Shoppers on Irving Street are getting to know Matthew Hewitson, the police officer assigned to walk the busy commercial corridor. Shoplifters beware.

Officer Hewitson is a welcome sight for merchants. His mission is to help reduce retail theft and provide a sense of security.

The Snickers bandit
While patrolling Irving Street recently, Hewitson walked into the Walgreens and spotted a man stuffing bags of Snickers candy bars into his jacket.

Hewtison yelled at him to stop and the bandit put his hands up.

“How about you take the Snickers out of your pocket and put them back,” Hewitson told the man. “Now I want you to look at me. I see your face and you see mine. Now leave the store. I don’t want to see you here ever again.”

The man complied. 

Why didn’t Hewitson arrest the man on the spot?

“He didn’t commit a crime at that point, because we don’t know if he would have paid,” Hewitson explains. “I could have waited outside and waited for him to cross the threshold.”

But Hewitson said he decided to offer a teachable moment rather than make a minor bust.

“Repeat offenders get arrested, released and come back again and again. They’ve got 93 misdemeanors — all theft,” Hewitson said. “Are they really learning from those arrests?”

Hewitson said his philosophy is to talk to the person to break the cycle of repeat offending.

“I want them to know that even if I’m a friendly guy, I can arrest them when necessary,” Hewitson said. “I think that is part of good community policing.”

Policing philosophy
As he patrols Irving Street, Hewitson checks in with store operators to see if they’ve had any problems or need help.

By walking a beat, Hewitson is developing solid relationships with businesses and residents. This encourages cooperation with police, including making people willing to press charges or give witness testimony.

As a college student at San Diego State University, Hewitson thought he was going to be a journalist. But his plans for a broadcasting career didn’t work out.

He returned to San Francisco, where he was born and raised, to look for a job. The police department was hiring and offered a higher salary than he could ever get as a journalist.

“My parents were super supportive about me becoming a police officer,” Hewitson said, “despite having their concerns because it’s a dangerous profession.”

Police academy challenges
Hewitson entered the police academy in 2020 at age 26 and quickly learned how demanding the program is. Not every recruit is able to complete it. 

There are nine months of training that include physical fitness, the emergency vehicle operations course, and firearms qualification with the Sig Sauer P226 pistol.

“It’s a difficult gun to shoot and I wasn’t used to it,” Hewitson says. “I struggled to pass the firearms test and only got through it with the strong support of my recruit training officer.”

Hewitson graduated from the academy and continued field training for a year at various police stations around the city, including the Mission station, to learn procedures for handling calls and filing reports. Now he is assigned to Taraval Station in the Sunset.

Taraval Station
“Taraval station is a special place,” Hewitson says. “It is my second family. After three years here, I have already built relationships that will last a lifetime.”

With a severe officer shortage in San Francisco, officers must work a lot of overtime.

“I see my fellow police officers more than I see my family,” Hewitson said. “I am proud to be a Taraval Station police officer.” 

San Francisco currently has a shortage of about 500 officers for a city its size.

Residents are asking for more police protection. But the key to recruitment is getting more young people to want to become police officers.

Hewitson said he hopes they will see a different side to police officers.

“I think there’s a false impression of police officers and why they join the force and what they do,” he said. “I joined to make a positive impact on people’s lives and help them in times of need. I try to be fair, honest and positive with everybody I encounter, even the people I arrest.”

SFPD is a leader in reform, having completed all 272 recommendations by the U.S. Department of Justice. Young people also need to get to know officers who represent a new generation of policing — so they can see that it's a meaningful job to serve others in uniform.

Perhaps young people are finally seeing the value of SFPD. The current academy class has 50 men and women — the biggest class since 2018. 

Hewitson is hopeful about his chosen career and the future of San Francisco’s police department.

“I’m grateful to be in the position I’m in right now,” Hewitrson said. “I’m passionate about doing the footbeat on Irving because it gives me a chance to make a difference here.”

NOTE: The San Francisco Police Department is hiring. Learn more here.

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Tom Colin. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.