San Francisco arrests under review after officers' slur-filled texts revealed

[Logical]

More proof that Cops are out of control and the way we hire them is not working.

At least 3,000 arrests in the past decade are under review in San Francisco in a widening scandal over how police officers allegedly wrote racist and homophobic text messages.

San Francisco's top prosecutor has impaneled a trio of retired, out-of-town judges to see if bias led to wrongful prosecutions or convictions in thousands of cases investigated by a total of 14 officers.

Prosecutors have already dismissed charges in some cases involving the officers, District Attorney George Gascon said Thursday at a news conference.

The judges -- Cruz Reynoso, LaDoris Hazzard Cordell and Dickran Tevrizian Jr. -- will also investigate whether a "deeper culture of bias" exists within the department, Gascon said. The retired judges won't be paid, Gascon said.

San Francisco's police chief has proposed firing eight officers implicated in the scandal, including a police captain and a sergeant, the San Francisco Chronicle reported last month. Three of the officers have resigned, the newspaper reported.

The panel of retired judges joins a task force in Gascon's office already investigating the city police department and the county sheriff's office after federal prosecutors revealed text messages among police officers including references to cross burnings and a suggestion that it would be OK to shoot a black person because it's "not against the law to put an animal down."

That task force is also investigating faulty testing at the DNA crime lab and prize-fighting of inmates in the county jail, Gascon said.

Even one wrongful prosecution is 'one too many'
The offensive text messages not only fly in the face of the image San Francisco likes to cultivate for itself -- that of a loving, inclusive community -- but also pose a broader danger to the community, the district attorney said.

"When a police officer engages in misconduct, there are significant implications for public safety and for the public trust, particularly in our minority communities," Gascon told reporters. "And we must do everything that we can to restore that trust."

More at: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/us/san-francisco-police-texts/index.html

[BillZBubb]

1. I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg.

The whole policing culture has to change. Even more important, the public has to come to realize that this particular case isn't just an isolated example of few bad apples. Most of the barrel is bad.

[Logical]

2. And the "good" ones still protect the bad ones. nt

[BillZBubb]

4. Yep, it is hard to find a truly good one these days.

[tularetom]

3. We often hear that the overwhelming majority of cops are honest, fair, and open minded

This would seem like an excellent time for that majority to come forward and condemn the rotten apples in their midst for bad behavior.

It would change the public perception that they are actually a gang of hoodlums who close ranks to protect the very members who give them a bad name.

I'm guessing that the silence from the rank and file will be deafening.

[locks]

5. I wouldn't be surprised

or so saddened if it was almost any place but San Francisco, the city of diversity and progressive thinking, that we all love.

[jwirr]

6. This is good. IF racism of the arresting officer can be used this way then the departments are

going to start weeding out the racists.