Posted on 12/09/2005 11:14:17 PM PST by SmithL
SAN FRANCISCO - Two officers under investigation for allegedly participating in video parodies of police life that were branded as racist, sexist and homophobic struck back at city officials Friday, saying the mayor and police chief have mishandled the controversy.
Capt. Rick Bruce, who appeared in one of the video clips, criticized Mayor Gavin Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong's decision to publicly air the video this week. Bruce, who denied any involvement with the making of the video, said the move has unfairly damaged his reputation.
"As a result of the past two days, members of the public now believe that I oversaw the production of a video which has been labeled sexist and homophobic," Bruce said at a news conference Friday.
Bruce was seen rolling his tongue suggestively in one of the clips, which then cut to several unnamed individuals doing the same as they say "Ohhh captain." The camera cut back to Bruce rolling his tongue several times.
Twenty-four officers have been suspended after Fong called the videos, some of which previously had been posted to a Web site, "egregious, shameful and despicable" for making fun of women and minorities.
Bruce, 49, who supervised the station in the city's Bayview district, where all the suspended officers worked, said he has been asked to step down as coach of his eighth-grade son's basketball team as a result of the scrutiny.
Bruce, who is currently on leave from the station for reasons unrelated to the investigation, is not one of those suspended. He said his phone calls to the department have gone unanswered.
"I am deeply disturbed that the mayor and the chief of police saw fit to release this video ... a video that prominently features my image, and neither took the five minutes it would have taken to ask me about my participation in the video," he said, demanding a public apology.
Bruce said the video showing him rolling his tongue was shot for an official training video while Fong was present.
Officer Andrew Cohen, who produced the video, confirmed that account, saying he filmed the clip about two years ago and captured Bruce as he fluttered his tongue as a way to "clear his thoughts" in between scenes. Cohen said he then doctored the footage, slowing down the film to make it look "funny, sexually" and interspersed shots of other people doing the same thing.
Another clip depicts officers ignoring radio dispatchers so they can visit a massage parlor, and another shows an officer pulling over a woman, asking her get out of her car and turn around as he ogles her.
In additional footage that came to light Thursday, a black officer is shown eating from a dog bowl and an Asian-American officer has trouble riding his bicycle.
Cohen's lawyer, Martin Garbus, criticized the mayor and chief for focusing on small portions of the 28-minute video, originally intended to be played at a station Christmas party, and taking them out of a context that showed the parodies were based on specific circumstances rather than racial or sexual stereotypes.
Anyone who watched the entire video, rather than just selected scenes, "would have seen it for what it was, namely guys fooling around," Garbus said.
The mayor's spokesman, Peter Ragone, defended Newsom's decision to show the video of Bruce, saying it already had been accessible on a Web site. He said the investigation will determine whether Bruce was responsible for the production of the video, but that either way, it was appropriate to publicly scrutinize Bruce.
"The simple fact is that it appears many of the scenes in question occurred at the Bayview station while (Bruce) was captain," Ragone said. "Supervisors are accountable for the people who work for them."
Ragone also rejected criticism that Newsom was failing to consider the larger context.
"The average San Franciscan only knows that these videos were made, in many cases at their expense, in ways that were insensitive to the people they serve," he said.
San Francisco Police Department spokeswoman Maria Oropeza declined to comment, saying the matter was a personnel issue and that the investigation was continuing.
Tom Ammiano, an openly gay supervisor and a former standup comic, said some people may have taken the parodies out of context and questioned whether Newsom should have rushed to judgment.
"I think that could have been a little more tempered until they knew more," Ammiano said. "I see it as a little bit of grandstanding."
Ammiano nonetheless characterized the video as "frat-house humor" and said the judgment shown by those involved was "still really, really bad."
Now, if those cops had the presence of mind to actually do gay things--THAT would be not only OK, but honorable.
this is such a non-issue. They were goofing around with a video camera, big frickin deal. Let the cops go back to work.
I've seen some of the clips, and I am yet to see anything offensive. Looks to me like some video gags done to show at some internal function. The gags are funny... and probably more so for people that know those depicted. Looks to me like mostly inside jokes.
Big deal. These guys are being railroaded. This never should have been a story.
Even worse, according to the guy who produced the thing... morale in this department has been in the toilet for quite some time. This was something that had been good for the morale of the group. They're doing a hard job in a foul part of the city... and their leadership just stabbed them in the back.
All work and no play makes the mayor a dull boy.
Overly sensitive minorities run amok. I almost got reported to the dean when my friends and I were overheard by a black girl during a joke session in the cafeteria.
We were each telling our favorite jokes about our own ethnic groups.
Like, "What do you call a car full of Samoans?" The answer is "Low rider." When my brothers and I all ride in the same car, every bump seems toh
All work and no play makes the mayor a dull boy.
Overly sensitive minorities run amok. I almost got reported to the dean when my friends and I were overheard by a black girl during a joke session in the cafeteria.
We were each telling our favorite jokes about our own ethnic groups.
Like, "What do you call a car full of Samoans?" The answer is "Low rider."
She looks like a bag lady and she talks like a NOW spokesbabe. Was she even a cop before she got elected/appointed police chief?
LOL!
Good thing all our creative outlets for expressing our sarcastic wit were so highly concealed and classified that the POTUS security forces only had to lock down everyone except command appointed representatives when he traversed DOD installations.
(Carter years)
Sounds like SF might be experiencing a similar problem.
Every cop in SF should take a few days off, let Chief Fong and the Mayor strap on a smile and go out to hug some criminals for a few hours.
the reaction by the mayor and the chief of police should make the citizens feel safe, once the facts come out. The average citizen will wonder what is the fuss and think taking 25 police officers off patrol can't be a help to crime.
Even worse, according to the guy who produced the thing... morale in this department has been in the toilet for quite some time.When he talked about the city's "leaders", he said that term belonged in quotation marks. That was probably his primary offense, in the eyes of same. PC types have senses of humor the way Muslims have pork cravings.
-Eric
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.