Mike Torres did not know a time when there wasn’t a white RV-sized SFPD mobile command unit at the 16th Street BART plaza.
The security guard, who lives in the East Bay, only started working at Wells Fargo located at the southwest plaza at the end of April, while the SFPD mobile command unit has been parked 24/7 next to the green bathroom at the plaza ever since March 12.
Torres, who drives to work a couple of days a week, would park his car on the streets nearby and spend most of his day patrolling the ATM and parking lot area outside the bank. Almost the only goal of his job, Torres said, is to keep bank workers and customers safe during business hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekdays and 9 a.m. until noon on Saturdays.
“It’s usually the craziest earlier in the morning, when a lot of people are camping out,” said Torres, the plaza newcomer who is around the area only during the day.
One early Wednesday afternoon, a man was shouting at passersby a few feet away from him. Torres stayed alert, diligently pacing and looking around. Eventually, the man walked away. “I like the puppies around here a lot,” Torres said, pointing to two small dogs walking past with their owner. “But the feces and chaos, not so much.”
Torres, who is usually standing across from Wiese Street, one of the alleyways, said that police officers would normally walk around the area and check out the alleyways once an hour.
According to his observation over the three weeks he’s been working at Wells Fargo, Torres said police officers would disperse those who are congregating in the alleyways, but leave it alone if it’s only one or two individuals hanging out by themselves. Dispersed crowds move around and usually come back, he said.
“The hotel is a no-brainer,” said Torres, when asked about the bad conditions of the alleyways. He was referring to the Kailash Hotel on Julian Avenue, where he suspects that people are using and dealing drugs in front of it. “It’s a little sketchy.”
Campers,
Was it the Cardinals or the Giants who had a great right-hander named Mike Torrez ?
Therefore, God exists.
lol
No, my point is that you spoke with and got honest comments from a Security Officer and really fresh set of eyes on the Daytime Best Behavior at 16th and Mission.
As a cop parking lot it’s pretty tame.
When I came here 45 years ago I was told that if I wanted a fake ID of any kind from drivers license to passport or to get laid or buy heroin or buy cheap used clothes or have your Soul saved it was the place to go.
Which brings me to why we need an elected Police Chief.
Because, we can choose a candidate who promises 900 real Beat cops in the fact that they ‘beat’ the pavement for 8 hours a shift and wear out their shoes and get ‘flat feet’.
I come from those days in St. Louis and it was the same here with every neighborhood knowing the cop on their beat personally from the time they were born til they joined the military or became a cop or fireman themselves or went to prison mostly in my own hood and the Clinton-Peabody Projects.
It’s a rare day in San Francisco that see’s 5 cops City-wide on Foot Patrol for 8 hours.
Can you imagine having 300 on at a time ?
Spread thataway we’d have 30 to a District 24 hours a day.
Cops don’t really have ‘beats’ anymore.
They don’t walk among us and argue baseball and soccer.
That’s a beat.
No, they drive by slowly in stalk style observation.
That’s no way to run a Race Track.
go Stanford !!
h.