A satirical videotape made for a police association banquet with skits that included the local police captain beating a doll has outraged critics who say it belittles minorities and women.
But police Capt. Murl Harpham said the tape has been taken out of context."The entire thing is sort of a takeoff on `Police Academy,' " he said, referring to the movie series featuring the antics of police officers in training.
Harpham called the criticism "cop-bashing."
Linda Joplin, state coordinator for California's National Organization of Women in Sacramento, said Friday she saw parts of the tape on the news.
"I think it tells us a great deal about their sensitivity (toward) the people they are hired to serve and protect. They may consider this entertainment, but it's exceedingly offensive to those people they're making fun of," she said.
Scenes included a police officer running over a newspaper carrier, Harpham pretending to arrest a Barbie doll for prostitution and then beating it with a nightstick and an officer in blackface performing a skit in the style of the "Homeboy Shopping Network" of the television show "In Living Color."
Attorney Bernard DePaoli, who said a copy of the tape was mailed to him anonymously, said the tape is degrading for minorities and women.
Harpham said the tape, made for the Eureka Police Officers Association Awards banquet last year, wasn't intended to offend. But he said he is writing a policy to make sure any future video ventures are approved by him.
The Barbie segment showed Harpham playing a character based on a "demented" captain of the "Police Academy" movies, he said.
The blackface skit was performed by the 41-member force's only Hispanic officer, Harpham said.