The State of Policing in San Francisco and America
Supervisor Joel Engardio meeting with officers at the police station that serves San Francisco’s western neighborhoods.
By Supervisor Joel Engardio
I learned a lot listening to police officers express their concerns about the difficulties and challenges of doing effective police work in San Francisco. I spent 10 hours talking to beat officers one-on-one and in groups at the Taraval police station serving the Sunset and much of the westside.
Police officers in San Francisco are stretched thin. They’re a model of police reform but treated like they can’t be trusted. They’re constantly under fire while being asked to do too much without the tools they need. They don’t feel valued or supported. Many are leaving.
Confronting the Memphis Atrocity
As we confront the horrific and brutal murder of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police officers, the state and culture of policing in America must be examined and reformed. I stand by the statements of our mayor and police chief in San Francisco.
The night before the video of Memphis police beating was released, I joined Mayor London Breed and Police Chief Bill Scott at San Francisco’s police academy graduation. Chief Scott went off script to talk about the horror in Memphis and told the graduates the world is watching.
Chief Scott also said he is confident that our training in San Francisco has prepared the graduates to serve at the highest standard as we work to lead in police reforms. He thanked the new officers for their willingness to join this profession at such a challenging time.
People don’t want to be police officers when they see atrocities like Memphis. Chief Scott noted our graduates have to work harder because our police department is so short staffed. We used to graduate 30 to 50 new officers per class. This time there were only 12.
Unsustainable Shortage of Officers
We’re short 500 officers (and growing) for a city our size. This is not sustainable. Taraval station had 130 officers three years ago. Now, there are only 65. That means only 4 or 5 officers on a given shift to serve a population of 130,000 over 10 square miles.
With so few officers in such a large territory, they’re constantly crisscrossing the entire westside from hot call to hot call with no time to do the community policing they prefer to do and residents deserve.
Officers say they want to do proactive police work to solve and prevent crime but they lack tools and technology that other Bay Area cities provide. Well-meaning but overly restrictive policies in San Francisco make it difficult to help crime victims when common sense should prevail.
It’s a dangerous job. Thieves stealing catalytic converters at 4am a couple nights ago on the westside opened fire on officers who tried to arrest them. Our officers are getting shot at by organized criminals over a car part.
I am co-sponsoring a resolution that urges San Francisco to match the hiring bonuses other California cities offer to new police officers. We are losing too many officers to other cities.
Changing the Narrative About SFPD
The officers I spoke to were diverse, committed to accountability, and willing to serve residents despite the difficulties. Nearly 60 percent of our officers are people of color. We must change the narrative about police in San Francisco. They care about the community. They strive to serve at the highest standard. They are essential. And they need to know they are valued and supported.