Multiple sources have confirmed that Liza Johansen no longer serves as the Mission Station police captain.
The Mission native’s tenure came to an end just 10 months after she took over in mid-August 2024. Johansen was only the second female officer to lead the Mission police district, which was founded in 1902, after Rachel Moran did so for nine months in 2021.
The Mission District has been cycling through police captains: At the time of her appointment, Johansen was its fifth captain in four years.
Capt. Gaetano Caltagirone was the longest-lasting recently: He served for three and a half years before he was transferred to Richmond Station in February 2021. Moran then served for nine months before she was promoted to commander.
Gavin McEachern served for about a year and a half before he retired. Thomas Harvey took the helm for nearly a year and a half before being reassigned within the department, and replaced by Johansen.
It is unclear who Johansen’s successor will be, or what Johansen will do next.
SFPD did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Some community members and groups lamented Johansen’s departure.
“The community is disheartened by the move. She did an excellent job at having hard conversations to bring an understanding between community and her work,” said a Mission District community activist, who asked to remain anonymous. “She made huge strides in starting a path to amend relationships.”
“To foster trust within the community, it is crucial for the SFPD to commit to keeping Captain Liza Johansen at Mission Station,” read a statement from the Latino Task Force. “We have expressed our concerns about the revolving door of leadership and were hopeful our voices were heard. Removing her would further harm community-police relations, and we strongly urge a reconsideration of this decision in the best interest of community building.”
In an interview with Mission Local on June 6, Johansen spoke about her decision to move the monthly community meeting out of the police station and to different parts of the district, and described it as a way to regain trust.
“I try to move it around and keep it where I’m accessible if people from the community want to come and talk,” said Johansen. “I think I’m very humble. I do my best to let that emanate from my person.”
On June 3, Johansen received a certificate of honor from District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder recognizing her work. Fielder lamented Johansen’s departure.
“This is a huge loss for us in the Mission,” Fielder wrote to Mission Local on Monday. “As a Mission-raised Latina leading the Mission Police Station, Captain Johansen has accomplished what many believed was impossible — bridging deep divides and rebuilding trust with the community.”
Fielder added that, “with the departure of Chief Bill Scott, and no Latinx representation among the highest levels of SFPD leadership,” it is key that the next Mission Station captain continues “strengthening relationships within the Latino community.”
Fielder said she was not told of the decision ahead of time, and “had to call” the mayor’s office herself to find out.
Johansen’s tenure was a busy one. Upon her arrival, neighbors complained of hundreds of dirt bikes rumbling through the Mission, disrupting traffic and sometimes riding on sidewalks. In one instance caught on video, a group of dirt bikers and cyclists assaulted a man and a woman on Valencia Street.
Mission Station officers have been busy attempting to address the issue, but acknowledged in a community meeting in May that the problem remains, partly because they cannot chase dirt bikers, who often cover up their license plates and faces.
No one issue, however, has been more prominent in the neighborhood than the crackdown on drug use and drug dealing at the 16th Street BART Plaza. On March 12, the department parked a police command center at the southwestern plaza to signal the start of operations that brought multiple city agencies to a transit hub struggling with drugs and illegal street vending.
Though the idea had been discussed before, the command center was a request made by Johansen to Lurie and Scott.
In the more than 100 days since, police enforcement has had marginal impacts: The area immediately surrounding the police van is clear, but drug-dealing and vending persist just across the street. The alleys field more complaints from neighbors than ever, and residents complain of “Whac-A-Mole” effect from enforcement.
Johansen grew up at San Bruno Avenue and 25th Street, and went to St. Peter’s Catholic School near 24th Street. She came back to the neighborhood as a probation officer first, then as a lieutenant from 2019 to 2022. She also worked in the Special Victims Unit, and served as captain of the Airport Bureau.
Johansen, for her part, seemed to predict the unstable nature of the police captain posting. At the community meeting where she introduced herself last year, she said she had no control of her future role within the department.
“I couldn’t tell you if I’m going to be a cop a year from now,” Johansen said. “I might be in a different country in six months from now.”
5 captains in 4 years seems like a lot- how does this compare to other precincts? If it’s out of line, I’d love to hear their explanations as to why.
Thank you for the article. I fail to understand why the police department changes chiefs in districts at such a rapid pace. It has been going on for years and is highly disruptive to the community. in order for the police to be effective there has to be trust and good will. It takes time to develop those relationships. I hope this practice, which is widespread, will be investigated.
