Greg Suhr moves for dismissal of eight officers accused of sending and receiving violent and homophobic messages including repeated mention of ‘white power’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

San Francisco’s chief of police has moved to dismiss eight officers who allegedly sent and received racially charged and homophobic text messages that included references to lynchings, white power and burning crosses.

Chief Greg Suhr called the text messages “reprehensible” and “hateful” at a press conference on Friday, during which he sought to distinguish the misconduct of a few officers from the rest of his force.

“There were eight standing officers who engaged in such repulsive conversations via text messages,” Suhr said. “I have suspended them and they have been referred to the police commission with a recommendation of only termination – as it should be. Their conduct is incompatible with that of a police officer.”



Suhr’s recommendations come at a time of heightened scrutiny on the relationship between police officers and minority communities, snapped into focus by high-profile police killings in New York, Cleveland and Ferguson, where a US Department of Justice investigation revealed racist emails sent by police officers in the department there.

Fourteen San Francisco officers and department employees are alleged to have sent or received the text messages in 2011 and 2012. The messages included slurs against black people, Mexicans, Filipinos and gay people, police said. The phrase “white power” was used repeatedly.

One read: “All niggers must fucking hang.” Another said: “Cross burning lowers blood pressure! I did the test myself!”

The scandal reached the highest echelons of the force, with Suhr recommending the removal of a captain, a sergeant and six officers. The longest-serving officer had been on the force for 23 years. Suhr called it “particularly disheartening” that such individuals were involved.

Seven officers have been suspended; the eighth has already resigned. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that three of the eight officers implicated have either resigned or announced their intention to do so.

“I imagine more of them, if not all of them, are considering the same thing,” Suhr said on Friday.

At least two officers exchanged single text messages that were deemed inflammatory but “did not rise to the level” of the messages shared by the eight officers Suhr wants removed, he said. These officers have been moved to desk jobs.

“They can provide their explanations to the commission and the commission can decide if those officers should be terminated as well,” Suhr said.

Another four officers were involved in the scandal but Suhr said their actions did not warrant firing.

The revelations stem from a federal corruption case against former police sergeant Ian Furminger, who was convicted in December 2014 of stealing money and property from suspects and sentenced to 41 months in prison, pending appeal.

The text messages were disclosed in court filings during Furminger’s trial when prosecutors revealed that the 20-year department veteran had sent and received a series of racially charged text messages between October 2011 and June 2012. Prosecutors said the messages revealed that Furminger was a “virulent racist and homophobe”, belying “the fantasy that he is a person of character”.

In one exchange, Furminger asked an unnamed officer if he should be worried that the husband of his wife’s friend, who was black, had visited his home, according to court filings.

“Get ur pocket gun. Keep it available in case the monkey returns to his roots. Its [sic] not against the law to put an animal down,” the officer advised.

Furminger replied: “Well said!”

“You may have to kill the half-breeds too,” the unnamed officer responded. “Don’t worry. Their [sic] an abomination of nature anyway.”

George Gascón, the San Francisco district attorney and a former chief of police, announced that his office would investigate the alleged misconduct in the SFPD as well as other local law enforcement agencies.

“In order to ensure our criminal justice system is fair and equitable, my office is conducting an immediate assessment of every prosecution within the past 10 years where these officers were involved,” Gascón said in a statement after the text messages were revealed.

County prosecutors may have to review hundreds of current and past convictions involving the officers to determine if their contribution to such cases was tainted by racial bias.

Jeff Adachi, San Francisco’s public defender, said on Friday that he believes some 1,000 cases involving the officers need to be re-examined.

“The characterization of these hateful statements as innocent banter is dead wrong,” Adachi said. “This casual dehumanization leads to real-life suffering and injustice. It foments a toxic environment in which citizens fear and distrust the police, brutality reigns, and good officers are less effective.”

Adachi also called for the department to undergo 24 hours of training so its members could recognize cultural and racial bias in the field as well as submit to an annual review to screen for such bias. He also recommended officers be required to report colleagues whom they witness invoking racial bias.

Adachi said: “Training and reinforcement is the only way to ensure that racial bias by police does not harm our citizenry.”