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Q.
How does our Glen Park SF Patrol Special Officer differ from a regular SFPD police Officer?
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 A.
First, Officer Cal focuses
on crime prevention before it happens, not law enforcement
after. He becomes an active member of our
community, helping improve safety through deterrence of
crime before it happens, in major part by his daily
uniformed presence in our Village via extensive, random foot
and car patrols. He reports in daily to our Ingleside Police
Station to review recent crime stats. He's on police
bandwidth at all times when patrolling our Village streets
to enable more rapid response and prevent problems,
sometimes even before the SFPD can respond. He gets to know
us as individuals, educates us in safety matters as needed
or requested, attends community meetings, joins the
Merchant's Association and GPA, drops by to check on
merchants and shoppers in the Village or stand by when
merchants close up late at night, and provides emergency
call, escort and vacation home check services to
subscribers, and other. He gives those engaged in
questionable activities the chance to do the right thing.
Second, our Officer works for us (but
reports as well to Capt. Lazar in the Ingleside Police
District). We have a direct and substantial say in crafting
their duty statement and a Provisional Steering Committee
(please contact us if you wish to join the program and
volunteer for this committee), is meeting periodically to
tailor-make a program suitable for our needs, then evaluate it
and amend it as needed. You can help decide safety priorities
by your input on that committee and by your response to
various surveys that are intended over time, with the advice
of Officer Cal, to determine just what streets should be
patrolled during what hours, and what other safety needs
should be addressed. Merchant subscribers can request pass-by
or check-in services a certain number of times per day at
certain hours, and all subscribers may negotiate additional
coverage as needed for a standard fee. For example, if a local
bar or restaurant wants to join the program and request
late-night additional coverage, and is willing to contribute a
more substantial monthly contribution than normal, then the
bar could request pass-by services more frequently during the
day and late night hours than a resident or business that
closes earlier, might need or want. After we develop our
subscription base, and a resident needs escort services for
children or a vacation home check, you could request that.
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Q.
What indication do you have that this program will work?
 A.
A
lot! Please review three press releases summarizing just
some of the results for 2009. It's working just like we
expected! Consider what one of our steering committee
members had to say when she requested Officer Cal to walk
her home late one evening after a meeting ended: "Walking
home with him was terrific. Most people we met were very
open and engaging. Hardly the feeling of an armed camp.
This is old style law enforcement at it's best, where our
officer has a welcome presence in the community. As we
were talking in front of our home, a car with loud music
came driving around the corner. As soon as the driver saw
Officer Wiley he turned down the music and drove on.
Fantastic!" Consider as well that Officer Cal brings 37
years of police experience, mature judgment and a
compassionate nature to his duties in Glen Park.
One evening he drove by a group of young adults standing
in a vacant lot along Arlington Street near the 280
freeway. This is an area where cars have recently been
routinely vandalized and property stolen. Officer Cal
parked, slowly walked over to the boys and politely
inquired if they were ok or needed anything. They replied
they did not. He started to walk back to his patrol car
and mentioned in parting that after a while they might
want to move along. As he slowly drove away, he saw the
boys move on. That's the kind of deterrence and
early-intervention that we believe will avoid problems
before they happen, consistent with our program's
old-fashioned community policing approach.
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1. SFPS Press Release
One 2-27-09
2. SFPS Press Release
Two 4-21-09
3. SFPS Press Release
Three 7-19-09
4. SFPS Press Release
Four
1-18-10 |
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Q.
How much do I have to pay?
A.
That depends upon your personal, family, or business budget:
contributions are entirely voluntary on a month-by-month basis.
Some residents have started at one contribution, then reduced it,
or increased it depending upon their circumstances. You may also
make a one-time annual contribution. Your committee decided to
suggest $25-$35 per resident or household, and $50 up per
business. In some neighborhoods, merchants pay up to $500 or more
per month because they require more attention from their officer.
For example a bar or market may stay open long hours and want the
officer to walk their employees to dark parking lots if they close
late at night. Some have high-risk businesses to protect,
especially if they collect a lot of cash during the day, such as
bars, and they need an escort to make late-night deposits.
Obviously the more each person and business can afford to
contribute, the more we can raise toward the total amount needed
to extend our part-time officer (about $38) to a full-time Officer
(about $7700). However, no matter what you choose to pay, no one
will be discriminated against and all enjoy the same basic
benefits! Our Officer will provide the same kind and level of
basic patrol or pass-by service to every resident and every
merchant. However, until we have a full-time program, you may
Officer Cal to request the price for additional escort services
for yourself or your children or employees or vacation home check
service while you are away.
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Q.
I think I can contribute $10 per month, but is that enough to participate? You mention $25 per month as the starting subscription rate.
A.
Yes you can participate! Each person, household, or
business contributes what he or she feels comfortable
contributing. You will still be able eventually to receive full
program benefits including vacation checks, and escort service.
You will receive emergency call services (when our officer is on
duty) no matter what you pay. Over time if you feel the program is
beneficial and you are able, you may increase your monthly
contribution amount (or even diminish it, although we hope you
will be able to continue at your present amount).
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Q.
I already pay enough taxes for SFPD service. Why should I
pay even more for safety service?
 A.
As Dr. Phil might ask: "How is the
SFPD working for you?" While our police work hard to preserve
our safety, consider the fact that they are often
overburdened. Consider as well, the following questions.
Did the SFPD prevent the life-threatening attack on Paul Park
in fall 2008? After that incident, has the SFPD prevented
crimes, amounting to about one daily since January, 2009 (see
crime list for Glen Park below)?
How many nights from 8 to 10 pm have you seen public police
consistently stay put in the heart of the Village or near the BART
station when you come home from work, rather than just drive
through and on to Hwy 280 or the Mission District to handle
critical safety needs there?
How many SFPD officers have you personally gotten to know, or
invited into your home or onto your doorstep to hear your
priorities or concerns on safety matters? If you are a merchant or
local businessperson, can you call the SFPD and have them appear
in minutes to deal with an obstreperous customer or shoplifter?
Can you call the SFPD and ask them to patrol your street,
specifically? Can you call them in a personal home emergency--and
they get there generally faster than the SFPD because they are in
Glen Park and not in the Mission attending to the latest incident
there? Can you ask the SFPD to drop by when you are away on
vacation over the holidays, and rattle your front door and check
your back door, or remove restaurant flyers hung on your
doorknob? Can you ask them to meet your child at BART and walk
her home when she returns from a class because you are out of
state attending to your sick mom? Can you ask the SFPD to stay put
in Glen Park, keep an eye out for potential mischief-makers, and
ask them to move on?
Of course these things would be inappropriate for a citizen to
expect of our SFPD. Once we expand the program, you may ask all of
those things of our Glen Park SF Patrol Special Officer. And you
may expect ultimate courtesy and sensitivity when dealing with
neighbors and neighborhood issues which typically do not require a
heavy-handed law enforcement approach. We need our public police
to focus on law enforcement, and deal with gang activity and the
growing criminal activity known as American terrorism, and conduct
undercover sting operations, mass arrests, criminal investigation
and prosecution of serious crimes. This is a focus and constitute
crimes for which they are well-trained and for which their
organizational culture makes them particularly effective in
handling.
However, Patrol Special Police are much better at handling
quality-of-life issues that raise our fears and disrupt our life,
and as researchers have found, also lead to more serious and
expensive crimes. We do need your help, and hope you will explain
the original concept behind the SF Patrol Specials to your
neighbors. They are dedicated to Glen Park and our safety, not to
the City as a whole. They serve as a visible deterrent with a
uniformed, armed presence, and badges clearly alerting others that
they are Patrol Special Police Officers. They have direct
communications to the Police Dept. so they are first to know about
criminal activity in Glen Park, and be on the lookout for it. They
serve safety needs as we define them with their assistance, and
focus on our priorities. They are hired by us to serve as an
adjunct police service, and help to the SFPD, not replace them.
They make the SFPD's job easier since the SFPD can focus on law
enforcement tasks they are best trained to address, and then leave
community policing up to our Officer. These are only some of the
reasons why this program makes a lot of sense in any community
that cares about its overall peace-of-mind and welfare of
residents and merchants alike.
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