New San Francisco police chief inherits city divided by race

Mr Suhr and city police had in recent months come under fierce criticism over fatal police shootings of several black suspects.

Public calls for reform escalated after cellphone video recorded five police officers shooting and killing 26-year-old Mario Woods, in the same neighborhood where the woman was fatally shot Thursday by police.

Police did not release further details Friday on the circumstances surrounding Thursday’s fatal shooting, in which a 27-year-old woman in a stolen vehicle was shot by police officers attempting to detain her. When two uniformed officers approached her vehicle, she sped away and crashed. Authorities cited a witness who told investigators that officers were attempting to arrest the woman when the police sergeant fired a single bullet, according to the Associated Press. In the scuffle that ensued, the sergeant fired one shot striking the woman.

That support ended on Thursday when Lee ask for, and received, Suhr’s resignation.

Deputy Chief Toney Chaplin, a 26-year department veteran who is black, was appointed acting chief by Mayor Ed Lee after Suhr’s resignation Thursday.

Mayor Ed Lee asked Suhr to resign after local unrest due to multiple officer-involved shootings and scrutiny for excessive use of force.

SFPD Deputy Chief Chaplin will replace former Police Chief Suhr immediately.

“I’m in the unenviable position of being African-American and being a cop, and this is a tough time for most of the members of the San Francisco Police Department”, Chaplin said previous year.

Mr Suhr renewed his call for reform on April 8 after an officer shot dead a Latino homeless man who police said refused orders to drop a large knife. Pictured: A Los Angeles police officer demonstrates the use of a body camera, September 4, 2015.

A day after San Francisco’s mayor announced the departure of the city’s beleaguered police chief, the department’s new leader said Friday his top priority is instituting sweeping changes to the scandal-plagued organization.

“The problems seen in San Francisco, use of force, and the evidence that some officers felt free to express racist sentiments point toward a need for changes in the department’s culture and systems”. It was the second such scandal to rock the department since 2014 when it came to light that eight officers were exchanging racists and homophobic messages in an unrelated case. “If he felt that he was a distraction from getting them done, I think that is very admirable”.

Work on reforms to the department following the shootings “were not fast enough, not for me and not for Greg”, Lee said. “Not for me, not for Greg”, Lee said.

“This has never been about personality or politics, it’s been about performance”, Lee said. Among the texts were photo caption challenges regarding a city fire as “Korean BBQ”, LGBTQ slurs, and messages mocking officers shooting black people.

In particular, Suhr was trying to adopt a “time and distance” tactic that requires officers to keep their guns holstered when they encounter a suspect carrying a weapon other than a gun.

A San Francisco native, Suhr has been a police officer since 1981.

In that position, he was charged with overseeing reforms, including putting into practice President Obama’s 21st Century Policing recommendations, which include independent investigations into officer-involved shootings and addressing racial profiling.