‘A front-row seat to history that I wouldn’t wish on anyone’

San Francisco Police Department’s Black History Month video for 2021 offers a personal perspective from Chief Bill Scott on 1960s civil rights tragedies, Rodney King riots

The San Francisco Police Department today published its departmental video for Black History Month 2021. The approximately five-minute video features a personal perspective from Chief of Police William Scott that draws on his experiences growing up in Birmingham, Alabama and serving in the Los Angeles Police Department during the 1992 riots that erupted in the wake of the Rodney King case.  

“We honor Black history best not just by learning its lessons. But by furthering its progress — each of us, in every generation — and doing our part to bend the arc of history toward justice for all,” Chief Scott said. 

About the San Francisco Police Department 

The San Francisco Police Department stands for safety with respect for all. Hailed by the New York Times as a major city department “where police reform has worked,” SFPD continues to break ground with its voluntary Collaborative Reform Initiative and its work on Mayor London Breed’s ambitious Roadmap for Police Reforms. Since 2018, the department has worked in partnership with the California Department of Justice to implement 272 recommendations that aspire to make SFPD a national model of 21st Century policing. Follow our progress at our reform webpage.

Contact:  
Matt Dorsey 
Director of Strategic Communications, 
San Francisco Police Department 
[email protected] 
+1 (415) 837-7242 desk 
+1 (415) 806-2630 mobile