NSA TORTURE TECHNOLOGY, NEWS and RESEARCH
2015-05-10 07:56:20 UTC
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/8/8573497/san-franciso-police-racism
Read the horrifying racist texts that have prompted a probe of San
Francisco police
Updated by Jenée Desmond-Harris on May 8, 2015, 2:20 p.m. ET
@jdesmondharris ***@voxmedia.com
The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed News, and
other outlets are reporting that San Francisco prosecutors are
investigating 3,000 criminal cases that may have been compromised by
14 police officers whose biases were revealed by recently uncovered
racist, sexist, and homophobic text messages.
RelatedHow systemic racism entangles all police officers even
black cops
District Attorney George Gascon convened a task force to evaluate
each of the cases to determine whether any convictions should be
overturned or pending cases dismissed. "If just one individual was
wrongly imprisoned because of bias on the part of these officers
that's one too many," Gascon told the LA Times.
Beyond those 3,000 cases in which the officers took part, the task
force will also take on a larger job: evaluating whether a "culture of
bias" exists in the police force.
"All ni**ers must fucking hang": the text messages
The text messages that sparked the probe were originally uncovered in
a court document. In March, prosecutors filed a motion opposing bail
for former police officer Ian Furminger, who'd been sentenced on
corruption-related charges. The motion listed his text messages
which included racial slurs and stereotypes about African Americans.
They argued that the content of the text messages indicated he was not
worthy of bail.
The text messages Furminger exchanged with people, including other San
Francisco police officers, use racist statements to describe people
whom we can assume to be San Francisco residents the officers were
charged with serving (in response to a message saying "all ni**ers
should be spayed," Furminger replied, "I just saw one an hour ago with
4 kids"), as well as other police officers ("fuckin ni**er" was his
response to a colleague's promotion to sergeant).
Here are the messages revealed in the motion:
Government's opposition motion to defendant Furminger's motion for
bail pending appeal (via LA Times)
Government's opposition motion to defendant Furminger's motion for
bail pending appeal (via LA Times)
Government's opposition motion to defendant Furminger's motion for
bail pending appeal. (via LA Times)
A "systemic problem" in a liberal city?
A columnist for the San Francisco Examiner asked in response to the
revelations, "Does San Francisco have a Ferguson problem?"
It's understandable that some are more surprised about the possibility
of a "culture of bias" in a famously progressive city like San
Francisco than in a city like Ferguson, Missouri, where the Justice
Department officials recently concluded that police officers and court
officials routinely violated the rights of African Americans or even
in Baltimore, where US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced today
that the Department of Justice will examine whether police used
excessive force and abusive practices.
There's a stark contrast between the racism revealed by the messages
and what it suggests about how police officers operated, and the
city's liberal and, in the perceptions of many, racially tolerant
reputation.
Despite that reputation, the racial disparities in criminal justice in
the city are striking. Rev. Amos Brown, a San Francisco NAACP board
member, told the LA Times that African Americans make up only about 5
percent of the city's population but 60 percent to 70 percent of those
in San Francisco's juvenile hall. The Examiner reported that 47
percent of people arrested between 2009 and 2014 were black.
San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi told the LA Times that the
city has "a systemic problem" with racism, saying that "this is not an
isolated case of 14 officers."
It's the type of scrutiny that's recently been applied to Ferguson,
Baltimore, and New York City the only difference is that this time
it's been prompted by officers' own words, rather than by an unarmed
man's death.
Read the horrifying racist texts that have prompted a probe of San
Francisco police
Updated by Jenée Desmond-Harris on May 8, 2015, 2:20 p.m. ET
@jdesmondharris ***@voxmedia.com
The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed News, and
other outlets are reporting that San Francisco prosecutors are
investigating 3,000 criminal cases that may have been compromised by
14 police officers whose biases were revealed by recently uncovered
racist, sexist, and homophobic text messages.
RelatedHow systemic racism entangles all police officers even
black cops
District Attorney George Gascon convened a task force to evaluate
each of the cases to determine whether any convictions should be
overturned or pending cases dismissed. "If just one individual was
wrongly imprisoned because of bias on the part of these officers
that's one too many," Gascon told the LA Times.
Beyond those 3,000 cases in which the officers took part, the task
force will also take on a larger job: evaluating whether a "culture of
bias" exists in the police force.
"All ni**ers must fucking hang": the text messages
The text messages that sparked the probe were originally uncovered in
a court document. In March, prosecutors filed a motion opposing bail
for former police officer Ian Furminger, who'd been sentenced on
corruption-related charges. The motion listed his text messages
which included racial slurs and stereotypes about African Americans.
They argued that the content of the text messages indicated he was not
worthy of bail.
The text messages Furminger exchanged with people, including other San
Francisco police officers, use racist statements to describe people
whom we can assume to be San Francisco residents the officers were
charged with serving (in response to a message saying "all ni**ers
should be spayed," Furminger replied, "I just saw one an hour ago with
4 kids"), as well as other police officers ("fuckin ni**er" was his
response to a colleague's promotion to sergeant).
Here are the messages revealed in the motion:
Government's opposition motion to defendant Furminger's motion for
bail pending appeal (via LA Times)
Government's opposition motion to defendant Furminger's motion for
bail pending appeal (via LA Times)
Government's opposition motion to defendant Furminger's motion for
bail pending appeal. (via LA Times)
A "systemic problem" in a liberal city?
A columnist for the San Francisco Examiner asked in response to the
revelations, "Does San Francisco have a Ferguson problem?"
It's understandable that some are more surprised about the possibility
of a "culture of bias" in a famously progressive city like San
Francisco than in a city like Ferguson, Missouri, where the Justice
Department officials recently concluded that police officers and court
officials routinely violated the rights of African Americans or even
in Baltimore, where US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced today
that the Department of Justice will examine whether police used
excessive force and abusive practices.
There's a stark contrast between the racism revealed by the messages
and what it suggests about how police officers operated, and the
city's liberal and, in the perceptions of many, racially tolerant
reputation.
Despite that reputation, the racial disparities in criminal justice in
the city are striking. Rev. Amos Brown, a San Francisco NAACP board
member, told the LA Times that African Americans make up only about 5
percent of the city's population but 60 percent to 70 percent of those
in San Francisco's juvenile hall. The Examiner reported that 47
percent of people arrested between 2009 and 2014 were black.
San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi told the LA Times that the
city has "a systemic problem" with racism, saying that "this is not an
isolated case of 14 officers."
It's the type of scrutiny that's recently been applied to Ferguson,
Baltimore, and New York City the only difference is that this time
it's been prompted by officers' own words, rather than by an unarmed
man's death.