Senator Bradford Supports Independent Review of Torrance Police Department

December 09, 2021

SACRAMENTO – Yesterday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he is launching an independent review of the Torrance Police Department. The review comes following concerning allegations of excessive force, racist text messages, and discrimination. Torrance Chief of Police Jay Hart requested assistance to ensure that changes are implemented to regain the public’s trust.

Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) issued the following statement in response to the announcement:

“I commend the Attorney General for launching this independent review of the Torrance Police Department. Racism, sexism, and homophobia have no place in Torrance, or any police department in California. The officers that engaged in these horrendous behavior have sowed distrust and fear, undermined public safety. Those who are culpable should not serve the Torrance community as police officers. That is why I authored SB 2, to prevent these incidents from happening and these problematic officers from continuing to commit misconduct. Knowing what we know now, the Department’s failure to endorse that measure is a clear indication for a lack of desire for accountability. I look forward to the findings and recommendations from this review, and I hope that this will help rebuild community trust in law enforcement.”

The independent review will be conducted by the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Enforcement Section with the assistance of DOJ’s Division of Law Enforcement. During the course of the review, DOJ attorneys and special agents will work to consider all relevant information, including from community members and organizations, local officials, TPD, individual officers, and more. The Attorney General’s independent review of TPD is separate from ongoing local administrative and criminal investigations.

Click here for a link to the DOJ press release.

Click here for a link to an article about the Torrance Police Department texts. 

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Senator Bradford is Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, Chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety and represents the Los Angeles County communities of Carson, Compton, Gardena, Harbor City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, San Pedro, Torrance, Watts, Willowbrook, and Wilmington.