Taraval Station will welcome a new police captain, Lt. Clayton Harmston, on Saturday, according to the station’s acting captain, Anthony Ravano.
“This is his at least third stint at Taraval Station,” Ravano said of Harmston at a community meeting on Thursday evening. “He was here as a sergeant. He was here as a lieutenant. And now, he’s here as captain.”
The San Francisco Police Department declined to confirm the name of the new captain, and said an announcement will be made on Saturday.
Harmston, who has been an officer at SFPD for 25 years, also served at the Northern Station on the investigation team, and at Bayview Station. He received a gold medal of valor — the department’s highest honor — and a purple heart in 2003 after arresting an armed driver who was on parole. The driver shot at him and another officer.
Harmston was also involved in legal disputes with the city and SFPD, accusing the department of racial discrimination against white officers when it came to promotions.
In 2019, Harmston, along with 12 other white SFPD employees, filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that they were “passed over for promotions by lower-scoring candidates,” according to the lawsuit.
“A disturbing pattern emerges from SFPD’s promotional scheme because it shows that lower-scoring African-American and female candidates are the primary beneficiaries of SFPD’s illegal promotion process,” the lawsuit read.
The suit alleged that Harmston, then a sergeant seeking to become a lieutenant, “was passed over because he is a white male.”
The city settled the lawsuit in March 2023 and paid out $380,000 to the officers.
Harmston filed a similar lawsuit in 2007, along with 17 other “non-Asian” officers, alleging that he “suffered a pattern and practice of racial discrimination,” and other wrongdoings from then-Police Chief Heather Fong.
Brien Hoo, the former Taraval police captain, was promoted to commander leading the airport division and left the job on July 5, the Ingleside Light reported.
Taraval Station covers some of the most predominantly Asian neighborhoods in the city. The Sunset District, for example, is 53 percent Asian, compared to 35 percent citywide, according to Census data. Advocates have urged SFPD to select Chinese and Asian American captains to lead stations like Taraval and Central.
The station covers the largest police district in the city, from Golden Gate Park to the border of San Mateo county, Ocean Beach to Inner Sunset.
Harmston was also involved in the police video scandal of 2005, when he appeared in a video that involved Asian stereotypes and a newspaper with a photo of Heather Fong. You can read the Police Commission notes via his page on the S.F. Public Defender’s CopMonitor website.
Chahmal looks sharp. He’s a lieutenant now.
Why did the sfpd provide such an old picture? He’s only a sgt there. Weird.
Pro-Asian racism is still racism. This can’t be understated.
Campers,
Who’s choosing these people ?
They give us a White head-banging Brady List guy in the largely Latino Mission and a guy who challenged Asian promotions in an Asian district?
Sounds like SFPD is joining the Trump ranks.
It might take a couple of years but I think Lurie will learn and unlike his last several predecessors I think he has a good heart.
Elect our Police Chief !!
that’s the ticket,
h.