Yes, the SFPD has a staffing crisis — but that’s just the beginning

I think it's a great essay without necessarily being harsh/​lenient on the SFPD.

The gist of the article is that the staffing level has been a problem but there's also organizational factors in play.

One characterization jumped out to me - basically in the past, the SFPD were able to get away with many things under the premise that the SFPD protects people but that law enforcement with impunity went away as San Francisco (perhaps the Country as a whole) became more aware of the negative externalities associated with harsh policing.

I'm both critical and sympathetic to the SFPD - critical in a sense that the SFPD seems to behave like a political organization rather than a department that provides critical functions that the citizens rely on and sympathetic in a sense that both the scope of the work and the decisions related to the work have gotten far more ambiguous.

“is that the city tells us what they don’t want, but we do not have a concrete answer on what is our job."

Cops are in a tough spot where whether or not they did a good job is dependent on the outcome which can be unpredictable depending on who you are dealing with.

Do we want cops to be proactive and detain criminals for little things before they have the chance to commit something worse? That could be seen as harassing people for petty matters.

Example: Bad Guy is driving around to steal catalytic converters. His vehicle has no valid registration. Cops conduct a traffic stop him and ask questions about why he has particular tools in his passenger side. Cops take his ID and see he is on probation for auto burglary and that he has a warrant for some other thing and arrest him. Cops do a vehicle search before impounding it and find the stolen converters.

This was a positive outcome. On the other hand, what if the guy had not stolen anything yet?The guy decided this traffic stop was bullshit. He's not gonna get arrested on his warrant for doing "nothing," and its time to fight for his freedom. The cop gets in a fight with some guy over a minor traffic violation. Bad Outcome.

My brother works for SFPD. Not only is being a police officer in a big city like SF hard, SF’s political views make it really hard to police without fear of being terminated or making the news.

Talking with him, he is doing his 25 years and getting out. And doesn’t recommend working for SFPD to anyone.

The Mayor’s office, Board of Supervisors, District Attorney’s office, and leadership in SFPD, need to all sit down and make a list of what they want enforced, what they want let slide, and overall goals for the police. Then support it.

witnessed a multiple stabbing/​homicide on valencia outside of elbo room in 2014 and it took them 15 minutes to respond to the 911 call across the street from the station. police protect property not people

Lack of funding? Prove that one. We refunded the police.

Last straw for me with SFPD was a good amount of years back when I was outside Safeway in Mission and PD was curbstomping homeless bum. Bashing his face into pavement with a boot on the skull and all that was happening was he was sitting and talking, it escalated out of control to brutality. Once we got wise to camera phones these cowards ran. So as far as I'm concerned I don't want those people showing up to an emergency as a first responder if for example I'm in accident unconscious with those levels of sadism.

Downvote that but I dgaf because y'all are okay with sociopaths keeping you "safe". "Doing whatever you want" and complaining you can't anymore is a weird take in any labor sector.

This is a well written and accurate article. I would like to add that LAPD and SDPD are in a same boat with same bag of issues presented in article