Newsom described the series of video skits as “outrageous, deplorable and demeaning to the good people who do this (police) work every day.”

More than 20 department members have been suspended for their participation in the videos, according to Fong, including Officer Andrew Cohen, who allegedly recorded the footage and posted it on a Web site, and

Capt. Rick Bruce, the head of the Bayview station who appeared in one of the videos.

Most of those involved work at the department’s Bayview station.

Newsom said Wednesday at a news conference at City Hall that he would announce on Thursday the creation of a blue-ribbon committee to conduct a “comprehensive, independent review of the entire department.”

One of the four digital video skits depicts officers sitting in a patrol car reading a newspaper, ignoring a dispatcher who is reporting burglaries over the radio. The officers then exit the car and walk into a nearby massage parlor.

Another skit, titled “Traffic Cop Gone Wild,” features an officer pulling over a woman in a sports car.

“I thought you didn’t give tickets to good-looking women,” the woman says.

“We don’t, so keep signing (the citation),” the officer replies.

Malaika Parker of Bay Area PoliceWatch called the videos “the tip of the iceberg.”

She said Bay Area PoliceWatch applauds Newsom and Fong for making the videos public, but said, “I wonder what will happen to officers who have killed people because of racism.”

After viewing the videos, Parker said it was “disgusting and appalling” that people in the Bayview were dying while local police were making offensive videos.

Cohen’s attorney, Daniel Horowitz, said the videos were supposed to represent the failure of police brass to support officers in the Bayview.

He also said the videos were a way for officers to “reach out and say ‘look at us, laugh at us, we’re just like you.’”

Horowitz said Cohen is a longtime anti-racism activist who had left another police department because he saw too much racism there.

Horowitz indicated that Cohen was planning legal action against the department. “They’ve slandered him and they’ve cheated the people of Hunters Point,” he said.

Newsom said Wednesday that, while the Bayview station would be impacted by the suspension of so many members of the force, the area would not suffer from a lack of police coverage. He said that, with the added scrutiny and attention to the station, the coverage in the area would likely increase.

Newsom and Fong announced in a joint news release that information on the incident will be passed along to the San Francisco Police Commission.

They also announced that Fong would consider disciplinary actions up to and including termination of those involved.

At the news conference, Newsom said District Attorney Kamala Harris was also involved in the case.

Bay Area PoliceWatch has announced a protest at 4921 Third St., in the Bayview-Hunters Point area of San Francisco, at 10 a.m. Thursday.