A San Francisco Bay Area city council voted Tuesday to audit its troubled police department, the latest development in a year-long federal investigation of the Antioch Police Department that blew up this month with the disclosure of racist and hostile text messages sent by officers.
Angry residents crowded City Hall as the Antioch City Council unanimously approved audits of the department’s internal affairs unit, its hiring and promotional practices and of department culture. Officials have named 17 officers who sent text messages, including the president of the Antioch police union, although Contra Costa County's public defender said that nearly half of the 100-officer department was included in the text chains.
