document: A source speaking on the condition of anonymity said the panel report did not focus on Gates -- who said he would resign if the commission agreed with his critics that he created a climate within the department that condoned racism and brutality. ; The report `` deals with management issues , not directly with the chief of police , '' the source said. ; Commission members and others who had seen the report declined comment Monday . Gates also would n't comment. ; Mayor Tom Bradley , who has asked Gates to step down , said through a spokesman he believed the report focused on police management , excessive force and civilian control. ; Sources familiar with testimony and evidence presented to the panel told the Los Angeles Times that a number of racially derogatory messages sent on police car computer terminals have been cataloged. ; One message , for which no context was provided , read : `` It 's monkey slapping time . '' ; The commission examined 90,000 pages of computer messages and found examples of racially and sexually `` offensive '' remarks scattered throughout . In one section encompassing several thousand messages , 260 such remarks were discovered , one source said. ; In the days after the March 3 nightstick beating of Rodney G. King , the Police Department released transcripts of computer messages that one of the officers at the scene sent to a another officer . The transcripts contained a reference to an earlier incident involving black people , using the phrase `` gorillas in the mist . '' ; At the same time , secret testimony by as many as a dozen black police officers told of numerous instances of racial harassment within the ranks and the existence of a double standard in the treatment of minority suspects. ; In one instance , officers said they found racial epithets spray-painted on the lockers inside police stations and concluded that other officers had put them there . In another , an officer testified behind closed doors that he was present when a caravan of patrol cars raced through a housing project with `` Ride of the Valkyries '' blaring from loudspeakers -- a scene reminiscent of the movie `` Apocalypse Now . '' ; The officers testified before the commission after being assured that their identities would be kept confidential. ; The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups called for Gates to resign after the March 3 incident in which white police officers repeatedly struck King with batons , kicked him and shocked him with a stun gun after pulling him over for speeding . King , 26 , is black. ; A bystander 's videotape of the beating prompted a federal investigation of police brutality . Four officers were charged in the case. ; The commission , appointed by Gates and Bradley , held five public hearings , interviewed city leaders and reviewed more than 1 million pages of documents during its three-month investigation . It was headed by former Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher. ; Gates was appointed by the Police Commission and can not be fired by the mayor . The Police Commission consists of five civilians appointed by the mayor. ; The chief has civil-service protection and can be removed only by the Police Commission for misconduct. ; Geoffrey Taylor Gibbs , who sits on the board of John M. Langston Bar Association , which represents about 900 African American lawyers , said black and Latino neighborhoods are depending on the commission to confirm their view that the white , male-dominated Police Department has subjected them to years of brutality and ignored their complaints. ; `` People are looking to the commission , '' said Gibbs . `` If they do n't say this is a problem , then all of their recommendations wo n't mean a thing . '' ; But Ramona Ripston , head of the Los Angeles ACLU , said it does not matter whether the report names Gates. ; `` If they find a series of things the matter with the department , '' she said , `` do n't you think it 's going to point a finger at Gates whether they name him or not ? ''
extractive_keyphrases: police brutality excessive force white police officers minority suspects investigation racism