California city audits police who sent racist, abusive texts

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A San Francisco Bay Area city council voted Tuesday to audit its troubled police department, the latest development in a year-long federal investigation of the Antioch Police Department that blew up this month with the disclosure of racist and hostile text messages sent by officers. Officials have named 17 officers who sent text messages, including the president of the Antioch police union, although Contra Costa County's public defender said that nearly half of the 100-officer department was included in the text chains. "The institutions have taken a long time to catch up with where the voters and public have been.” The text messages came out as part of an investigation launched in March 2022 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office into a broad range of offenses, including what prosecutors called crimes of “moral turpitude,” by officers with the Antioch and nearby Pittsburg police departments. In April 2020, one Antioch officer texted an officer at another police department: “Since we don't have video I sometimes just say people gave me a full confession when they didn't, get filed easier.” In June 2020, one officer offered a steak dinner to anyone who could “40” Thorpe at a protest, referring to a “.40mm less lethal launcher,” a senior inspector for the district attorney’s office explained in a report.