Four San Francisco police officers suspended after sending racist, homophobic texts

This is the second text messaging controversy to arise from the SFPD

The messages were found during a sexual assault investigation of another officer

Four San Francisco police officers are accused of sending racist and homophobic text messages, amid a tense racial climate between law enforcement and the city’s non-white residents.

The officers are alleged to have sent the text messages that include the remarks between 2014 and late-2015, District Attorney George Gascón told NBC.

“We recognized that these messages have multiple problems,” Mr Gascón said. “They have very explicit racist overtones, the N-word is used pretty regularly. There are also comments related to the [LGBT] community.”

The DA’s office had been investigating sexual assault allegations against Officer Jason Lai when they uncovered the texts. Mr Lai is also charged with six misdemeanor counts of misuse of police databases.

Police Chief Greg Suhr disclosed in a letter to the DA that the four officers had either already left the Department or are facing termination.

“Such conduct clearly falls below the minimum standard required of a police officer and will not be tolerated,” he wrote.

San Francisco Police already faced national scrutiny following a previous investigation that revealed 14 police officers had sent racist texts messages in 2012. The officers had been allowed to stay on the force following a judge’s determination that Mr Suhr had waited too long to address the allegations. Mr Suhr said in his letter to the DA that he had waited discipline the 14 officers because he didn’t want to interfere with an ongoing federal investigation into corruption on the force.

The District Attorney's office launched an inquiry in May of last year to examine whether or not the SFPD, as well as the sherriff's department, had a ingrained problem with systemic racial bias. Given the most recent discovery of officers sending racist text message, Mr Gascón is inclined to believe the issue is "deeper than just 14 officers," NBC reported.

“These are these festering views within the San Francisco Police Department, which unfortunately are now coming to light,” the city’s elected public defender Jeff Adachi told ABC 7.

Mr Adachi plans to review all previous cases connected to the four officers for any indication of racial bias. He is also calling for an independent investigation into when the police chief and district attorney actually learned about the texts.

“Every person in San Francisco deserves equal justice,” Mr Adachi told KTVU. “It does them a grave disservice to dismiss every hateful act as an isolated incident. The Police Department must address the culture that lets racism fester in its ranks.”