06 Jan Antioch, DOJ Reach Agreement in Police Racism Investigation

From right, Bella Quinto Collins, Cassandra Quinto-Collins and members of Reimagine Antioch on July 21, 2023, hold signs displaying some of the violent and racist text messages exchanged among Antioch police officers. (Harika Maddala / Bay City News / Catchlight Local)

By Samantha Kennedy

Antioch and the U.S. Department of Justice have reached an agreement that increases police oversight and resolves an investigation into racism and other discriminatory conduct by officers. 

The agreement, announced Friday by federal officials, means that the Antioch Police Department will hire a consultant to review the department’s policies, training and procedures on several topics, including use of force and non-discriminatory policing. 

The agreement ends a federal investigation into several racist, sexist, homophobic and violent text messages — some of which targeted then-Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe and then-Sheriff Steven Ford — that officers sent to each other between 2019 and 2022, which resulted in dozens of Antioch officers being placed on leave. 

“Our collaboration with the USDOJ underscores our dedication to fostering trust, transparency, and accountability within our police department,” Antioch Police said in a statement Friday. “We acknowledge that trust is earned, not given, and this agreement marks a meaningful step forward.”

Part of the agreement, which will last for the next five years, will require APD to develop a community engagement plan alongside the Antioch Police Oversight Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice that “increases transparency and community confidence,” according to the agreement. 

Within 180 days, the community engagement plan will have outreach procedures that educate the public on officer duties, job danger, processes on how to file a complaint or acknowledge an officer’s good work and a social and digital initiative that provides residents with more information on public safety. 

“In working with the Justice Department to institute policing reform, Antioch Police Department sends a strong message that the discrimination and misconduct that prompted this investigation will not be tolerated,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The agreement we have secured will ensure that Antioch’s policing practices are free from discrimination in the road ahead — the community deserves nothing less.”

Prompting the investigation was the discriminatory texts, but later it led to more than 10 officers in Antioch and Pittsburg being indicted for selling steroids, civil rights violations and officers seeking a pay bump paying for someone else to take college courses in their name.

The investigation also pushed residents to urge city officials to move forward with the Antioch Police Oversight Commission, which was first approved in 2022 as part of Hernandez-Thorpe’s proposed police reforms but didn’t have members appointed until 2024. 

The agreement “contemplates a role for the Antioch Police Oversight Commission,” according to the DOJ, and “sets forth a framework for data collection and reporting for a five-year period of departmental monitoring.” 

Council member Tamisha Torres-Walker thanked the efforts of the previous council, including Hernandez-Thorpe, City Manager Bessie Scott and interim Police Chief William “Brian” Addington to bring positive change to the city and residents who “pushed for accountability” over the last decade.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” she wrote in a Friday social media post, “and I remain hopeful.”