Neighbors are accusing a human-controlled loudspeaker security system at a residential building at 26th and Bartlett of “racial profiling” people who linger too long in front of its door. Anytime a poor-looking black or brown person stands in front of the building, a loudspeaker sounds and threatens to call the police, according to neighbors.   

“Please be advised to the individual in the hoodie and the hat — you have been warned at this time, please don’t loiter in front of the building … police have been called and are en route to your location — you are now considered trespassing.” 

That’s what a male voice told a Mission Local reporter through a loudspeaker on Wednesday when this reporter, whose skin is brown, stood in front of the building on the public sidewalk while wearing jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and a billed cap. After a mere minute, it gave him a warning, and after five, it said police were on their way. 

By contrast, a Mission Local editor — middle-aged, white, wearing a sweater and reading a newspaper — went unhassled as he stood for 15 minutes in front of the building. 

Responding to a social media post, Amanda Moran, who said she and her family have owned a unit in the building at 555 Bartlett since 2010, said the building’s tenant “board” installed the system to deter homeless people. 

“What happened is that so many people were camping and peeing there that the cement in that part of the Walgreens garage got soaked with urine and it’s seeping into the walls and up into the apartments upstairs,” Moran wrote. “We thought this was a good solution, but our board is now aware of neighbors’ concerns — it definitely is TOO Loud!”   

It’s unclear who actually runs the loudspeaker security system. Moran did not respond to a message from Mission Local. 

It’s also unclear if the police actually respond as the loudspeaker threatens. This reporter waited around 10 minutes, and no police came. Kristin Hogan, a spokeswoman with the Department of Emergency Management, which fields non-emergency calls, said dispatchers determine the priority of the call depending on the information conveyed to them from the call.  

Likewise, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Officer Adam Lobsinger said the police department responds according to the immediacy and severity of a reported crime.

“When the San Francisco Police Department receives a call for service our response is based on several factors including, but not limited to, threats to life, property and severity of a call,” he wrote in an email. 

Residents in the surrounding area say the loudspeaker security system, which has a camera mounted next to it, on the south side of the street on 26th near Bartlett, sounds at all hours — oftentimes in the middle of the night, waking up the neighbors. But observations that it profiles people based on their appearance is the biggest concern. 

“I feel it targets and criminalizes low-income people and immigrants [or] … if you look like a Mission homie on a bike,” said Nancy Charraga, who lives across the street from the building, and has frequently heard the loudspeaker over the last year. 

She posted about it on Facebook on Monday, describing the system as the “racially profiling speaker announcements at all hours.”   

Charraga wondered what criteria tenants of the building gave to the security company to act upon, in terms of the kinds of people they don’t want to see in front of their building. She said she’s seen people in suits, passing out real estate flyers, without being disturbed. 

Charraga wants to see the loudspeaker security system turned off. “It doesn’t fit in with the character of the neighborhood,” she said. “We have to share the street with the diversity of the community.” 

Heather Steiny, one of Charraga’s neighbors, agreed. “We’re concerned it’s racial profiling,” Steiny said. 

Steiny said she began to notice the system last fall, and it has since woken her up at all hours of the night, each time telling people that appear to be low-income to “move on” and that “we’ll dispatch the police.” 

Steiny said the system’s noise level is only one of the issues, and simply turning it down won’t solve much. 

Likewise, Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, the executive director of CARECEN SF, which advocates for Latino and immigrant rights, said she saw a brown person be deterred from the building sometime last year. 

“It kind of tripped me out because I had never seen or heard that,” she said. “And it kept going off and the person walked away.” 

“It feels like a very impersonal way to approach community,” she added. 

Charraga, who said she’s meeting with the building’s tenants on Thursday, said if the situation does not change, the community is poised to push back. “I’m hoping they’ll be diplomatic about it,” Charraga said. “Or else the community is ready to mobilize.”

Update, Jan. 16: 

Joe Eskenazi contributed reporting to this story.