San Francisco Police Commission may subpoena Videogate computer

By Brent Begin, Bay City News Service

May 31, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- The San Francisco Police Commission will discuss issuing a subpoena tonight to embattled police officer Andrew Cohen for the contents of his computer, according to commission secretary Sgt. Joe Reilly.

Reilly did not say if the subpoena was connected to an investigation into a series of controversial video clips released in December that prompted police Chief Heather Fong to suspend 24 officers.

Cohen, however, has repeatedly apologized publicly through his attorneys to the suspended officers and their families for producing the videos, and the investigation has been pending since the video's release.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made the videos public Dec. 7 during a news conference in which he referred to the skits as racist, sexist and homophobic. The videos include footage of officers visiting massage parlors, running over people in their cars and ignoring their radios.

Harry Stern, an attorney who represents Cohen, said he wasn't sure the commission was subpoenaing his client's computer records for the video investigation, but he "supposed" it was.

All 24 Bayview station officers have since been reinstated to mostly administrative positions, but their return is conditional upon a departmental investigation, which could lead to further reprisal or full exoneration.

According to Kevin Allen, director of the San Francisco Office of Citizen Complaints, at least one formal complaint was filed in early January concerning the video controversy. Any complaints filed, however, will notbe made public until they are presented to the police commission, and that will not happen until the department has wrapped up its own internal investigation.

Many hope that tonight's police commission meeting is a signal that the process is moving forward.

Also at tonight's meeting, the commission is expected to vote to award a posthumous citizen's commendation to Marlin Coats, the man who drowned at Ocean Beach May 13 as he was rescuing two boys who were caught in a rip current. The two brothers, 11 and 14 years old, survived the ordeal with only minor cases of hypothermia, but Coats, who was also caught in the rip current, died shortly afterward.

The police commission meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. with a closed session meeting in room 263 of City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco. An open session will immediately follow.

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