The Berkeley Police Department was in turmoil Thursday following the leak of text messages that allegedly show the president of the police officers union making racially charged remarks and calling for arrest quotas.
The growing scandal resulted in the union president, Sgt. Darren Kacalek, being placed on administrative leave Wednesday. He also stepped down from his position as union head. It also put on pause the City Council's pending appointment of a new police chief, Jennifer Louis, the Berkeley Scanner reported.
The tranche of texts was exposed last week by a city police officer who was fired last year, Corey Shedoudy. He claimed he obtained the messages during the arbitration process to get back his job.
