More than 600 cops in California, including dozens in San Diego and Imperial counties, have been convicted of crimes over the last decade. Some kept their job after pleading down to lesser charges. The favorable treatment that police receive in California is not a bug but rather a feature of the criminal justice system and this series explores why.

It took many months and the cooperation of dozens of journalists from newsrooms across the state, spearheaded by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and the Bay Area News Group.