Engardio report on nextdoor on what he found when he met with Taraval Police : nextdoor – excerpt
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.
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 SF 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.
The officers I spoke to were diverse and committed to serving 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 are essential. And they need to know they are valued and supported…
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