California’s top police officer will investigate whether a police department rocked by allegations of racist and derogatory text messages committed widespread civil rights abuses, authorities said Wednesday.
In a statement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said an investigation into «deeply troubling» allegations filed against the Antioch Police Department in recent weeks will determine whether the agency engaged in a «pattern or practice of unconstitutional surveillance».
«If, through this investigation, the Office of the Attorney General determines that illegal activities or practices took place, the office will also determine what potential actions are needed to ensure that comprehensive corrective actions are taken at APD,» the statement said. office of the attorney general.
an investigative report compiled by the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office after a joint FBI and local investigation into the police department last month alleged that dozens of officers sent or received racist and derogatory messages in 2020 and 2021.
The messages include homophobic slurs, racist images and informal discussions of using «less lethal» weapons against people, including the city’s mayor, who is black, according to the report.
«The early signs that we have seen here in Antioquia raise major red flags,» Bonta said. told reporters on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the Antioch Police Department, northeast of San Francisco, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Bonta investigation.
Police Chief Steven Ford condemned the «racially abhorrent content and incomprehensible behavior attributed to members of the Antioch Police Department in media reports.»
The Antioch Police Officers Association did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Eight officers have been placed on administrative leave in connection with the allegations, said Michael Rains, an attorney representing some of the officers named in the report.
Several people have sued the department over the allegations, arguing in a federal lawsuit filed last month that six of the officers identified in the report violated their civil rights while exchanging the messages.
Rains said Wednesday that he has no objection to Bonta looking into the matter, «as long as it is done thoroughly and objectively.»
«I think that if the Attorney General does so and informs the public of any findings, he will conclude that despite suggestions in many media outlets that inappropriate texting was pervasive at the agency, that was simply not the case: the text messages that Mr. Bonta and others have described as offensive generated by too few officers,” Rains said in an email.