“It is our job to protect and serve all of our communities,” he said in a statement.

The announcement follows last month’s publication of two reports of a court-ordered investigation by the FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office into the East Bay police department concerning what they described as “crimes of moral turpitude and criminal offenses.”

The reports include communications between Antioch Police Department officers from 2020 and 2021. Messages contained in the documents are graphic and exhibit derogatory, homophobic and sexually explicit language and images, including the use of the n-word and pictures of gorillas in reference to Black residents.

Conversations also include admissions of fabricating full confessions from suspects in situations when cameras aren’t present and of assault.

The reports state the communications demonstrate the officers’ “racial bias and animus towards African Americans and other people of color in the community.”

The investigation announced Wednesday is to be conducted by the California Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section.

Bonta’s office added that the attorney general’s investigation is separate from other ongoing or potential administrative or criminal probes at the local and federal levels.

“Where there are allegations of potentially pervasive bias or discrimination, it can undermine the trust that is critical for public safety and our justice system,” Bonta said. “It is our responsibility to ensure that we establish a culture of accountability, professionalism and zero tolerance for hateful or racist behavior, on or off duty.”

Antioch police chief Steven Ford told CBS News in a statement that he welcomes the investigation.