California officer's video called offensive

SAN FRANCISCO -- A police officer who produced videos parodying the force was suspended yesterday after the mayor and the police chief called the vignettes racist, sexist, and homophobic.

Officer Andrew Cohen, 39, said he had been suspended for having posted inappropriate and unauthorized pictures about the department on the Internet.

''I don't know what's going on," Cohen said in an interview. ''I've never been in trouble before."

Cohen is one of about 20 officers who are expected to be disciplined for video clips that Police Chief Heather Fong called ''egregious, shameful, and despicable."

The skits featured officers making fun of Asians, blacks, women, gays, and transgender people, Mayor Gavin Newsom said. ''It is shameful, it is offensive, it is sexist, it is homophobic, and it is racist," he said.

Most of the officers involved, including a captain, worked at the Bayview Station, an area with a large minority population and a high crime rate.

The department's Internal Affairs Division launched an investigation after the videos were discovered on Cohen's website, inside the Police Department.

Other city commissions also were assigned to look into the matter.