Antioch police texting scandal tests leadership
The newly disclosed racist, sexist and homophobic texts exchanged by members of the Antioch Police Department are vile.
The boasting about shooting Black men with rubber bullets and kicking one man's head like a “field goal,” admissions of falsifying police reports and claims that bigoted language can be bandied around in front of supervisors with no repercussions are abhorrent.
The cops who sent the messages or signaled approval should not be carrying a badge and gun. They should have no place in law enforcement.
But even they are entitled to due process. Not all of them have equal culpability. And if their rights are not respected, the city risks undermining the ongoing criminal and internal affairs investigations into their behavior, which would set back the quest for racial justice.
Which is why City Council members, especially Mayor Lamar Thorpe, need to step back and let investigators do their work — and stop making politically charged comments that could jeopardize the outcome.
The texts are contained in two investigative reports obtained this week by this news organization that detail scores of racist messages shared among more than two dozen officers over two years. The texts were discovered amid an ongoing FBI and Contra Costa District Attorney's Office criminal investigation of more than a dozen current and former Antioch and Pittsburg police officers.
A federal grand jury is currently weighing charging officers with assault under color of authority, fraud, distribution of steroids and cocaine, as well as eliciting false confessions and accepting bribes to make traffic tickets go away.
Separately, the city has hired outside investigators to conduct internal affairs investigations of the officers' behavior to determine who should be fired and if any of them should be allowed to stay on the police force.
The fallout is staggering. Roughly 20% of the Antioch cops have been suspended. Prosecutors and defense attorneys are examining which cases the offending officers handled that will have to be dismissed because of their bias and dishonesty. We're talking about possibly thousands of people who are facing charges, who have already been convicted or who have already served their time.
Antioch residents have good reason to be outraged. But their elected leaders have a responsibility to refrain from histrionics and respect the ongoing process to ensure those responsible are held accountable.
For the mayor, that means acting like a leader rather than an uninhibited politician. It's time for Thorpe to show restraint and stop demanding that officers be fired, potentially giving legitimacy to future claims the cops might raise of a politicized process. What the mayor says now can be used later against the cause of racial justice in a court of law to help bad officers get their jobs back.
Thorpe has been a victim of the abusive police texts. No one should be targeted like that. But that doesn't justify the mayor's own actions, including his disproportionate tirade at a council meeting this week in which he accused a resident who was critical of his leadership of being a racist.
Thorpe has a history of alcohol-fueled and misogynistic behavior that, as we've previously said, make him unfit for office. It's unfortunate that the city doesn't have better leadership. But if Thorpe cares about holding bad cops accountable, he needs to get a grip and exhibit the maturity that the moment requires.
Meanwhile, Thorpe and the rest of the City Council majority need to end their attempted power grab to take direct authority for hiring the police chief away from the city manager and give it to themselves. It's a move that would politicize the job of police chief, which is the last thing the city needs.
The city currently has a highly regarded chief in Steven Ford, who has a long history of leading police reform in San Francisco. He inherited this Antioch mess of renegade cops — the text messages and criminal conduct under investigation predate his tenure — and has moved appropriately to place them on leave pending the outcomes of the investigations and bring reforms to the department.
While it might boost some councilmembers' quest for power to have direct control over the chief, it's inappropriate. The chief and the department should be held to high standards, but they should also be insulated from politics.
To ensure proper supervision of the police chief, the council should instead focus on the hiring of his boss. The city needs a new city manager — this time, someone with experience leading a city government. Last time through, they hired Con Johnson, who had no city manager experience and lasted just a little over a year before he was placed on leave last month.
The city faces a crisis in its police department. But, to rid the department of racist and corrupt cops, the response must be methodical and controlled. This is a time for calm, professional leadership. It remains to be seen whether the City Council majority, especially the mayor, can meet the moment.