SF Chronicle: SF Mayor Lee Refuses Funding for Investigation into Racist Police Text Messages

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has denied a request for funding to investigate 3,000 arrests made by police officers accused of sending gay and homophobic text messages, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
 
The texts from 14 officers of the San Francisco Police Department included remarks made against Filipinos, Blacks, Mexicans, and gays.
 
Many of the remarks made use of the phrase “white power.”
 
District Attorney George Gascon had requested $383,315 to expand his task force into police bias, but the Mayor’s office said the request exceeded the funds available.
 
“I think they should all be reviewed to get down to the facts,” the Rev Amos Brown, president of the local NAACP branch, said. “Those messages, they reflected the minds and thinking of police officers who were in the positions of influence. And they reflected a racist, bigoted, evil mind.”
 
Lee, however, feels not all 3,000 arrests need to be investigated and urged greater cooperation between the Police the DA.
 
What does the funding denial mean for the investigation? You can read about that in the San Francisco Chronicle.