Comment on San Francisco police text scandal at odds with diverse image

San Francisco police text scandal at odds with diverse image

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Details of a second batch of racist and homophobic text messages sent by a San Francisco police officer seem at odds with the image of a rainbow-flagged city that prides itself on diversity. [...] people who have long complained of mistreatment by police are unsurprised, saying that the dozens of texts released by the city's public defender on Tuesday reflect a city where minorities feel increasingly harassed, whether by police or by developers eying traditionally ethnic neighborhoods for gleaming new condos. "In many respects we have a history and tradition of progressive politics that has ironically worked against reform, because I think it took a long time for people to recognize that even in San Francisco, we can have the same problems as Ferguson," said San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, referring to the Missouri city where a black teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer in 2014, sparking a national movement for greater police oversight. The texts, which also disparage Indians, the homeless, gay people and President Barack Obama, are the second batch to rock the city since it was disclosed in late 2014 that another group of police officers had exchanged in racist and homophobic text messages in an unrelated corruption case. Public Defender Jeff Adachi released the texts Tuesday saying that messages exchanged among Lai and two other San Francisco police officers in 2014 and 2015 may affect at least 200 criminal cases, including three murder cases. [...] Geo Vala, a 23-year-old after-school mentor for elementary school students, said the texts were scary and could affect the way the officer acts on the job.

 

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