c Official Publication Of The c SAN FRANCISCO POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION This Publication was Produced and Printed in California, USA ✯ Buy American ✯ Support Local Business VOLUME 46, NUMBER 5 SAN FRANCISCO, MAY 2014 www.sfpoa.org Detailing to Depletion By Martin Halloran the Dodgers, or if there is a playoff from the San Francisco Board of SFPOA President game, then all 10 district stations are Supervisors to cover the cost of required to detail a minimum of two officers conducting official duties At the end of this fiscal year on June officers. along the perimeter of AT&T Park 30, 2014, the department will see the Don’t get me wrong; who doesn’t for Giants home games. This would last of the DROP (Deferred Retirement love the Giants? I’m out at the ball- also eliminate the necessity of de- Option Program) members retiring game whenever I can make it, but tailing officers to AT&T for Giant based on service. Depending on the when the franchise has shown their home games. figures provided by either the depart- worth to be over $1 billion, and it 3. Negotiate with the San Francisco ment or the POA, those numbers range ranks as one of the top five wealthi- Sheriff’s Department to take over from 65 officers up to possibly 80 of- est franchises in the MLB http:// duties within the facilities that ficers. These numbers do not include blog.sfgate.com/johnshea/2014/03/26/ their department maintains con- folks who are retiring based on regular forbes-sf-giants-oakland-as-are-filthy- trol. San Francisco General Hospi- yearly attrition. That number could rich-check-these-numbers/#21888101=0 tal is under the jurisdiction of the possibly reach an additional 40 to 50 then I think the time has come for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Depart. Ac- officers annually. department to make some logistical cording to Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, Although the department has been changes in order to ensure that there the housing of inmates within aggressively hiring new patrol officers responses? is adequate patrol coverage at district their jail facilities are at the low- as quickly as possible based on the The number one complaint I hear stations while also sufficiently policing est point in decades. Transfer the commitment to public safety made by from our members is, “Marty, there AT&T Park. excess deputy sheriff’s to custody Mayor Edwin Lee, the staffing within is nobody working. Everyone is being responsibilities at SFGH. the SFPD is at one of its lowest levels detailed out. We had just one car work- A Possible Fix 4. Fixed posts at district stations shall in decades. The department has con- ing the entire district!” In the context of the department only be manned if the watch for firmed that its necessary staffing is staffing crisis, I have offered to the that shift has 80% staffing or bet- nearly 300 officers short — well below Details administration several suggestions ter. The 80% staffing appears to be the mandated number of 1971 sworn Outside details are nothing new. enumerated below to rethink the de- the threshold that the department officers set by the City Charter. They are routine and prevalent in ployment of officers to Giants’ games. wishes to maintain. It should apply I realize that the numbers will the SFPD. A world-class city tends to Leaving regular patrol officers out on that ratio to fixed post details. eventually bottom out and swing back generate a myriad of special events, as the streets within the districts will toward a staffing increase. I applaud better serve our community and must well as a large number of spontane- I have to say that Chief Greg Suhr, the Mayor for recognizing this prob- be addressed now. ous, non-permitted demonstrations, and his Command Staff, are doing lem early and addressing it swiftly. If marches, and/or violent protests. Add their utmost to provide the best service the Board of Supervisors of a few years to these — some 200 scheduled events 1. Negotiate with the San Francisco and protection to all San Franciscans past had extended the DROP program per year — details like Giant’s games, Giants franchise to supplement based on the means at hand. But our we may not be in this predicament. hospital prisoner watches, mandated the cost of SFPD officers on the department is at a tipping point where But they chose not to, so we are in POST in-service updates, and other perimeter of their stadium similar staffing at the district stations must a staffing crisis, and the department necessary training and the need for to the franchise covering the cost be addressed now. If my suggestions must strive to deal with it efficiently local station