Racist Text Messages Lead Antioch Mayor to Call for Independent Audit of Police Department

The mayor of Antioch is calling for an independent audit of the internal affairs process of the city’s police department, after a judge revealed the names of 17 Antioch police officers who are alleged to have sent racist text messages to each other.

Mayor Lamar Thorpe said Saturday afternoon that the audit should include all complaints made against police officers over the last six to eight years. He also called for a complete review of any complaints made that are beyond the statute of limitations.

“The culture at the Antioch Police Department is a problem, and has long been a huge legal and financial liability for the city, which is on full display today,” Thorpe said in a statement. “The culture of the department requires further exploration, including how the hell all of this alleged misconduct could go on for so long without anyone on our command staff noticing, from lieutenant on to chief.”

The police officers identified Friday by Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Clare Maier included the president of the city’s police union. Antioch Police Chief Steven Ford declined to comment on Thorpe’s statements.

The texts surfaced as part of an ongoing investigation by the FBI into police officers in Antioch and Pittsburg, for alleged crimes and misconduct including the misuse of police dogs, falsifying education records to obtain pay bumps, and eliciting false confessions. Some of the officers were already known to be under investigation by the FBI, but Friday’s revelation increased the scope of officers known to have participated in racist text message conversations.

According to the East Bay Times, Judge Maier deemed the nature of the text messages to be so offensive that they could provoke more racial hostility. However, she ruled that the texts should not be kept confidential.

The surfacing of the messages could also affect the outcome of active criminal cases. Evan Kuluk, deputy public defender with the Alternate Defender Office in Contra Costa County, is representing one of four co-defendants charged with homicide in an allegedly gang-related shooting that took place in March of 2021.

“Based on Judge Maier’s ruling Friday, we know that the lead investigating detective, as well as the detective who was presented at preliminary hearing as the gang expert, are both involved in sending these texts,” said Kuluk.

He said the officers’ texts were sent in the course of a wiretap operation during which officers listened in on the defendant’s calls.

Kuluk says that if an officer uses racist language or exhibits racist behavior toward a defendant, “it is pretty much uncontroverted that this would be a violation of the California Racial Justice Act. It seems clear from what we have learned that these text messages will show exactly that racial animus towards the defendants in this case.”

The California Racial Justice Act — passed in 2020 and expanded in 2022 — prohibits racism in criminal prosecutions and sentencing. If a case is found to involve violations of the act, judges can downgrade criminal charges or dismiss them entirely. According to Kuluk, in his case, “it’s not so much a question of whether the Racial Justice Act has been violated, but what remedy the judge will determine is appropriate.”

When asked about the prospect of a federal monitor overseeing the Antioch Police Department, Thorpe said, “At this point, I don’t know how we avoid federal oversight, just given where we are at right now.”