Police in Torrance, California, who have shot an astonishingly high number of black and brown people over the past few years,* and now hundreds of violent and racist texts amongst members of the TPD have come to light:
The day after Torrance police shot Christopher DeAndre Mitchell in 2018, his mother and a dozen of his loved ones staged a protest outside the department’s headquarters.
At the same time, a group of officers — including the two who had killed Mitchell — were discussing the situation via text message.
“Was going to tell you all those [N-word] family members are all pissed off in front of the station,” one wrote, according to court documents recently reviewed by The Times.
Court records show the officers later mused about what might happen once the identities of those who shot the 23-year-old became public.
“Gun cleaning Party at my house when they release my name??” one asked.
“Yes absolutely let’s all just post in your yard with lawn chairs in a [firing] squad,” another replied.
Eight months ago, a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed portions of racist and homophobic text messages exchanged by at least a dozen Torrance police officers, a scandal that sparked an investigation by the California attorney general’s office.
Criminal cases in which the officers were involved continue to be dismissed, and at least one man has been released from prison. Lawsuits filed against officers involved have already cost Torrance more than $10 million. Still, most of the officers implicated remain employed by the city.
Of course the cops are still employed by the city. The city government is terrified of what the cops will do to them if they try to hold them to account.
………
And earlier this year, another trove of offensive texts came to light.
In response to a court filing from officers implicated in the scandal, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office submitted an exhibit containing all 390 “anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic or transphobic remarks” allegedly made by the officers between 2018 and 2020. The documents, which were heavily redacted, included the comments about Mitchell’s loved ones and contained racist cartoons of Black and Latino residents as well as remarks about lynching suspects and killing Black children.
Officers have long been trying to suppress evidence of the texts, which were found last year shortly before prosecutors charged former Torrance police officers Christopher Tomsic and Cody Weldin with spray-painting a swastika inside a car.
Lovely fellows, huh?
Policing in the United States needs to be razed to the ground and rebuilt on a completely new foundation.
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