Nearly 40% of Antioch police officers are likely involved in alleged racist texting scandal

The FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office conducted a joint investigation that has released a report detailing incidents of derogatory text messages sent by 14 Antioch Police Department officers.

The report documents racist, sexist, and homophobic messages as well as potential civil rights violations and abuse of authority.

The report concludes that the incidents "may have violated the Racial Justice Act". The text messages contained multiple uses of the n-word, references to Black people as gorillas, admissions of racist beliefs, and detailed incidents of police dishonesty and civil rights violations.

Civil rights Attorney John Burris has called for the officers to be fired and de-certified so they cannot work at other police departments. He also believes that in cases where physical force was used as part of racial animus, the officers should be prosecuted.

One officer even offered a steak dinner to anyone who would shoot Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe. The release of the joint report comes amid the Antioch Police Department being under FBI investigation for months, and after the East Bay Times first reported on the texts.

The scandal could have an impact on past cases involving the officers implicated in the text messaging scandal. The Antioch Police Chief has released a statement apologizing to the community.