I can't provide any further evidence toward the legitimacy of this fellows claim, but I can add some (very colored)context.
I'm from Fresno, California. I went to Fresno State and my amassed collection of anecdotal experiences(never directly, the police have always been kind to me) of the police in Fresno is more Kafkaesque then anything I have ever seen or heard of from within the U.S., by miles. I could just start listing stuff about police "gangs", and cover ups, police hits and just the gruesome stuff, but I don't think that is fair, its just talk. I just want to highlight that there is so much of it(talk, I mean) in Fresno. Almost everyone has got a story, everyone has heard something, and the way people react when an officer walks in, its just different.
I don't know if its a result of long standing racism in the valley, a result the painfully serious gang problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno_Bulldogs), the sheer amount of money spent on the police in Fresno, a result of police state feel of enforcement (http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/02/04/fresno-california-a..., I'd like to color that by noting Fresno its not the drunkest by consumption, but by DUI), I just don't know. But its there, people feel it.
But for me, a person who has never had a real run in with the law. I will share an interaction I had with a retired Fresno officer at a rather nice bar in town. I was minding my own business waiting for food, when the former office sat down next to me in one of the few open spot available. After some unconformable silence, he said hi and we talked for a bit about nothing at all; what we did, how we liked Fresno,the most banal conversation you can imagine. Nevertheless, it was clear we were getting along, his food arrived before mine. Eventually, after another moment of silence, we ended up speaking about a recent police shooting in a parking lot, about how dangerous it was to be a cop in Fresno, the gangs, etc etc. Again just conversation for its own sake. Now, I don't know if it was because we had been drinking or the fact that we were friendly, but I asked him something like, "I don't know how to ask this, but is there any truth to what they say about the police force, about Dyer. People say a lot, and just don't know?"(http://fresnopeoplesmedia.com/2015/04/fresno-chief-of-police...).
And honestly, I expected him to say that there wasn't, and that some cops are of course corrupt, but that is just the way things are. You know a canned response. What he said, I'll never forget, in paraphrase, "In Fresno, more than anywhere else... well lets just say the police officers here don't ever have your best interest in mind." He then smiles, shook my hand and went on his way.
I'm from Fresno, California. I went to Fresno State and my amassed collection of anecdotal experiences(never directly, the police have always been kind to me) of the police in Fresno is more Kafkaesque then anything I have ever seen or heard of from within the U.S., by miles. I could just start listing stuff about police "gangs", and cover ups, police hits and just the gruesome stuff, but I don't think that is fair, its just talk. I just want to highlight that there is so much of it(talk, I mean) in Fresno. Almost everyone has got a story, everyone has heard something, and the way people react when an officer walks in, its just different.
I don't know if its a result of long standing racism in the valley, a result the painfully serious gang problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno_Bulldogs), the sheer amount of money spent on the police in Fresno, a result of police state feel of enforcement (http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/02/04/fresno-california-a..., I'd like to color that by noting Fresno its not the drunkest by consumption, but by DUI), I just don't know. But its there, people feel it.
A book has been written that touches on the subject in some seriously telling ways: http://www.amazon.com/In-Fathers-Name-Mark-Arax/dp/067101002...
But for me, a person who has never had a real run in with the law. I will share an interaction I had with a retired Fresno officer at a rather nice bar in town. I was minding my own business waiting for food, when the former office sat down next to me in one of the few open spot available. After some unconformable silence, he said hi and we talked for a bit about nothing at all; what we did, how we liked Fresno,the most banal conversation you can imagine. Nevertheless, it was clear we were getting along, his food arrived before mine. Eventually, after another moment of silence, we ended up speaking about a recent police shooting in a parking lot, about how dangerous it was to be a cop in Fresno, the gangs, etc etc. Again just conversation for its own sake. Now, I don't know if it was because we had been drinking or the fact that we were friendly, but I asked him something like, "I don't know how to ask this, but is there any truth to what they say about the police force, about Dyer. People say a lot, and just don't know?"(http://fresnopeoplesmedia.com/2015/04/fresno-chief-of-police...).
And honestly, I expected him to say that there wasn't, and that some cops are of course corrupt, but that is just the way things are. You know a canned response. What he said, I'll never forget, in paraphrase, "In Fresno, more than anywhere else... well lets just say the police officers here don't ever have your best interest in mind." He then smiles, shook my hand and went on his way.