When attendees of Tuesday’s police community meeting complained to Mission Station Captain Thomas Harvey about a lack of police response to crime, he turned the question back to them.
“If you want more police officers … then we have to find people,” said Harvey, who was named to the top Mission Station post in April. “We all have to find people and refer them to the city we want to make better.”
The meeting began with introductions around the room, with a crowd that was more Noe and Dolores than Mission Street. Harvey gave an update on this month’s notable crimes, adding that police were still searching for suspects of the Sanchez Street carjacking. He also announced this year’s National Night Out event at Mission Playground on Aug. 1, when police officers will host a block-party-style party for the neighborhood.
He also responded to recent concerns from workers with the Department of Public Works, tasked with enforcement against illegal street vending at the BART plazas, that they faced violence, threats and harassment while checking for vendor permits.
Harvey said that, while officers continued to patrol the BART plazas and accompanied Public Works staff on their rounds, it would still be Public Works heading enforcement, informing vendors of violations, and confiscating items.
Two community members spoke out against overeager officers at the Dolores hill bomb arrests, when SFPD officers arrested 117 teenagers and young adults after the annual skateboarding event. One man, who said he had “always felt safe with police,” called the response “disproportionate” and said he saw people mistreated: A 13-year-old pushed to the ground by officers, an elderly woman running from the police, and a family dashing away from their picnic in the park.
Another frustrated community member said, about the mass arrests of skaters, “We don’t want more police officers, we want the appropriate response at the appropriate time.”
But most were there to complain about the opposite: A lack of sufficient crime enforcement.
One man, speaking of taggers, said there was a lackluster number of arrests: “The amount of arrests compared to the amount of graffiti is almost inconsequential.” He called for a task force of “dedicated citizens” to stop graffiti.
That was in line with Harvey’s own thinking.
“Our resources are at an all-time low. It affects our ability to do business, and to be in the places we need to be,” said Harvey. He suggested that community members step up and help one another fight nonviolent crimes, with measures like security cameras and volunteer graffiti-covering teams.
One woman said that, after being mugged in Noe Valley and filing a police report, she didn’t hear back for two weeks.
“No one told me to call 911, or what I should do next,” she said. “No one took a statement. I saw his face, I saw his license plate number. I wasn’t interviewed for two weeks.”
She also claimed that her son, who was “almost assaulted” in SoMa, approached police for help, but was told to “keep running.”
And a third decried a perception that City Hall is moving away from police responses for minor and non-violent crimes
“Our elected officials are driving down this path, which is, ‘We don’t want police to respond to non-injury accidents and property crimes,” they said, pushing for a course correction to re-emphasize law enforcement responses.
“We should speak up and ask for a change: That we still want police to respond to those crimes.”
“Our resources are at an all-time low.”
A $700 Million police budget is not an all-time low. how they can accomplish so little with so much money is laughable. SFPD need some serious auditing.
How do I ‘vote’ on a comment? It says to “sign in to vote” on a comment its not working😳
Did anyone ask about the glaring contradiction at the Hill Bomb Hearing last week. Scott testified and doubled-down at least once that police only became aware of the Hill Bomb a couple days before it happened. But three weeks earlier there was an email sent out to City workers, including Capt. Harvey alerting to the event and requesting a coordinated response. I heard Capt. Harvey also raised the issue at the June community meeting. Did he never tell Scott about it? Why was the SFPD brass kept in the dark? With more than a couple days, would planning and logistics for the event have been better? Another question would be whether Capt. Harvey was aware at the time of SFPD policies concerning juvenile detention and arrest? Did he give the order to disregard his department’s explicit policies, holding teenagers for six freezing hours without water or bathroom facilities?
SF is only 60% of the size of San Antonio, Texas. SF has 85% of the police force San Antonio has. The problem is not “resources.” The problem is a police force that does not leave its various fortresses.
Remember what we learned in an earlier ML story – there are only 10 officers patrolling in Mission/Noe/Castro at any given time. UNLESS that time is after 9 p.m., then it’s ZERO. We have thousands of police officers, and nobody patrolling at midnight on Mission Street. What do you think is going to happen?
Under Prop 47, arrests are virtually meaningless and repeat offenses rarely rise to felony levels like they used to. We need to repeal prop 47 to see any real change. Whatever “reforms” were intended, we are far worse off now than before. Only criminals have benefitted.
Well I am in the community and I am calling for much less police.
What kind of paramilitary organization is allowed to dispense with a modicum of discipline and then blame everyone else for its failure to execute on the basics? “No excuse, SIR” is the only valid response to failure in this context.
When are we going to admit that policing is and has been nothing but a warm security blanket for paranoid white people?
We are paying $3/4b per year for SFPD for the brass to tell us that is not enough for them to do their jobs, and for us to see the first inklings of results, we need to throw even more good money and people after bad?
The RICO operation of the SFPOA that holds San Franciscans in utter contempt is the major obstacle for recruitment. The snake is eating its tail.
Security blanket for paranoid white people. Jeez.
The police are a security blanket for the *wealthy*, not for the people. Sometimes that can look like paranoid white people, but it’s not all white people. Why do we have a Black mayor who constantly calls for more police? They still haven’t released who gave the order for the Dolores arrests. Unfortunately, those kids and their parents are now getting a taste of the true purpose of the police, a military force that exists to protect wealth.