The California Attorney General and the Torrance Police Department reached an enforceable agreement to reform the agency's use-of-force policies, internal affairs practices, and efforts to curb biased policing. Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the reforms and credited former Torrance Chief Jeremiah Hart for initiating collaborative efforts. The AG's investigation began in December 2021 when a Times investigation revealed officers' racist and violent text messages. Court records show officers made offensive comments about multiple groups, including fantasies about violence and explicit slurs targeting Black people, prompting prosecutors to dismiss dozens of cases linked to the implicated officers.
The California Attorney General's office announced its Torrance investigation in December 2021, the same day a Times investigation first revealed the contents of the text messages and the names of most of the officers involved. Court records and documents obtained by The Times showed the officers made offensive comments about a wide range of groups. They joked about "gassing" Jewish people, attacking members of the LGBTQ community and using violence against suspects.
The worst comments were saved for Black men and women, who the officers repeatedly called "savages" or referred to with variations of the N-word. One officer shared instructions on how to a tie a noose and posted a picture of a stuffed animal being hung inside police headquarters. Another message referred to the relatives of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell, a Black man shot to death by Torrance police in 2018, as "all those [N-word] family members," according to court records.
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