Uproar over police gay videos

From correspondents in San Francisco
December 09, 2005


Suspended ... San Francisco Police Captain Rick Bruce / AP TWENTY San Francisco police officers would be suspended over videotapes the officers made parodying gays, homeless blacks and others, the mayor and police chief said overnight.

They called the tapes racist and sexist.
"This is a dark day - an extremely dark day - in the history of the San Francisco Police Department for me as a chief to have to stand here and share with you such egregious, shameful and despicable acts by members of the San Francisco Police Department," Police Chief Heather Fong said .

The videos, which were posted on a website, show officers ogling women, applying makeup in the middle of a drug raid, and acting in skits involving street persons.

One depicts a homeless black woman making an obscene gesture after police ran her over in their cruiser.

Another video shows officers shaking their hips suggestively, flicking their tongues and saying "Oh! Captain" to the sound track of the Charlie's Angelstelevision show.

Another shows two officers practising martial arts to Asian-sounding music, after which they enter a massage parlour while police radio calls go unanswered.
Mayor Gavin Newsom said, "It is offensive, it is sexist. It is homophobic, it is racist, and we're going to make sure it ends."

Suspended officer Andrew Cohen, who directed the videos, told ABC news: "This has nothing to do with anybody's race, this person could have been a white transient.

"People are going to pull the race card because that's what makes good controversy, and frankly because that boosts the ratings for our chief and our mayor."

"This is absolutely for morale purposes, we did it for the Christmas party that was coming up, to roast my former captain," he said.

However, local groups were not amused.

This symbolises the culture of contempt, contempt for the black people, contempt for the poor, that we've been complaining about for so long about the SF police department. Now we have proof. They think this thing is funny, we don't think it's funny at all," Van Jones of Bay Area Police Watch said.

Related links San Francisco police department Wikipedia: San Francisco police department Bay Area police watch San Francisco Citizen complaints bureau Human Rights Watch on San Francisco police abuses

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