San Francisco Names LAPD Deputy Chief as New Police Chief

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KGO-TV(SAN FRANCISCO) — San Francisco has hired a new police chief as the city’s police department works to recover from a string of fatal police shootings.

William “Bill” Scott, Los Angeles’ African-American deputy police chief, was announced Tuesday by Mayor Ed Lee as San Francisco’s new top cop. The 52-year-old will replace interim Chief Toney Chaplin, also African-American, who took the job following Greg Suhr’s resignation.

Scott, a 27-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department and its highest-ranking African-American officer, said at a news conference Tuesday that he was a person who would be “fair and consistent.”

“Change is difficult for all of us, but I think we can do it,” he said.

A U.S. Justice Department review of the San Francisco Police Department in October found it had “outdated use of force policies” and disparities “in traffic stops, post-stop searches, and use of deadly force against minorities.”

In April, five protesters went on a high-profile hunger strike in San Francisco’s Mission District over officer-involved shootings of minorities and the release of transcripts showing racist text messages by police officers. At the time, they demanded the resignation of former Chief Suhr and Mayor Lee.

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