by and : missionlocal – excerpt (map)
FPD says its officers working as security guards are ‘out in the community.’ But mostly, they’re downtown.
When Supervisor Jackie Fielder and Assistant Chief David Lazar sparred at a San Francisco city hearing this week, two questions arose: Is it good for public safety that the city’s police officers can go work private security after work, and are those officers spread out equitably across San Francisco’s neighborhoods?
Lazar said yes, full stop. The program “is a big win for the community, the public, the city, and for the department,” he said. Allowing SFPD to act as a broker for off-duty police officers is a way to have police ”visible in public” and “out in the community” reducing crime — but with private businesses paying the tab. It’s a great program that needs to continue, he said. SFPD should actually look to expand it.
Fielder countered. The program — known as 10(b) — gives certain parts of the city a stronger police presence, she said, based on the ability of local businesses to pay for it. The police department “should be equitably allocating public safety resources, including officers” where they’re most needed, without an option to buy your way into city-trained and subsidized security…
10(b) program underlies SFPD’s overtime abuse Concern over geographic equity is not the only criticism of the 10(b) program. It’s now at the center of uproar over overtime misconduct within the San Francisco Police Department.
At the city hearing this week, six supervisors lambasted police brass for asking for another $61 million in overtime for the year… (more)
Instead of cutting back on police education, the academy ought to set up a less intense program to train security guards. Academy students may even work their way through the police program by gettin their start as security guards. That would solve two problems at one time and get a lot more people on the street faster.