The Department of Justice said on Friday that it has concluded an investigation into the Antioch Police Department in California’s biased policing, in which officers were accused of sending racist texts that provoked outrage and retaliation.
According to a statement from the Justice Department, the city and the police have decided to engage a consultant to examine its policies, officer training, and use-of-force events and make recommendations for reforms.
The parties agreed to a five-year data collection period on the department’s interactions, a structure for federal monitoring, and a more robust accountability role for its oversight board, according to the statement.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in an announcement on Friday that the Antioch Police Department’s collaboration with the Justice Department to implement policing reform sends a clear message that the misconduct and discrimination that led to this investigation will not be accepted.
As it continues to collaborate with a separate California Department of Justice investigation into discriminatory policing, the Antioch Police Department said Friday that it supports the arrangement.
According to the police department’s statement, failures happened and the activities that led to this investigation were inappropriate. To make sure that officers maintain honesty and equity while dealing with wrongdoing in a timely and efficient manner, we will put in place and improve extensive policies, procedures, training courses, community involvement projects, and supervision systems.
According to the Justice Department, racist texts purportedly sent by cops between late 2019 and early 2022 served as the impetus for their inquiry. Among these were racial and homophobic epithets, as well as a proposal to employ a less deadly weapon against the city’s Black mayor at the time.
After it and the FBI looked into the purported conversations, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office produced a 2023 report that claimed the communications included boasts about hitting suspects and fabricating evidence.
According to the Justice Department, the DA’s findings served as the impetus for its own June 2023 probe.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Antioch, a city of about 117,000 people located about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, is roughly one-fifth Black, more than two-thirds nonwhite, and more than one-third Hispanic or Latino.
A local judge ordered the release of the DA’s report, which sparked uproar and the filing of civil rights cases.
After the texts were made public in 2023, a case of arson and mutilation against two individuals was dismissed in relation to the finding of Mykaella Sharlman’s (25), charred body.Prosecutors said that a jury’s examination would expose their reliance on scandal-related cops.
In 2023, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office issued a statement stating that it no longer trusted the integrity of this prosecution.
Nicole Eason, Sharlman’s sister, stated that the family was prepared to take the case to civil court and that the officer’s texts shouldn’t have had such an impact. In order to settle the case, prosecutors stated that they were looking for alternatives to depending on the unnamed cops.It doesn’t seem like any legal lawsuits have been brought in Contra Costa County about Sharlman’s passing.
In April 2023, four individuals who claim that Antioch police officers violated their civil rights and a fifth whose father was shot dead by policemen filed a federal lawsuit against the city. According to court documents, a few parties have paid their claims, but the civil action remained still pending.
Three cops were charged by a federal grand jury with plotting to harm, oppress, threaten, and intimidate residents, eight officers were placed on administrative leave, and one of the three resigned as a result of the texting report.At the time of the indictment in 2023, attempts to contact the three failed.
Only a small number of officers were responsible for the disrespectful and improper texting that has been extensively publicized, according to Michael L. Rains, an attorney for the Antioch Police Officers Association, which represents sworn rank-and-file employees in city contract discussions.
He stated via email on Saturday that the language used by those few officers has been harshly condemned by the Antioch POA, its individual members, and this Office.
A fair, comprehensive, and intellectually honest examination of the history and provenance of the texts’ publication is something that Rains, whose office represents some of the disciplined officers, also stated he supports.
CORRECTION (at 11:30 p.m. ET on January 4, 2025): This article’s previous version stated incorrectly that the former mayor of Antioch is still in office. Last year, he was not re-elected.
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