesters seated in defiance during a Nov. 18 demonstration are due in court Friday in Oakland to press their argument that a long-awaited report on the incident cannot be released unless officers' names and other information are redacted.
UC officials and free speech advocates counter that such privacy rights do not apply in this case,