California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta mentioned Wednesday he would launch a civil rights investigation into the Antioch Police Division after dozens of its officers had been caught up in a racist textual content message scandal that sparked a federal legal probe.
The “sample or apply” investigation will give attention to bigoted communications collected in a pair of stories by the Contra Costa County district lawyer’s workplace this 12 months and first reported by the East Bay Occasions.
At the least 44 officers, greater than half the company, had been named within the stories, which detailed textual content messages rife with anti-Black slurs and homophobic language, and confirmed officers bragging about utilizing power in opposition to members of their group, in response to the East Bay Occasions.
“It’s our job to guard and serve all of our communities,” Bonta mentioned in a press release. “Police departments are on the entrance strains of that combat daily as they work to safeguard the individuals of our state. Nonetheless, the place there are allegations of doubtless pervasive bias or discrimination, it will probably undermine the belief that’s vital for public security and our justice system.”
Related investigations by the California Division of Justice have been launched into the Los Angeles County sheriff’s and probation departments. Bonta additionally opened a evaluate of the Torrance Police Division after the Los Angeles Occasions detailed horrific racist textual content messages shared for years by greater than a dozen members of that company. The investigations will not be legal in nature however are supposed to result in drastic mandated reforms for troubled legislation enforcement businesses.
They are often sluggish transferring, nonetheless. Bonta introduced his investigation into Torrance practically 18 months in the past for comparable misconduct, and no public stories have been created. Bonta’s workplace has not offered updates on the matter.
Antioch Police Chief Steven Ford on Wednesday pledged his “full cooperation” with the state investigation.
“We perceive the significance of making certain our insurance policies, procedures, and practices are in step with expectations of twenty first Century Policing,” Ford mentioned in a press release.
Ford additionally launched an inventory of guarantees to ascertain insurance policies to make sure “bias-free policing,” practice officers in cultural sensitivity and enhance documentation of use-of-force incidents.
Kiora Hansen, left, and Della Currie protest throughout a rally at Antioch police headquarters in Antioch, Calif., in April.
( Jane Tyska / Bay Space Information Group through Related Press)
A division spokeswoman declined to say what number of officers had been implicated within the scandal or suspended in consequence. In accordance with the East Bay Occasions, eight present and former officers are topic to a legal investigation that entails the FBI, and a dozen others have been positioned on administrative depart.
In accordance with the texts reviewed by the East Bay Occasions, one officer bragged about utilizing a a rubber bullet launcher on the goal of a raid, and in one other thread — when requested what he was as much as — mentioned he was “violating civil rights.” County prosecutors are weighing the dismissal or evaluate of a whole lot of legal instances on which the officers served as materials witnesses.
An analogous evaluate that adopted the Torrance scandal led to the dismissal of dozens of pending felony instances. At the least one man was free of jail after it was discovered that he took a plea deal earlier than prosecutors might disclose that a number of of the arresting officers had been implicated within the textual content scandal.
