San Francisco Suspends Officer [Cohen] Over Video (Newsom calls it racist, sexist and homophobic)

The Associated Press ^ | Dec 8, 2005 | KIM CURTIS

[Former Military Chick]

SAN FRANCISCO - A police officer who produced videos parodying life on the force was suspended Thursday after the mayor and police chief blasted the vignettes as racist, sexist and homophobic.

Officer Andrew Cohen, 39, said he was suspended for posting inappropriate and unauthorized pictures about the department on the Internet.

"I don't know what's going on," Cohen told The Associated Press. "I've never been in trouble before."

Cohen is one of about 20 officers expected to be disciplined for video clips that Police Chief Heather Fong called "egregious, shameful and despicable."

The skits featured uniformed and plainclothes officers making fun of Asians, blacks, women and gay and transgender people, Mayor Gavin Newsom said. He was particularly offended by a scene showing a white officer in a patrol car running over a black homeless woman.

"It is shameful, it is offensive, it is sexist, it is homophobic and it is racist," Newsom said. "We're going to make sure that it ends, it ends immediately."

The video spoofs were shot over more than a year for a Christmas party, Cohen said. Most of the officers involved, including a captain, worked at the Bayview Station in the city's roughest section, an industrial area with a large minority population and high crime rate.

The department's internal affairs division launched an investigation after the videos were discovered on Cohen's Web site, Inside the SFPD. Other city commissions also were assigned to look into the matter.

Cohen said Fong asked him to meet with her Dec. 14 and he will eventually have a hearing before the Police Commission.

The department did not release the names or ranks of the officers.

"I'm sorry they did it, and I'm sure they are sorry they did it, but do not confuse these videos with how these officers perform in the real world," said Gary Delegnes, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. "These were meant as comic relief, parodies of police work."

Cohen's lawyer, Daniel Horowitz, said his client was slandered by officials who drew attention to the matter and took the videos out of context.

"I think they wanted to be the poster children for the politically correct attitudes in the city and they misrepresented the contents of the tapes," Horowitz said.

He added that the videos, which have been pulled from the Web site, were not insensitive, although some of the content was sophomoric.

Newsom's spokesman, Peter Ragone, disagreed. "Perhaps Mr. Horowitz is the kind of lawyer who thinks that a white police officer running over a black woman is something to laugh at. We think he stands alone."

[Former Military Chick]

Here are a couple of things I have learned about this story. First that this was made for a retirement party. Now it is said to have been made for a Christmas Party.

Another news item said these were found on a website. However, this was posted on a police website that was not available to the general public, through any search method. Evidently someone made sure it got out.

Worse, the Mayor could have removed it saying "wrong" but NO that idiot goes public and than calls the police officer's racist, sexist and homophobic.

Cohen has worked in San Francisco for 10 years not a blemish on his record, where does he work, a largely gay area and they now say these things WOW.

You know it was stupid. Really stupid because in this day and age, it may have been legal but not PC and someone's head must roll.

Does anyone understand satire anymore??

[al baby]

Hell it sounds better than reno 911

[Gordongekko909]

Mirror? I want to see these videos.

[writer33]

The skits featured uniformed and plainclothes officers making fun of Asians, blacks, women and gay and transgender people, Mayor Gavin Newsom said. He was particularly offended by a scene showing a white officer in a patrol car running over a black homeless woman.

This is despicable. Get a rope!

:)

[highlander_UW]

The news report I saw on this said that it was insulting to just about everyone. If that's true, than is it racist, homophobic etc, or just blanket offensive? My point is, Newsome only seems concerned when it's minorities or homosexuals who are offended...but if this offends everyone else as well, why does Newsome apparently condone those portions?

[REDWOOD99]

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=%209130@kpix.dayport.com">http://cbs5.com/video/?id=%209130@kpix.dayport.com

[Herford Turley]

I agree, writer33. It's time to get the firing squad!

[Bulldaddy]

Tomorrow's headlines:

"Policemen display humor, world ends, women and minorities hardest hit"

Frickin' liberals are the most humorless people in the world.

[Gordongekko909]

http://cbs5.com/video/

Video excerpts and unbiased, fair-minded MSM commentary there.

It's ridiculous. The stuff on that video would be considered hillarious if it were on the Chapelle Show. And there's also some guy towards the end talking about how crime is high because of white racism towards black citizens; even if the major premise were true, that causal connection requires a serious stretch of logic to believe.

And what's the deal with that police chief? She sounds more like a Rainbow Coalition spokesperson than a cop.

[nsmart]

Political correctness gone wild.. ranks up there with girls gone wild..

Spoof videos have always been a big hit at christmas parties. What is with these people?

[aligncare]

Newsom is the poster child for the politically correct. Does that guy feel his way through life, or does he ever think?

[claudiustg]

Maybe these boys should move to a free country, somewhere out of state. These lefty clowns they're dealing with are fascists at heart. I won't live amongst such folks again, myself.

[msnimje]

Save Tookie! Fire the film making cops!

[atomic conspiracy]

Strange

Is this the same Cohen? (Little Green Footballs 3-20-04)

I think the Associated Press may have crossed a line with this one. LGF reader Bone alerted us to this photo of a policeman arresting a demonstrator in San Francisco. His comment says it all: “Have you ever seen the press identify a cop by name like this before? Think it has anything to do with what his name is?”

Officer A. Cohen apprehends a demonstrator during an anti-war protest in San Francisco, Saturday, March 20, 2004, as hundreds of thousands of people around the world rallied against the U.S. presence in Iraq on the first anniversary of the war. (AP Photo/Jakub Mosur)

I look at these photo captions a lot, and no, I’ve never seen one identify a cop by name. Yes, I think it has a lot to do with what the cop’s name is. And it also has a lot to do with the photographer’s name—the person who probably provided the caption. This is media bias at its most naked. This AP photographer was not just taking pictures. He was taking part in the demonstrations.

[IceAge]

You're correct, all straight white folks should raise cane over him not being concerned for their "feelings".
I'm offended because I haven't been allowed to see the film to judge for myself if I am offended by it.........
Shoot, put it on pay-per-view. Raise some money for the retiree's nest egg.

[Gordongekko909]

Leftists are not permitted to have senses of humor. The ones who fake the funk, so to speak, are not funny (Al Franken, Jeneane Garofalo, Margaret Cho).

Hell, the feminists have been on a humor strike since the 1970s. They will not tolerate any jokes. Especially not jokes about women. And feminists. And especially jokes about feminists not having a sense of humor.

In the meantime, Snoop Dogg gets rich and wins the accolades of the enlightened left because he knows twenty-five more words than I do that rhyme with "kill whitey."

[HelloooClareece]

[Gordongekko909]

The NOPD is hiring...

[RTINSC]

"He was particularly offended by a scene showing a white officer in a patrol car running over a black homeless woman."

I'd like to see exactly what happened here. The statement suggests the police deliberately drove a patrol car over a woman. I doubt it. The mayor would be more than just "offended".

[montag813]

How can it be racism? The black chick rolling her tongue at the "Chief" did it on her own accord. And where was the "Asian" bigotry? Just because the officers were doing Tai Chi? Savage covered this back to front tonight. He predicted the wacko Chick Chief would get the axe after this backfires. Even on the ultra-liberal Chronicle website, the poll on this is running 70-30% anti-Chief.