9:50 PM UPDATE: Amazing! In Just a few hours you all came through, and Matt’s next story is funded. (It’ll appear early next week.) But please keep doing the questionnaire, as any $$ gathered will continue to be used exclusively to fund this investigation. (And, obviously, if you feel moved to through in a few bucks extra—as some of you already have —any and all will be gratefully accepted and applied directly to Matt’s continued reporting on the LASD.)
WITNESSLA REALLY, REALLY NEEDS YOUR HELP WITH OUR JAILS AND LASD REPORTING—BUT IT WON’T COST YOU ANYTHING (REALLY.)
Here’s the deal:
When Matt Fleischer started reporting on the abuse of inmates at the LA County Jails for WitnessLA’s California Justice Report project, it was our intention that he’d would report and write a hard hitting 2 or 3 part series on the topic—and that would be that.
Boy were we ever wrong.
Now that Matt has completed Part 3, we find we aren’t even close to being finished with this investigation.
What Matt has uncovered and reported, turns out to be only the first layer of excavation.
So many of you who work for the Sheriff’s department (or who have recently retired) have pointed out to us in emails, telephone calls and comments on the site, there is much, much more to this story—and that WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING.
Not to worry: Matt is already hard at work on Parts 4 and 5.
The problem is that we were only funded for those first three parts.
SO NOW WE NEED YOUR HELP TO FUND THESE NEXT ROUNDS OF REPORTING.
(But, as I said above, it won’t cost you any cash.)
Here’s what you can do:
If you follow this link to the Spot.Us site, and take a 5-question survey about what kinds of stories you think will be important in 2012, Spot.us will donate $4.50 toward to WitnessLA & The California Justice Report—every penny of which will go toward this LASD project.
You’ll have to register to take the survey, but you can use any name and email you wish if you want to preserve your anonymity. They really just want your opinions.
As of this writing, we merely need 68 of you to take that 5-question survey and the next round of reporting will be fully funded.
So do it.
Follow this link …and then hit the letters that say FREE CREDITS (It’s in the upper-ish right quarter of the page.) That should take you to the questionnaire.
Answer the 5 questions and you’re done. We’ll get $4.50. And you’ll have helped independent journalism in Los Angeles.
Do it right this minute, not later, okay? Right now, right now, right now!
Okay? Okay.
Thanks!
Hmmm, Spot.Us thanked me for donating $4 to Spot.Us. Huh? 🙂
Hmmm. It should have said: Thank you for donating $4 to Spot.Us which in turn supported The LA Justice Report – Project 2: DANGEROUS JAILS
And the amount is confusing. At first I thought it was five, then it said $4.50. But now the notes say: $4.
Hope they’re not snatching our money.
In any case, thanks for doing it, Jim.
PS: I just checked. You’re down for $4.50, so we’re all good. Thanks!!!
Wow!!! After reading all of the artice, it’ is painfully clear this has nothing to do with the Sheriff’s Department or with Baca. This is nothing more than a personal vendetta against Paul. Shame on all of you who are engaged in this … Your attack on Paul will also leave a black eye on the Department and the sixteen thousand men and women who day in and day out do a tremendous job serving the citizens of this County. Since most if not all supervisors on the department were promoted by Lee, I question not only your loyalty to Lee but your loyalty to the Department. When you were promoted you given the authority to run your unit.. So what authority did you want that didn’t come with your position?? Unfortunately many supervisors had all of the authority, but were afraid or unwilling to make any decisions. Now the writers appears to be more interested in getting money to continue his “investigation” and not interested in the reasons for this vendetta .
Roy: you are either high on crack or in one serious state of denial. Things are way out of kilter with the LASD. This is not an ad hominum attack against one person (poor Paul), but an indictment of the entire system. The facts speak for themselves. I applaud WitnessLA for their energy and foresight in attacking this problem head-on. Time will tell where it all leads. Attempting to debunk the facts at this point is, well…pointless.