By Police1 Staff
SAN FRANCISCO — A new series of radio advertisements for the San Francisco police say they do not racially profile.
The San Francisco Police Officers’ Association has strayed from their usual advertisements boasting diversity on the force, and have now focused their efforts on anti-law enforcement rhetoric in the community, KPIX 5 reported.
“When our officers respond to calls for service, the victims are oftentimes people of color. We speak for them,” the advertisement said.
The association wants anti-cop hysteria in mainstream culture addressed, Marty Halloran, union president, told the publication.
“We’re not responding because this person is an individual of color,” Halloran said. “We are responding to the criminal activity that is going on out there.”
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee supports the police union’s new ads.
“I think it’s their strong attempt to make sure they know a police department is aware of things that people say,” Lee said to KPIX. “And I think they have every right to voice their opinion.”
The mayor also told the news site he doesn’t believe racial profiling takes place, but knows “there are mistakes.”
Not every cop supports the advertisements, however. The president of the African-Americans Officers for Justice called the ad “brash, callous, overbearing and inaccurate” in a letter to the union obtained by KPIX.