Geoffrey King's guest appearances

Geoffrey King

KQED's Forum

Counter Intelligence

California Sun Podcast

American Dispatch

Libby Schaaf

Gustavo Arellano

Chris Wallace

Scott Wiener

Roman Mars

Michael Tubbs

John Markoff

Jeffrey Tumlin

Anne Lamott

Conor Dougherty

Vanessa Hua

Lizzie Johnson

David Talbot

Sam Liccardo

Jeff Bezos

OwlTail

Geoffrey King is the president and CEO of Open Vallejo, a startup, nonprofit online news site that publishes longform investigations about police and government misconduct in the city of Vallejo, California. An investigative report by Geoffrey for Open Vallejo published in July 2020 about the city’s police officers bending their badges to commemorate fatal shootings went viral, causing a major scandal and a subsequent third-party investigation of the police department. Geoffrey is a native of Vallejo and went to UC Berkeley for undergrad. He then went on to Stanford Law School. As a litigator, he’s represented journalists, activists and artists. He’s been a member of multiple press freedom and reporting organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, where he co-chaired the group’s Freedom of Information Committee.  In addition to his duties at Open Vallejo, Geoffrey also teaches privacy law at UC Berkeley. Click here to support Open Vallejo’s work. And click here to watch Geoffrey's recent interview with CNN's W. Kamau Bell. Geoffrey’s shoutouts were to The Monterey County Herald, the Half Moon Bay Review, and the Shasta Scout. He also gave shoutouts to individual reporters, including John Glidden, Scott Morris and Otis R. Taylor Jr. (Geoffrey also mentioned Oaklandside and Berkeleyside, which have both been mentioned on this podcast before.) (You may notice this episode is a little longer than the others, which are usually around ~45 minutes. I did my best to edit this episode. But I thought the conversation was too good to cut out extensive portions of it. Enjoy!)

Geoffrey King is the president and CEO of <a href="https://openvallejo.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Open Vallejo</a>, a startup, nonprofit online news site that publishes longform investigations about police and government misconduct in the city of Vallejo, California. <a href="https://openvallejo.org/2020/07/28/vallejo-police-bend-badge-tips-to-mark-fatal-shootings/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">An investigative report by Geoffrey for Open Vallejo published in July 2020</a> about the city’s police officers bending their badges to commemorate fatal shootings went viral, causing a major scandal and a subsequent third-party investigation of the police department. Geoffrey is a native of Vallejo and went to UC Berkeley for undergrad. He then went on to Stanford Law School. As a litigator, he’s represented journalists, activists and artists. He’s been a member of multiple press freedom and reporting organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, where he co-chaired the group’s Freedom of Information Committee.  In addition to his duties at Open Vallejo, Geoffrey also teaches privacy law at UC Berkeley. Click <a href="https://openvallejo.org/donate" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to support Open Vallejo’s work. And click <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/04/29/united-shades-policing-the-police-102.cnn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to watch Geoffrey's recent interview with CNN's W. Kamau Bell. Geoffrey’s shoutouts were to <a href="https://www.montereyherald.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Monterey County Herald</a>, the <a href="https://www.hmbreview.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Half Moon Bay Review</a>, and the <a href="https://shastascout.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shasta Scout</a>. He also gave shoutouts to individual reporters, including <a href="https://johnglidden.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">John Glidden</a>, <a href="https://www.oaklandreporter.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Scott Morris</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/otisrtaylorjr?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Otis R. Taylor Jr</a>. (Geoffrey also mentioned <a href="https://oaklandside.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oaklandside</a> and <a href="https://www.berkeleyside.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Berkeleyside</a>, which have both been mentioned on this podcast before.) (You may notice this episode is a little longer than the others, which are usually around ~45 minutes. I did my best to edit this episode. But I thought the conversation was too good to cut out extensive portions of it. Enjoy!)

Episode 5 | Geoffrey King

Open Vallejo Founder Geoffrey King: The Vallejo Police Department "bends badges" to mark fatal shootings.

Open Vallejo Founder Geoffrey King

Geoffrey King, an attorney and native of Vallejo, cared deeply about his city. He said he could no longer stand by and watch the underreported killings of civilians by one of the most violent police forces in the nation. So he launched Open Vallejo, a nonprofit newsroom focused on local accountability journalism. He details why he felt it was so important to shine a light on a police department that uses more force per arrest than that of any other police force in California's major cities.

Geoffrey King, an attorney and native of Vallejo, cared deeply about his city. He said he could no longer stand by and watch the underreported killings of civilians by one of the most violent police forces in the nation. So he launched Open Vallejo, a nonprofit newsroom focused on local accountability journalism. He details why he felt it was so important to shine a light on a police department that uses more force per arrest than that of any other police force in California's major cities.

Geoffrey King: Vallejo Police Department on the brink

An investigative report by Open Vallejo, a recently launched independent news site, has found that a secret clique in the Vallejo Police Department bends back points of their badges to commemorate each time they kill in the line of duty. These revelations came as a shock at a time when the nation is focused on issues of police brutality and less than two weeks after the California Department of Justice announced an investigation into Vallejo Police for destroying evidence in the killing of Sean Monterrosa. We talk with Geoffrey King, founder and editor of Open Vallejo, about the report.

Open Vallejo’s Geoffrey King on Badge-Bending by Vallejo Police