20 S.F. Police to Be Suspended for Videos

About 20 San Francisco police officers will be suspended for making offensive videos while on duty, the city’s mayor and police chief announced Wednesday.

The officers are suspected of creating a series of videos that were “immature and vulgar,” as well as “sexist, racist and homophobic,” according to a joint statement issued by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong.

The videos contained skits in which uniformed officers performed. They were intended as spoofs and had been posted on an officers’ website, Fong said. But she said they ridiculed Asians, blacks, women, gays and transgender people. She and Newsom called their production “gross misconduct.”

The videos were discovered on the website and brought to superiors’ attention a few hours before the statement was issued Wednesday. The find triggered an immediate investigation by internal affairs investigators.

Newsom said he has ordered the creation of an independent blue-ribbon commission to investigate what he called “egregious conduct and misuse of department resources.” The city’s Police Commission, Human Rights Commission and Commission on the Status of Women have also launched inquiries.

Most of the officers suspected of involvement in the making of the videos worked at a single precinct -- the department’s Bayview Station. Pending the results of investigations, they may face termination hearings, the statement said.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.