staffing adjustments be- of the officers on the interior of the were taken on a temporary basis or and effectively. comes nearly an art form. stadium. This would illuminate the on a pilot program initiative then that My over-riding concern is officer Hospital details require a minimum detailing of on-duty officers be- would be a start. If my suggestions are safety. Our members — the depart- of two officers. The perpetual fixed ing removed from patrol duties at taken as a long-term solution to a seri- ment’s most valuable resource — are post details (i.e. Turk & Taylor, 16th district stations for the duration of ous FOB problem, at this time, then all being increasingly stretched to ineffec- & Mission, Friendship Alley, etc.) also home Giants game. This would also the better. The residences of this city tive staffing limits, and serious safety require a minimum of two officers. be consistent with the fiscal cover- deserve proper police coverage, and questions have developed around the The weekly numbers required for age provided by the San Francisco certainly our members deserve ready diminishing numbers. Is there suffi- spontaneous marches, protests, dem- 49ers franchise at Candlestick Park, and fast back-up. Either way this de- cient staffing to cover the fundamen- onstrations, celebrations, fairs, block even though that stadium is owned partment must stop detailing officers tals of street patrol, including the most parties, or organized parades that by the city. out of FOB to the point of depletion critical need of all – the 10-25 back-up the SFPD must facilitate and staff are 2. Absent of a successful negotiation of patrol. nearly incalculable. with the Giants, the department Slainte should seek additional funding The SF Giants Last season, I have heard this valid staffing concern voiced many times about the Giants game details. Of course, the complaints tapered off at the conclusion of last year’s season. Well here we are less than three weeks May is after the Giants home opener and, as Yogi Berra once said, “It’s deja vu all Memorial Month over again.” For every home Giants game the department details two officers to AT&T Park, drawing from 5 of the 10 district stations. These officers handle pedestrian, crowd, and traffic control Honor our country’s around the perimeter of the park. This fallen military and law is on top of the officers inside of the stadium that the Giants pay for, not enforcement heroes. the department, to maintain order. Periodicals postage paid at San Francisco, (USPS CA #882-320) When the Giants are at home against Page 2 POA Journal May 2014 “Lifesaver” Counselor’s Corner POA Public Affairs Video A (Former) Insider’s Wins “Telly” Award View of the Scottish By Martin Halloran SFPOA President Independence Vote By Gregg Adam, surprises in the choosing of that date. Good news! I just got a call from the SFPOA Counsel And if nationalist fervor does not Telly Awards in Cincinnati saying we carry the day alone, another more won another Telly for Best Regional This month’s recent phenomenon might. That is, Public Affairs commercial for our column goes a whereas Scottish voters have shown video titled “Lifesaver.” That video bit off-topic. As disdain for the Conservative (or Tory) stars Northern Station Officer Matt an immigrant Party for decades, the UK’s national Lobre re-enacting his heroic actions of to these parts coalition government is dominated July 4, 2014 when he pulled an elderly still struggling by the Tories and its clean-cut former woman from a burning building on to shake off (or Eton (an epitomy of English privilege Pine Street. maybe it is to re- and aristocracy) schoolboy Prime The award is for the Best Regional tain) a brogue (that friends and fam- Minister David Cameron. The party Public Affairs TV spot. The Tellys have ily in Scotland charitably describe as of Disraeli, Churchill and Thatcher over 14,000 entrants (not all in this “mid-Atlantic”), lots of people have currently holds 303 of the 650 seats category, of course) from 16 countries, been asking for my views on the pend- in Westminster (and governs in coali- and is a Cincinnati-based competition ing Scottish Independence vote. tion with the Liberal Democrats), but with a 45-year history. “Lifesaver” was Matt Lobre and the “Telly” our second SFPOA win in this category. The whole issue seems a little bit has only 1 of the 59 Scottish seats at We previously won for our video about Scan this QR Code to see the latest odd to people over here. It is a bit like Westminster—as was recently joked Officer Eric Batchelder titled “Unstop- award-winning paw and grandma calling it quits on a in Parliament itself, there are now pable” that was produced in 2013.