It is interesting to note Longmire blames his department for bumbling the Chauncey Bailey murder investigation, but he was the officer in charge of the crime scene who drove off when Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb presented an eye witness at the crime scene. And why would he not have access to tracking devices and phone records on the murder mastermind. What is clear is that Longmire has no intention to be the fall guy for the OPD's pitiful job in the Bailey conspiracy. The OPD had the intelligence to know the murder was going to go down and was scheduled to raid the murder suspect's compound a day before the murder but delayed until the day after, then the Chief lied about it. No matter what, Longmire's hands are as bloody as the Bakery brothers, and his OPD comrades are as well. A murder could have been prevented if only the OPD, including Longmire, had done the right thing, but we know devils are constitutionally unable to do so.
--Marvin X
Sgt. Longmire Speaks Out About Bailey Case
Updated: 11:42 pm PDT July 10, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. -- None of Oakland Police Sgt. Derwin Longmire's dozens of homicide cases have captivated more attention than the one of almost exactly four years ago, when Bay Area journalist Chauncey Bailey was assassinated.
Until just Sunday, the Oakland police command had forbidden Longmire from speaking out about the case or defending himself against charges that he compromised the investigation.
He sat down with KTVU and talked about the case.
Longmire said he was frustrated and hurt by his department.
"The abandonment and betrayal by my police department and those who have the responsibility for looking out and caring for the men and women who work under their supervision and direction," he said
KTVU asked about Longmire about his controversial decision to allow confessed Chauncey Bailey killer Devaughdre Broussard to talk alone and unrecorded with convicted murder mastermind Yusef Bey IV.
Longmire maintained it was the right thing to do.
"I heard many critics and experts indicate that I likely blown the case for that reason,” he said. “This was a tactic I had used before on more than one occasion. That was really what got the ball rolling to ultimately get him to turn state's evidence and testify against Mackey and Bey."
There were also allegations that Longmire had failed to note GPS tracking devices and phone logs that strongly indicated Bey's guilt.
Longmire said those were initiated before the Chauncey Bailey murder and weren’t his cases.
"I didn't feel good about indicating things in my report that I didn't have a solid, concrete base of knowledge on,” he said. "In addition to that, we knew that these cases were going to get paired up and that they would go vertical. All the information would go to the district attorney.”
Meanwhile, Sgt. Longmire has his own charges against the Oakland police command.
The organization declined comment.
Top commanders accused him of interfering with the investigation and tried to fire him. They launched three internal affairs investigations, two of which condemned Longmire but a third inclusive one exonerated him.
The commanders waited at least five months before telling him he was cleared.
During that time, they tried to coax Longmire to promise he would not sue the department in return for bringing him back.
Longmire declined, but was reinstated regardless. He is now pursuing a civil lawsuit against the department and city in both state and federal courts.
“They never would have had the honesty or the forthrightness to tell me,” he said. "I'm talking primarily talking about Deputy Chief Howard Jordan, I mean Assistant Chief Howard Jordan, who knew, who was well aware of the fact that I had not jeopardized this case."
Longmire explained his co-workers behavior by saying sometimes ambition and fear weighs out against protection of its employees.
Sgt. Longmire no longer serves as a homicide detective, but was fully reinstated to his rank and pay and didn’t lose any salary.
--
KTVU Channel 2 News has made public more than 1,000 pages of legal documents regarding the highly controversial Chauncey Bailey murder investigation.
As KTVU reported, the sworn statements depict the top command staff at the Oakland Police Department – especially Assistant Chief Howard Jordan -- as withholding and ignoring key evidence that eventually exonerated Sgt. Longmire of charges that he compromised the Bailey investigation.
The documents also indicate former Chief Wayne Tucker orchestrated a cover-up among his command staff of a key decision he made that may have accidentally set the stage for the Bailey killing.
Copyright 2011 by KTVU.com. All rights reserved.
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