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December 14, 2009
Re: Proposal for Strategic Alliance of MUNI with Patrol Special
Police
to Address New Crime Wave on Public Buses
Dear Mayor Newsom, Supervisor Dufty, and Mr. Ford:
I’m writing to offer the wholehearted support and cooperation
of the Patrol Special Police force in a strategic partnership
to quickly and effectively address the recent surge of violent
and fear-provoking personal attacks on the MUNI. As Executive
Director Ford stated in a recent Mayor’s press release,
“We will continue to work closely with our police partners
to make sure the Muni system is safe and secure for our customers.”
(See http://www.sfmayor.org/press-room/press-releases/press-release-j-church)
The Patrol Special Police are one such police partner. The
immediate addition of our uniformed and armed Officers on
various public buses will provide a visible and extended police
presence beyond what our burdened public police and the MUNI
can now provide.
The Patrol Special Police have a number of experienced police
officers available at moderate cost and ready now to serve.
With your assistance in expediting the SFPD review of applicants
to join our service, we propose to have a substantial number
of additional officers available over the next six to twelve
months.
Employing our effective, trained neighborhood policing force
on MUNI buses has received favorable consideration in the
past. Now it time to convert consideration into a reality,
in service to all San Franciscans who use public transit.
Please consider our preliminary attached Position Paper and
Proposal. We invite your call to discuss the details and immediate
implementation of a specific program of collaboration.
Very truly yours,
cc: Police Chief George Gascon
850 Bryant Street, Room 500, San Francisco, CA. 94103
Telephone: (415)553-1551 sfpd.online@sfgov.org
Hon. Joe Marshall, President, San Francisco Police Commission
850 Bryant Street, Room 549, San Francisco, CA. 94103
Telephone: (415) 553-1171 sfpd.commission@sfgov.org
Mr. Tom Nolan, SFMTA Board Chairman
1 South Van Ness Avenue, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103
Telephone: (415) 415-701-4500 MTABoard@SFMTA.com
Mr. Kevin Ryan, Deputy Chief of Staff, Mayor’s Office
of Criminal Justice
City Hall, Room 496, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San
Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) Kevin.Ryan@sfgov.org 415-554-6564
Position Paper and Proposal for MUNI Service by the Patrol
Special Police
December 14, 2009
The Patrol Special police force is committed to work in cooperation
with all public and private safety resources to help San Francisco
respond to the current series of criminal attacks on our public
MUNI buses, in order to quickly restore calm and help prevent
further attacks.
Once again, residents and visitors are being targeted on
buses. Those attacks not only cause untold personal damage
to individual victims, but also victimize the entire city
by decreasing public confidence in an otherwise nationally
noteworthy and effective city bus system.
It is not possible to know the full extent of the physical
and spiritual cost and suffering of each recent victim. However,
the Patrol Special Police care deeply about those individuals
as well as about all San Franciscans.
We believe that every citizen has a right to live free of
fear and in safety for his or her person, family, property,
business, and community – and that includes when riding
on the public transit system.
We note that MUNI faces a particularly grave present challenge
because: more unsuspecting women are being targeted with weapons:
A 24-year old sleeping woman was stabbed while riding the
J Church line. Authorities believe perpetrator used a knife
in the three earlier incidents. On Dec. 14, 2004, he was accused
of punching a woman for no reason as she waited for train
doors to open at the MacArthur BART Station in Oakland, BART
spokesman Linton Johnson said. He was arrested on suspicion
of misdemeanor battery, and although no charges were filed,
he was sent back to state prison on a parole violation. (SF
Chronicle December 3, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/02/BAPF1ATVOU.DTL&tsp=1
From Ingleside Police Captain Lazar’s daily crime report
for Nov. 20:
9:00 am Church @ 27th Street, Robbery with a gun, Officer
Morgante was sent to investigate a robbery case. The victim
told officers she boarded Muni and that she had her I-Phone
in her hand. The suspect stood in front of her and pulled
out a revolver. The suspected took her phone and then fled
in an unknown direction. Report number 091194488.
