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POST revokes certifications of two former Torrance officers after advisory board finds racist text messages
Summary
The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training voted Aug. 28 to revoke POST certificates for two former Torrance Police Department officers after the advisory board unanimously recommended revocation based on text messages the division said demonstrated racial bias.
The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training voted Aug. 28 to revoke the POST certificates of two former Torrance police officers after the advisory board unanimously recommended revocation in both cases.
Case summaries and outcome - Post v. Brian Kawamoto (POST case 2305110): The POST Professional Conduct division investigator told the advisory board that Kawamoto engaged in biased conduct through a series of text messages between 2018 and 2019. Investigators cited messages using racist epithets and demeaning imagery — exchanges that included references transcribed in the record as terms such as “moon crickets,” the suggestion of “cardboard coffins” for victims, and a holiday image that the division said implied hanging of a Black person followed by the message “happy Kwanzaa.” The advisory board recommended revocation; the commission voted to revoke the officer’s POST certificate (commission motion and roll call recorded during the meeting).
- Post v. Christopher Allen Young (POST case 2305111): The division presented a separate set of text messages in which Young sent or responded to messages using racist epithets, images and memes such as a message described in the record as a meme suggesting violence against Black people in a scenario involving an interpersonal dispute (
