The Shame Game

Another holiday season, another embarassing office Christmas party video—except this time, the office is the San Francisco police department and the employees behaving badly are cops.

At a news conference at City Hall Wednesday evening, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom described the videos as "a series of vignettes, skits, that are some of the most egregious skits I've seen." "One such gem [parodied] a white police officer in a patrol car running over a black homeless woman."

About 20 police officers who were in the videos also face suspension during an internal affairs investigation, including a police captain.

Police Chief Heather Fong said the officers were shown in a series of skits that featured uniformed officers making fun of Asians, blacks, women and members of the gay and transgender communities. "The content ranges from immature and vulgar to sexist, racist and homophobic," the two said in a joint statement. Fong added, "This is a dark day in the history of the San Francisco Police Department."

At the news conference, Newsom said a special task force, the city's Human Rights Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women would investigate the officers, most of whom were stationed at the Bayview police station.