- our young are now being targeted:
Boy, 11, repeatedly stabbed on first solo Muni ride as he
rode home from baseball practice. Mother notes: "It takes
so long, meanwhile, he hit another victim, the lady, it's
very sad." (see above source)
- artists and creative residents who bring so much pride
to our city are being targeted: “Actor playing thug brutally
beaten on S.F. bus,” and
- our community leaders are also affected:
“Former Pride president assaulted on Muni.”
To quickly address this problem and restore community calm
and confidence, and without one doubt, it is imperative for
city leaders to identify and rely now more than ever on all
existing, trained, available, and cost-effective safety resources.
The Patrol Special Police provide just such a safety resource
for the following reasons.
- Our officers are trained and experienced in proactive,
trusted neighborhood policing. We have worked in close cooperation
with public police to supplement and expand their services
in local neighborhoods we serve.
- Second, we provide effective additional policing services
that are designed to solve small incidents before they become
large crimes.
- While our services are paid for by private businesses,
organizations, and individual clients including the occasional
city office client – our services benefit the entire
neighborhood where we patrol: we come to the aid of any person
in distress and can effect arrest when and as necessary for
public safety (see, description of nature and extent of our
services:
http://www.sfspecialneighborhoodpolicing.org/Services-business.html
http://www.sfspecialneighborhoodpolicing.org/Services-resident.html).
- Our many satisfied clients across the city
enthusiastically attest to the effective and welcome
nature of our particular, responsive, trusted policing
model. Those clients have recently and heartily endorsed
our services in an independent academic survey conducted
by Professor Edward Stringham of San Jose State
University. (Preliminary results reported by Professor
Stringham via email to the Patrol Special Police, October
2009)
Professor Stringham conducted a survey of about 1/5 of our
total city-wide clients and received an amazing return rate
of 43%. He found that:
- The Patrol Special Police provide services that members
of the S.F.P.D. do not provide.
- The S.F.P.D. does not respond to quickly to many types
of calls whereas the Patrol Special Police does.
- Crime is viewed as a problem, and the Patrol Special Police
are seen as a proactive rather than a reactive solution to
that problem.
In addition, ninety-seven percent of survey respondents answered
“Yes” when asked, “Does your Patrol Special
Police Officer make your neighborhood a more friendly and
safe place?”
Fifth, Patrol Special Police provide particular value to
the private client and also to the public client when we serve
a public agency such as MUNI, because:
- we provide protection at less than half the rate ($48/hr.)
of overtime public policing services in the off-duty officer
program (an effective rate of $109/hr. with a 22% administrative
charge levied in addition thereto).
- our officers commence each assignment with full, vigilant,
and focused attention to their policing duties; we never come
on board with reduced alertness due to having served another
full-time assignment elsewhere.
- clients and taxpayers are protected by our policies
of full liability coverage carried by the Patrol Special Police
at no cost to the public budget.
Finally, while public police constitute a crucial and effective
tool in addressing crime on MUNI, they are expensive in terms
of civil service salaries that are among the highest in the
United States, and costly when considering future pension
obligations. In addition, taxpayers have also been paying
for overtime abuse,
something Police Chief Gascon is investigating; see December
3, 2009 Channel 7 new report by Vic Lee. (1,2)
Accordingly, city political and administrative leaders must
expend scarce public resources wisely by judiciously deploying
public police where they can be most effective based on their
organizational culture and training. In addition, city leaders
must consider all viable options for delivery safety services,
and not place the entire burden of managing the current challenge
of increased MUNI crime on our public police forces.
The challenge for city leaders to carefully sheppard our
public budget achieves greater significance in a declining
economy. Critically strained resources are needed to address
not only public safety needs, but also fund other deserving
social programs in areas concerning health, education, and
services for the elderly and disabled. Public funds simply
cannot be wasted.
In April of this year MUNI Executive Director Nathanial P.
Ford called it a “dire situation” and said that
“SFMTA is grappling with a $128.9 million budget deficit
for fiscal year 2010, which begins this July 1.” (see,http://www.sfmta.com/cms/aexec/MessagetoEmployeesSFMTABudgetDeficit.htm).
