2 Oakland cops face suspensions for ‘hate speech’ texts

Oakland police investigate the scene of a shooting on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, June 19, 2015. Three people shot five blocks from the NBA championship celebration for the Golden State Warriors in Oakland are in stable condition. Police say they received a call shortly after noon and found three male victims with gunshot wounds. (Jane Tyska/The Oakland Tribune via AP) less Oakland police investigate the scene of a shooting on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, June 19, 2015. Three people shot five blocks from the NBA championship celebration for the Golden State ... more Photo: Jane Tyska, Associated Press Photo: Jane Tyska, Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close 2 Oakland cops face suspensions for ‘hate speech’ texts 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Two Oakland police officers who exchanged racist and homophobic text messages are facing suspensions, and the Police Department will conduct “refresher training” for all officers on the city’s nondiscrimination policies, officials said Wednesday.

The two officers were among several who Mayor Libby Schaaf said in June had come under investigation for exchanging questionable texts, part of what she denounced as a “frat house” culture in the Police Department.

Schaaf said all the officers involved were African American, but she did not describe the texts other than to say that some officers had been “engaging in hate speech.”

A source who saw the texts said one showed a Ku Klux Klan figure on a cereal box with the message, “Brad, I heard you got boxes of these in your cupboards.” Another text appeared to show a racial epithet for African Americans with the message, “N— are doing our job for us,” referring to recent homicides in Oakland, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is a personnel matter.

Some officers received the messages and failed to report them, Schaaf said at a June 17 news conference. She declined to say whether any command staff were involved, citing state laws that protect officers’ privacy.

The officers whose suspensions were announced Wednesday were not identified, and the city did not say how long they would be suspended. City spokeswoman Karen Boyd said the officers could contest their punishment through the Police Department’s grievance procedures.

The city has wrapped up its investigation of the texts, Boyd said. She did not say whether more suspensions were possible.

Days after the June news conference, the Oakland Black Officers Association released a letter denouncing the mayor for exposing the race of the officers involved.

“Mayor Schaaf’s statements subjected the African American commanders to unnecessary negative scrutiny and can possibly have (an) adverse impact on their ability to lead,” the letter said.

City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who like Schaaf has been outspoken about the “frat house” culture in the Police Department, said Wednesday that she agreed with the association’s letter.

“All the times that white officers have engaged in misconduct, the administration didn’t identify them by race,” Kaplan said.

But civil rights attorney John Burris, who frequently sues Oakland and other cities over police misconduct, said that in this case, the mayor was right to specify the officers’ race.

“It should be publicly known that this type of text message will not be tolerated from any officer,” Burris said.

A spokesman for the Police Department declined to comment, referring all inquiries to City Administrator Sabrina Landreth. The mayor put her in charge of day-to-day operations of the Police Department in mid-June after Chief Sean Whent resigned and two acting chiefs left the job in the space of a week.

Whent left amid revelations that several current and former Oakland police officers were connected to a teen sex worker and that some may have had sex with her when she was underage.

In announcing the two officers’ suspensions, Boyd said some officers who were implicated in the texting case “appeared to be unclear of their obligation to report this misconduct.” As a result, she said, the Police Department will hold a “refresher training” on the city’s policies against discrimination and harassment, and the obligation of city employees who know of possible violations to report it.

Burris said the text messages were a symptom of a longtime cultural problem in the Police Department. The department has been under the direct control of a federal judge and court monitor since 2012, an arrangement stemming from a 2003 lawsuit settlement over alleged beatings and corruption by a group of West Oakland police officers who called themselves the Riders.

Although the text message scandal may seem minor compared with the sexual misconduct investigation, Burris said, it gives Schaaf a chance to set higher standards for officers’ behavior.

Kaplan, however, said the texting case could distract attention from bigger priorities in the department.

“I hope this other work that we have not heard updates on — hiring a new chief and investigating allegations of widespread sexual misconduct — is not being neglected,” Kaplan said.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan