WASHINGTON (AP) -- The District of Columbia police chief is promising to find and punish officers who sent racist, vulgar and otherwise derogatory computer messages through the department's communication system.
"If that's half the force, I'm going to deal with it swiftly," Chief Charles Ramsey said Wednesday.
Ramsey quietly launched an audit of police e-mails three weeks ago, and last week was informed that large numbers of messages included ethnic and racial slurs, sexually inappropriate content and offensive comments about homosexuals.
"There aren't many folks who weren't offended by this," Ramsey said in a WTTG-TV interview. He said he had hoped to keep confidential an investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Division but that someone leaked the information to the media.
"This has compromised the investigation," Ramsey said, adding that it may be more difficult to complete the probe.
A sampling of the more than 4 million messages sent over a year's period indicated that perhaps 3 million dealt with legitimate police business. Those included license and background checks and other operational matters. The chief said the remaining 25 percent showed evidence of improper use of the system.
"We've got a lot of vulgar language being used, and there's some evidence of racial profiling," Ramsey said, adding that white, black and Hispanic officers were involved.
Of the 572,063 people who live in the district, more than 75 percent are racial or ethnic minorities.
Police officials concede that perhaps 10 percent of the 3,560 officers now on the force may have been involved in sending inappropriate messages. The chief said the number could be lower or higher.
Some of the e-mails reportedly include content about illegal drug use by officers and sexual activity on the job.
"It's pretty bad," said Ramsey. He has promised to refer any evidence of criminal activity or civil rights violations to the Justice Department.