“Whac-A-Mole” is exactly what this city does for a lot of things. Crime and Homelessness are key examples. We spend more and more money on cops, but every time you try to convince people to spend that money on a real city program to do something real, the most you get is, “Well, we’ll give some money to my cousin’s sister’s husband’s non-profit”. Then you get 10 more that may actually help, then you bust the cousin’s non-profit for being a scam and everyone loses funding and the cops get it again… and again… and again.
Until the city actually commits to having a real program to really help with this stuff, it’s just going to be “Whac-A-Mole” and rando non-profits that are constantly under attack.
We need a Captain committed to cleaning up 16/Mission.
– GET SERIOUS AND CLEAN THIS AREA UP. MISSION RESIDENTS ARE SICK OF THE STREET CONDITIONS.
– Hire someone who knows where they are going to be in 6 months! No wonder no change has happened.
– You don’t need to be Latino, you just need to do your job, maybe do better than the job description – this neighborhood has gotten worse over 5yrs, every yr it declines further.
There appears to be a rapid turnover of police captains .
Northern doesnt even have one
Tenderloin changes them often
Would be better if they all had captains that stayed for sometime
We need their help
Please stay on this story,
Also, Captain Johansen brought the Community Meetings back to the community and out of the Police Station which is not considered a welcome space by much of our community.
You can’t find out what happened because we don’t have an elected Police Chief who knows they’ll answer to Mission Voters and the City at large for such back room moves.
go Niners !!
h.
Ask any Co. D (Mission Station) cop. Everyone knows. It’s got nothing to do with politics. It has nothing to do with the union (POA).
She will likely be transferred to either the airport or to an administrative position after her “sentence.”
It doesn’t matter who replaces her, they’re all allowed to do a terrible job lighting fires under their lazy cops and the public nor mayor will do enough to hold them accountable for this. The mobile command center just sits there as a visual deterrent. It’s a visual aid that’s really a paper tiger to portray that they’re doing their jobs when we all know they’re just sitting there scrolling social media or texting. These temporary paper tigers they throw up are relatively routine in the 20 years I’ve lived in the Mission so I doubt it will ever change. Cops seem to have 2 modes, abuse of power or criminal neglect. Chiefs are no different.
Or should I say who next?
Good riddance. Not surprised after how pathetic her answers were in that last mission local interview.
Did she piss off the former president of the POA who is now a commander? Mark my works, Yep will be the next chief or why would they let him appoint her as commander?
Perhaps now the Mission can get a captain who is focused on stopping the obvious lawbreaking in plain view.
How many more ways can the government of San Francisco tell the Mission that we don’t count and are only here to take that which the rest of the city would never tolerate?
I think that they really get off on the sadism.
Terrible news on a terrible news day. What next?
Campers,
“I got a bad feeling about this one, Vern.”
Know how the Tenderloin got it’s name ?
Same thing here.
They used to move em so they didn’t have a chance to establish lines for bribes and the like.
It’s a tradition that should be ended cause this lady was the best station chief I’ve seen in the Mission in 45 years.
Round-the-clock SFPD presence at 16 and Mission in the Feinstein tradition was a good move but not with a friggin’ motor home.
Just repatriating one of those old ‘Cop boxes’ from Walter Wong’s rear lot would be a better idea.
Or, buy one new from IKEA or something.
What the Mission and SFPD and the City need most is an Elected Police Chief.
Reason we don’t know why they’re transferring this MISSION NATIVE !!! is because Power Distribution in the department is a mysterious thing best left uninvestigated.
Little levity there.
We need a Chief elected by the majority of the 500,000 registered San Francisco voters who attended candidate debates and read mailings and discussed with bartenders and drug dealers.
As a reporter, of course.
A Charter Change from Lurie that included recommendations from the Police Commission and a few elected Police Chiefs or, Sheriffs.
Call Michael Hennessey if you want the best advice cause this is his idea anyway . And, he was the best Sheriff in America for 32 years.
Daniel Lurie is a nice decent man but whomever he chooses as his next chief will be a figurehead in a position that needs leader chosen by the People.
I told Daniel when he was running that if he didn’t let the people pick the Chief that when his 8 years were up he’d most regret the time he spent defending himself over things the cops did.
It would be some Political Campaign.
Two past SFPOA heads liked the idea (Halloran and Delagnes – present prez, Tracy McCray likes it as it is – powerless chief?).
So, I thought the Mayor fired the entire old guard atop the department or something close ?
If Yep wants to be a real Police Chief let him get elected by the voters in a race that includes Bill Scott and a few legal eagle criminal law attorneys.
go Niners !!
h.
Maybe now the district can get someone who decides to do something about the obvious lawlessness in the Mission’s most important public spaces. I’m not holding my breath though.