San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr is moving to fire a captain, a sergeant and six other officers implicated in sending and receiving “reprehensible” racist and homophobic text messages that came to light during a federal corruption probe, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. In announcing the proposed purge, the chief wants to show he has a firm grip on conduct in his force after critics questioned whether the text messages exposed a deeper vein of police bias. The scandal could jeopardize court cases that relied on testimony from the officers linked to the ugly texts.
“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.” Three of the eight officers already have resigned or told police they will resign. “I imagine more of them, if not all of them, are considering the same thing,” Suhr said. Six additional officers were implicated to lesser degrees, he said.