SAN FRANCISCO -- First, police fatally shot two minority-group suspects carrying knives. Then transcripts surfaced showing officers using racial slurs in text messages. Finally, a young black woman was shot dead as police tried to pull her from a stolen car.
The woman's shooting death Thursday was the tipping point for San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who forced Police Chief Greg Suhr to step down after months of mounting pressure.
The new chief inherits the daunting task of turning around a troubled department in a city deeply divided by race -- and doing it fast.
"Reforms, reforms, reforms," acting Police Chief Toney Chaplin said Friday when asked about his priorities.
Chaplin, who is black, is a 26-year veteran of the department. Until Thursday, he was a deputy chief in charge of implementing Suhr's overhauls. Previously, Chaplin was a lieutenant in charge of homicide investigations.
The 47-year-old Oklahoma native said he intends to carry on with plans to equip officers with body cameras.
"It's not going to solve everything, but it will give us another look at what's happening, hopefully from the officer's perspective," Chaplin said.
He said he also will continue to push for several changes aimed at cutting down on the number of officer shootings, such as giving suspects armed with knives "time and distance" to surrender rather than having officers pull their guns and shoot.
Police Commission President Suzy Loftus said Chaplin "is not going to skip a step" in implementing changes because of his position before he was appointed chief.
Chaplin's appointment is on an interim basis. The commission is in charge of forwarding a short list of three candidates to the mayor.
Chaplin said he isn't thinking yet about the permanent position.
"There's too much work to do," he said.
The mayor appointed him Thursday, the same day the previous chief stepped down. He already has the support of the NAACP and the police officers union.
Chaplin "has the charisma, chemistry and courage to lead this department," said the Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP.
The mayor said the department is still expected to plow ahead with announced changes.
"I will hold the acting chief and the department to a high standard of urgency," Lee said.
The mayor accepted Suhr's resignation hours after a black woman driving a stolen car was fatally shot by a sergeant. The unidentified sergeant and another officer were struggling to pull the woman from the moving car, which had seconds before slammed into a parked utility truck.
She was identified Friday by the medical examiner as Jessica Williams, 29.
It was the third fatal shooting of an unarmed minority-group suspect since five officers shot to death a black man carrying a knife in December. That shooting was captured on video and circulated widely online. It appeared to contradict Suhr's initial assertion that the man menaced officers with the knife before they opened fire.
The video and Suhr's initial statement prompted protests and calls for his resignation. Those calls intensified in April, when police shot and killed a homeless Hispanic man who also was carrying a knife.
Several days later, transcripts were released that showed three officers exchanged text messages with a racially charged tone and insensitive to gays. It was the second such texting scandal to rock the department since late 2014, when the public learned that eight officers also had exchanged inappropriate messages ridiculing suspects and using slurs.
Though those texts were exchanged before Suhr was appointed chief in 2011, he was criticized for failing to discipline the officers quickly enough. A judge overturned Suhr's attempts to fire the men, ruling that he failed to act within a year of discovering the messages. The officers remain on duty, but the city is appealing the judge's decision.
Chuck Wexler, head of the Police Executive Research Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said that the previous chief had put the department on the right track in changing its use-of-force policy. Wexler's organization was helping Suhr develop new policies, and he said he believes Chaplin will keep seeking improvements.
"There has to be a sense of urgency," Wexler said, "and a recognition that times [have] changed."
Until Thursday, the mayor remained Suhr, repeatedly saying he was confident that the chief was making needed changes. Union head Martin Halloran said Suhr was popular with the rank and file, calling him a "cop's cop."
Halloran said he and the union were disappointed that the mayor had forced Suhr to quit, but that the Police Officers Association supports the new chief.
Chaplin "is an experienced veteran of the [San Francisco Police Department] and is more than capable of leading this fine department during this transition," Halloran said.
Information for this article was contributed by David Caruso of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/22/2016