Accordingly, he intended to consider “a broad range of
options to increase revenues and reduce costs.” However,
seven months later a December 5 news item on local Channel
7 reported that MUNI still faced a 129 million dollar deficit.
SFMTA is not the only agency impacted. San Franciscans are
aware of recently-announced budget cutbacks scheduled for
each department of approximately 3.9% (Discussion at the Police
Commission regular meeting on December 3, 2009 regarding proposed
cut-backs in the Office of Citizen Complaints).
The wisdom of using Patrol Special Police has been discussed
and/or noted time and again by city administrators and leaders
including Mayors, who have in every case unfortunately for
citizen safety, decided not to take advantage of our offer.(3)
It is beyond time for a wiser course of action to be taken.
Through demonstrated effectiveness, Patrol Special Police
can provide the same type and level of proactive, prompt,
yet friendly police presence as we currently provide to existing
clients, to serve all San Franciscans and help prevent and
quell crime on MUNI buses.
Patrol Special Police provide a cost-effective, program-effective
service and are ready now to serve.
- Professor Edward Stringham writes, "As of 2007 the
S.F.P.D. had 1,784 employees making more than $100,000 per
year and of those, 396 were earning more than $150,000 per
year. These figures fall well above the $47,460 median salary
of police officers in the United States, not to mention the
income of the average person in San Francisco which was at
that time only $36,000. (SFPD annual report retrieved September
1, 2009 from
http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/police/information/annual_report_2007.pdf)
Not only do taxpayers pay for the higher cost of monopolized
policing today, they are also taking on obligations to pay
lifetime pensions for public police after retirement, and
to their survivors for the indefinite future. To the contrary,
when Patrol Special Police serve, taxpayers do not become
obligated for future payouts of pension costs."
- Channel 7 reporter Vic Lee on December 3, 2009 found that
in October, the last reporting month, the San Francisco Police
Department incurred $1.6 million in overtime; year to date,
$5.7 million. "To the extent we have abuses in overtime
spending, we need to rein it in quickly and we need to have
an all hands on deck mentality," Supervisor John Avalos
said. However, no
one could tell Reporter Lee just how much taxpayer money might
have been paid out as overtime in this investigation, and
Lee reports that “it may be a substantial amount.”
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=715451
- September 1994 Patrol Special Police offer to serve
on MUNI. Had the city accepted, it would have then deployed
100 officers in place of only 50 for roughly the same $1.1
million budget. The Patrol Special offer was sent to Mayor
Frank Jordan and Supervisor Tom Hsieh. Supervisor Hsieh stated
he never received the proposal. Mayor’s office stated
the proposal was just never pursued. (S.F. Chronicle article
of November 20, 1995)
- November 20, 1995, Lawsuit by man suffering serious
brain damage, who charged that MUNI failed to put auxiliary
Patrol Special Police on buses. Plaintiff’s lawyer said:
“It shows the huge gap between the political rhetoric
about dedication to public safety and the reality of failures
to commit available resources.” (S.F. Chronicle article
of same date).
- November 21, 1995 Editorial: “Of all the problems that
beleaguer San Francisco's Municipal Railway, nothing is so
troubling to its 697,000 daily passengers as the violence
and crime that make a ride on some lines an exercise in urban
survival. So it came as a jolt yesterday to learn that the
city had rejected a proposal that would have replaced 50 regular
police officers with 100 uniformed auxiliary police on buses,
trains and streetcars at no additional cost to taxpayers.”
(S.F. Chronicle article of same date).
- January 7, 1996, Mayor-elect Willie Brown said: “My
police chief will embrace this idea and implement my recommendation
(to put Patrol Special Police on MUNI buses) the day after
. . . I’m sworn in.” (S.F. Chronicle article of
same date).
- January 23, 1996 official press release of Mayor Brown’s
office revealed: “dramatic new plan to increase police
presence on MUNI....Once fully trained, Patrol Special officers
will be assigned to specific beats – bus lines, transit
stops, and other areas affected by Muni-related crime –
where they will work alongside SFPD officers. The number of
Patrol Special officers and the extent of their participation
will be announced later.” Unfortunately, this plan never
came to fruition.
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