Report: SF Should Dump Patrol Special Police Officers
A new report says the city of San Francisco should abandon its Patrol Special officers, a quasi-official security force of un-sworn officers that has been...
These are the comments for Report: SF Should Dump Patrol Special Police Officers
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oldboy said:
September 1, 2010 11:24 PM
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I guess the Public Safety Strategies Group doesn't have an office in the Tenderloin where the only way to get uniformed assistance within 12 hours of someone fighting/shooting up/dealing drugs in the entrance way of your business is to pay the Patrol Special.
Marcy said:
September 2, 2010 11:13 PM
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The good news is that the Commissioners voluntarily acknowledged that the Public Safety Strategies Group report dealt mainly with the interests of the SFPD, and was not focused on those of the general public. They asked a lot of intelligent questions, and pushed for a subsequent meeting when the Patrol Specials would have a chance to respond for the first time with full details how their services are of benefit to the City. The bad news is that Oldby in comment #1 is absolutely right, the detractors have not been to the Tenderloin or other challenged areas of The City.
Starchild said:
September 3, 2010 11:00 PM
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I agree with Patrol Specials officer Byard -- the motivation behind trying to get rid of the Patrol Specials is to allow already overpaid SFPD officers(see http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/13/SFPay2009.DTL&appSession=700172373130805) to make yet more money working off-duty overtime in the 10b program.
Instead of harassing the Specials about piddling uniform violations, city officials might want to investigate some of the violations and irregularities in SFPD overtime recently reported by Bay Citizen (see http://www.baycitizen.org/policing/story/auditor-sfpd-failed-control-overtime/).
As that story notes, "The city’s general fund, the report says, paid for the majority of the department’s overtime – $46 million." The slightly over $300,000 a year that the biased report presented to the Police Commission complains about the Patrol Specials costing pales by comparison. And even that amount is mostly thanks to costs the SFPD claims it incurs in overseeing the Patrol Specials, who pay for their own uniforms and equipment!
From this observer's point of view the solution is obvious. The Patrol Specials should be taken out of the hands of the SFPD, which has a blatant conflict of interest, and instead should be made directly accountable to the Police Commission. They should also be subject to having complaints against them investigated by the Office of Citizen Complaints as SFPD officers are -- without the delays that allow SFPD officers charged with violations to keep doing their jobs for years while the cases against them are dragged out.
I think a study looking at the quality of policing delivered by the Patrol Specials versus that delivered by the SFPD is in order. Specifically it would be instructive to see statistics on the cost to taxpayers per officer, the popularity and perceived effectiveness of each force among the public, the number of complaints per officer, and the number of violations for things like excessive force and unjustified shootings.
If San Franciscans are told the truth and given some basis for comparison, I think they will conclude the Patrol Specials are providing a valuable and appreciated service, and that it is in fact the SFPD which shows more room for improvement.