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Newsom describes unreleased videos - He says taped skits hurt efforts to build community trust
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/9/6 | Rachel Gordon

Posted on 01/09/2006 7:34:02 AM PST by SmithL

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom described in more detail Sunday some still-undisclosed video skits made by San Francisco police officers, including a fake ad Newsom said recommends using "Bayview-Bismol" "as needed to deal with screaming black males.''

Another skit shows a uniformed officer driving through the Potrero Hill area, home to many black residents, saying the people are ignorant and will die young, according to Newsom.

The amateur videos first emerged in early December, and Police Chief Heather Fong temporarily suspended 24 officers allegedly involved in their making.

The content of the publicly undisclosed videos Newsom described in a talk at Grace Cathedral on Sunday on the second anniversary of his swearing-in as mayor could not be independently confirmed. Newsom said he could not release them for legal reasons.

Officer Andrew Cohen, who produced the videos, could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Cohen previously has said they were spoofs intended as comic relief for officers in the high-stress job of policing. They were not intended, he said, for a general audience or to be disrespectful of the people in the communities the police serve.

"There's no slander here, no racism, no nothing," Cohen told The Chronicle last month. "I don't have a racist, prejudiced bone in my body.''

Cohen planned to show the skits at Bayview Station's annual Christmas party. When Cohen's superior rejected the proposed viewing, Cohen briefly posted them on his personal Web site.

As word of the videos began to trickle out, the mayor jumped in. He and Fong cast the contents as racist, sexist and homophobic and moved quickly to condemn the officers.

Newsom said Sunday that the videotaped skits have undermined his efforts to build trust of police

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: anytwosomenewsom; sfpd; videovillage
SFPD's cops sure know how far that they can trust the mayor and police chief.
1 posted on 01/09/2006 7:34:04 AM PST by SmithL
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: SmithL

This is the guy and the city that took away the peoples guns and only the "police" have them and now show videos of what the police actually think of them.

Great, just great.


3 posted on 01/09/2006 7:41:44 AM PST by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: SmithL

Community relations? Community relations? The community you're relating to has gotten completely out of control and you're annoying the only people who can keep it from total anarchy? What a genius!


4 posted on 01/09/2006 7:43:01 AM PST by D.P.Roberts
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To: Baynative; SmithL
How did this Heather Fong clown manage to become police commissioner overseeing an entire department in a major American city?

Her resume resembles something that could be written for a job applicant looking to become a camp counselor.

5 posted on 01/09/2006 7:44:33 AM PST by Do not dub me shapka broham
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: SmithL

Gavin Newsom might be an idiot, but his wife is smokin' hot!


7 posted on 01/09/2006 7:49:51 AM PST by gridlock
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To: gridlock
Her?


8 posted on 01/09/2006 7:52:12 AM PST by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: SmithL
Newsom said Sunday that the videotaped skits have undermined his efforts to build trust of police

So now that there is a lack of trust in the police, Newsom wants to take away the handguns of honest citizens.

What a maroon.

9 posted on 01/09/2006 7:52:13 AM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: Baynative

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_2_sndgs02.html


10 posted on 01/09/2006 7:53:13 AM PST by Do not dub me shapka broham
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To: Do not dub me shapka broham
a major American city?

No, this is San Francisco.

11 posted on 01/09/2006 7:56:42 AM PST by SmithL (Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Lift up your gates and sing, Hosana in the highest! Hosana to your King!)
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To: SmithL
SFPD's cops sure know how far that they can trust the mayor and police chief.

I thought this was excellent. If they think they'll get any cooperation out of their "subjects" from now on.....they're fools.

My bro and I both have high-stress jobs.... and one of the ways we vent is through "comic relief". Mom calls it "warped"... we call it a salvation of sanity. :)

12 posted on 01/09/2006 8:11:05 AM PST by LaineyDee (Don't mess with Texas wimmen!)
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To: Mike Bates

Not her best picture. Clearly she is the best thing about Gavin Newsom.


13 posted on 01/09/2006 8:13:10 AM PST by gridlock
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To: gridlock; Mike Bates
she is the best thing about Gavin Newsom.

Actually, they aren't a couple anymore.

Shortly after she gave a speech at a homosexual event saying that they would have to be a lot better than her at (you know) to get Newsom's attention, they broke up.

Go figure.

14 posted on 01/09/2006 9:45:11 AM PST by SmithL (Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Lift up your gates and sing, Hosana in the highest! Hosana to your King!)
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