SAN FRANCISCO — A Northern California city whose police department came under national scrutiny after it was revealed that some officers shared racist and sexist texts, used excessive force and falsified records has reached a settlement agreement to implement a series of reforms, officials announced Friday.<\/p>\n
The City of Antioch, in the San Francisco Bay Area, will enhance police training programs, establish an independent review board to handle complaints and implement a warning system to identify problem officers, according to an agreement that settles a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis agreement allows the Antioch Police Department to start with a clean slate and oversee officers’ conduct and make sure they are compliant with new standards,\u201d said John Burris, who filed the complaint in federal court on behalf of residents who said they were targeted by Antioch police officers. <\/p>\n
Earlier this year, 23 people who were part of the lawsuit reached a $4.6 million settlement with Antioch for monetary damages, Burris said. The city in January announced it would hire a consultant to update its policies, procedures and training on various topics as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the bad apples are gone, in jail, retired or left on their own, and there is a new command staff that seems committed to bring about change,\u201d Burris said. <\/p>\n
Antioch City Manager Bessie Marie Scott said in a statement that the settlement agreement reinforces work already underway and \u201censures sustainable transparency measures and updates core policies to modernize how APD continues to provide constitutional policing services to the residents of Antioch.”<\/p>\n
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and county prosecutors in March 2022 launched an investigation into police officers in Antioch and Pittsburg, a neighboring city, over a broad range of offenses. As part of the investigation, officials released racist and obscenity-laden text messages shared by 45 Antioch police officers that shocked the community.<\/a><\/p>\n Officers referred to some suspects as \u201cgorillas.\u201d They also laughed and joked about harming people who apparently had surrendered or appeared to be asleep by setting a police dog on them or shooting them with a 40 mm \u201cless-lethal\u201d projectile launcher, according to a federal indictment against three former Antioch police officers.<\/p>\n