Major reform coming to Antioch PD after $4.6M settlement in civil rights lawsuit over misconduct

ANTIOCH, Calif. (KGO) -- The City of Antioch, whose police department came under national scrutiny after it was revealed that some officers shared racist and sexist texts, used excessive force and falsified records has reached a settlement agreement to implement a series of reforms, officials announced Friday.

Antioch will enhance police training programs, establish an independent review board to handle complaints and implement a warning system to identify problem officers, according to an agreement that settles a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2023.

"This agreement allows the Antioch Police Department to start with a clean slate and oversee officers' conduct and make sure they are compliant with new standards," said John Burris, who filed the complaint in federal court on behalf of residents who said they were targeted by Antioch police officers.

The settlement agreement signed Friday morning, linked to the Antioch police texting scandal, is being hailed as "historic."

"Historic because it is a collaboration between the plaintiffs and the defendant here. But a collaboration, in my view, for the future of the department," Burris said. "What we have done is put something in place that future generations, and certainly those immediately here, will know that there is place to go, in fact, if they are not treated properly."

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The agreement was signed by lawyers and representatives of the City of Antioch. It will serve as a roadmap to constitutional policing and completely overhaul the department's policies and procedures by directly addressing issues of police misconduct.

"Leadership sets the tone and over time shapes culture. Today is about refusing to let the city remain defined by the failures and controversies that brought us to this point. Antioch deserves a government that listens, that adjusts and delivers," City Manager Bessie Marie Scott said.

One of the goals is to improve transparency and accountability. Some of the key provisions include:

• Better training programs for officers


• An early warning system to identify officer misconduct


• More rigorous oversight


• An independent monitor to oversee the enforcement of the agreement


• More data collection and analysis.

This is all to be completed within five years.

"That is going to entail analysts and sworn personnel so we can gather information and put it out for the community to see. We envision that, that will be on some type of public dashboard -- which is not uncommon in this line of work now -- so the community can see the efforts we are making," said Captain Shane Bower with the Antioch Police Department.

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Earlier this year, 23 people who were part of the lawsuit reached a $4.6 million settlement with Antioch for monetary damages, Burris said. The city in January announced it would hire a consultant to update its policies, procedures and training on various topics as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

"A lot of the bad apples are gone, in jail, retired or left on their own, and there is a new command staff that seems committed to bring about change," Burris said.

Scott said in a statement that the settlement agreement reinforces work already underway and "ensures sustainable transparency measures and updates core policies to modernize how APD continues to provide constitutional policing services to the residents of Antioch."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and county prosecutors in March 2022 launched an investigation into police officers in Antioch and Pittsburg, a neighboring city, over a broad range of offenses. As part of the investigation, officials released racist and obscenity-laden text messages shared by 45 Antioch police officers that shocked the community.

Officers referred to some suspects as "gorillas." They also laughed and joked about harming people who apparently had surrendered or appeared to be asleep by setting a police dog on them or shooting them with a 40 mm "less-lethal" projectile launcher, according to a federal indictment against three former Antioch police officers.

MORE: Some worried 'accountability' may be lacking in DOJ agreement in Antioch PD racist texting scandal

Federal prosecutors charged Morteza Amiri, Eric Rombough and Devon Christopher Wenger, saying the three former Antioch police officers conspired between February 2019 and March 2022 "to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate residents of Antioch, California" and later falsified reports about the encounters.

Wenger was sentenced earlier this month to seven years and six months in federal prison for conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate residents of Antioch using unreasonable force, conspiring to distribute anabolic steroids, and obstructing justice, federal prosecutors said.

Amiri, a former Antioch K9 officer, was sentenced in June to seven years in prison for maiming someone with his police dog, falsifying reports on that case and being part of a scheme to obtain pay raises from the Antioch Police Department for a university degree he paid someone else to obtain.

Rombough, accused of illegally shooting people with his launcher, pleaded guilty and became a government witness. He testified against both Amiri and Wenger in their separate trials, the East Bay Times reported. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 13.

Burris said this agreement is more comprehensive with more enforcement than a similar agreement reach with the US Department of Justice following its investigation. Burris, who led the Oakland Riders case -- in which a gang of Oakland officers were found to have planted evidence on citizens, and which subsequently led to reforms and to federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department -- believes implementing these reforms in Antioch will likely be easier than in Oakland.

MORE: CA DOJ meets with victims and activists as investigation into Antioch PD continues

But there will be challenges, including staffing.

"Ever since the beginning of all of this, the struggle has been staffing. Getting staffing levels up so we are able to accurately address every issue of the agreement," said Antioch Police Chief Joseph Vigil.

Officials also addressed the implementation of reforms for when many of the officers involved in the texting scandal -- all to varying degrees -- are back on the force.

"I think it's a challenge. And if it was up to us at the time, we would not have wanted any of these officers to come back," Burris said.

"We are very much rebuilding the police department. But we are also understanding that as we rebuild, we are changing the culture," Vigil said.

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Antioch City Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker said she had concerns about oversight and reform and was not fully confident in their effectiveness after seeing how they played out at the San Francisco and Oakland police departments. But she believes the City of Antioch has the right leadership in place to make this settlement work.

"We also had a great team of city councilmembers who knew this was necessary -- who knew this needed to happen -- and people who ran for office to make this happen," Torres-Walker said.

Alicia Lacey-Oha serves on the Antioch Police Oversight Commission and is second vice president of the East Contra Costa County NAACP. She believes "hope has been restored."

"Today, I can tell you... that we see that we are going forward, and that the healing process has begun," Lacey-Oha said.

Antioch, a city of 115,000 residents about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of San Francisco, was once predominantly white but has diversified in the last 30 years.

The city says some of the reforms are already underway.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.