The police brutality and texting scandals in San Francisco reflect a shared mistrust of police among citizens, especially among people of color, due to racial bias.
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Lee, who continued to be a staunch supporter of Suhr’s throughout the shootings and scandals, announced the chief’s resignation by acknowledging his reform efforts but conceding they were not implemented “fast enough”.
Lee named Toney Chaplin as acting police chief.
Chaplin had the confidence of at least one key supporter.
Suhr was said to be working to reform the police department, but the community is still suffering.
This followed the fatal shooting in December 2015 of Mario Woods, a black male suspect in a stabbing case.
San Francisco’s police have shot and killed a handful of non-white city residents in recent years, always giving the same rationale that exonerates them under the law-that they had to use deadly force because they felt threatened.
Sgt. Yulanda Williams, who is president of Officers for Justice, a black officers’ association, said Suhr was right to step down after the mayor requested his resignation and praised the selection of Chaplin.
“These officer-involved shootings, justified or not, have forced our city to open its eyes to questions of when and how police use lethal force”, Lee said in a statement at City Hall on Thursday. “Not for me, not for Greg”. Greg Suhr obliged and left the meeting without a public comment.
The department has come under fire recently for a number of shootings and apparent racism.
At the end of April, Suhr was pressured toreleased the full transcripts of texts exchanged between a few of the department’s officers. Day later that month.
He follows Anthony Batts, the police chief of Baltimore who was sacked following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody and ensuing riots; Thomas Jackson, police chief of Ferguson, who stepped down following a scathing federal investigation into racial bias; and Garry McCarthy, police chief of the Chicago, who was sacked following the release of video of the shooting of Laquan McDonald.
A police patrol on the lookout for a stolen auto in an industrial neighborhood spotted the woman sitting behind the wheel of a parked vehicle.
“He’s been thrown into the deep end of the pool at a very hard time in the San Francisco Police Department, said Halloran”. Two officers in patrol cars were in the area looking for stolen cars and spotted the stolen vehicle on Elmira Street near Helena Street.
The woman drove away but crashed into a truck, authorities said. The officers tried to pull the woman out, and at some point a sergeant fired one shot, striking her, according to Suhr.
The 47-year-old Oklahoma native says he intends to carry on with plans to equip officers with body cameras. The woman’s name has not been released to the public. She was shot in the same neighborhood where five officers killed Mario Woods, a 26-year-old black man carrying a knife. That shooting was captured on video and circulated widely online.
Mayor Lee has promised $17.5 million to reform the police department, which includes funding for Tasers, pending the police commission’s approval, as part of the strategy to reduce officer-involved shootings. “But the new chief has a responsibility to meet with this community and we need to have a voice in choosing the next chief”. Chaplin, an African-American, is a 26-year veteran with the force, with Rev. Amos describing him as someone with “character, competency and the chemistry and courage to continue what we have started”. Last week, four members of the 11-member city board of supervisors called for the chief’s resignation, the Guardian reports.
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The mayor praised the outgoing chief as “a model San Franciscan and a great man”.
