SF police officer reportedly fired for anti-Muslim text message

A San Francisco Police patch is seen on the uniform of an officer as he stands with members of the board of directors, members of the association and members of the community while Martin Halloran (not shown), San Francisco Police Officers Association president, speaks during a press conference at the San Francisco Police Officers Association headquarters on Wednesday, December 16, 2015 in San Francisco, Calif. less A San Francisco Police patch is seen on the uniform of an officer as he stands with members of the board of directors, members of the association and members of the community while Martin Halloran (not shown), ... more Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close SF police officer reportedly fired for anti-Muslim text message 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

A San Francisco police officer was fired last month after purportedly using an anti-Muslim slur in a text message, sources familiar with the case said Monday.

The officer, who was not identified, expressed regret, according to an attorney involved in the case, and attended meetings with the Muslim community while volunteering to work protection details around mosques. But he was terminated by the city Police Commission at the recommendation of new Police Chief William Scott.

The text was part of a batch of racist and bigoted messages discovered during a criminal investigation into former Taraval Station Officer Jason Lai, who was charged with misusing government databases after a woman accused him of rape. Lai was never charged with a sex crime and has pleaded not guilty to the alleged records violations.

Police Commission President L. Julius Turman confirmed Monday that “the commission did fire an officer for evidence of bias,” but said he could not go into details, citing state laws protecting law enforcement personnel records. The firing was first reported by the San Francisco Examiner.

The firing “was a strong recommendation from both the chief and the commissioners,” Turman said. “The commissioners who voted on it were unanimous.

“There’s no place for bias or racism in any department,” he said, “and when situations become identified and the commission is able to act on it, we will look into it and make the appropriate decision.”

Scott declined to comment on the case. But in a March 7 presentation to the Board of Supervisors, the chief said that of 18 officers implicated in two episodes in which bigoted text messages were discovered, “six are no longer with the San Francisco Police Department.”

The fired officer is believed to be one of at least four officers involved in the latest set of texts, which were sent in 2014.

In addition to Lai, former Lt. Curtis Liu — who was charged with obstructing the rape investigation of Lai — and former Officer Keith Ybarreta were believed by investigators to have exchanged derogatory and at times threatening texts directed toward black, Latino, Indian, gay and transgender people. Liu has pleaded not guilty.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi released some of the messages last year, including one sent to Lai from an unidentified person that used the term “rag heads” in reference to Muslims.

The first batch of bigoted texts, allegedly exchanged in 2012 among 14 officers, was discovered by federal authorities looking into allegations that plainclothes San Francisco officers had divided up money found during searches of drug dealers. Two of the officers then-Chief Greg Suhr recommended be fired — Michael Robison and Noel Schwab — resigned before disciplinary action could be taken.

The other officers are fighting discipline, saying the Police Department surpassed the one-year statute of limitations to investigate misconduct. A judge ruled in favor of the officers in 2015, and the city is appealing.

Following the discovery of the second set of text messages, defense lawyers and victims’ advocates criticized the department, saying it had not sent a strong enough message that such behavior would not be tolerated.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which reviewed department practices after several police shootings of people of color, advised the agency to “conduct an audit of its electronic systems” to root out bias — a recommendation the department was initially reluctant to put in place.

“In interviews, SFPD members who were tasked with advancing the audit did not display appropriate understanding of the importance of such an audit,” Justice Department officials wrote in a report. “Members were more focused on explaining why such an audit was not a good idea.”

The department has since launched an ongoing audit of communications on department-issued devices. Officials said emails, text messages and in-vehicle communications are monitored by programs that are triggered by certain phrases or keywords.

Since November, the programs have flagged 107 words or phrases, but upon further investigation, no bias was detected. Sgt. Michael Andraychak said the flags were false-positives — “hits which included triggering words captured within innocuous words.”

Police declined to make public the keywords or the messages that were flagged.

Attorney Tony Brass, who is representing Liu in his criminal case, said he was concerned by San Francisco’s no-tolerance policy on bias, because officers, like civilians, are learning to get past personal biases.

The officer accused of sending the text message with the anti-Muslim slur pursued rehabilitation, Brass said, seeking to forge relationships with the Muslim community.

“The expression of any bias is bad,” Brass said. “No one is saying it’s OK. But my understanding is that it was just one text and the program to make it right was serious and took a lot of effort and it was something the officer took very seriously.

“There was just no mercy whatsoever,” he said. “If you really thought it was part of his life view that he had these deep biases, then it’s another situation. Expressing racial prejudice is not OK. But that one can never make it right at all is a little harsh in a city known for giving people second chances.”

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo