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Letter 6-4-10 to Reporter M. Bajko
Hello Matthew,
I am writing in response to your recent article
about Patrol Special Police Officer Jane Warner,
published in the Bay Area Reporter on May 27, "Support
Grows for Jane Warner Plaza."
I appreciate
the nice publicity about the warm community response to
Supervisor Bevan Dufty's proposal to name the new Market
and 17th Streets plaza the "Jane Warner Plaza."
I had the good fortune to hire Officer Jane 13 yrs.
ago when I owned a boutique on Market in the Castro.
Last year I began to work more closely with her in her
role as the Patrol Special Association President as well
as a business owner serving the Castro, Mission and Noe
Valley areas. We sought to promote the special features
and benefits of neighborhood policing. As one result, a
group of her officers established an informative new
website exploring the issues, at: www.sfspecialneighborhoodpolicing.org
I worked closely with Jane to study the program- and
cost-effectiveness of various policing models and
delivery of safety services, including the Patrol
Specials, and to articulate the factual and beneficial
differences that Patrol Specials offer to those who wish
to hire them for supplementary policing. As you know,
that may include patrols, safety classes, money drops,
employee or customer safety escorts, and a myriad of
other services, as well as the overall improvement of
general safety in the neighborhoods where officers
serve.
I hope you have a chance to visit and explore that
Patrol Special website, as well as
Officer Jane's memorial page thereon.
I am also writing, however, to correct a
misinterpretation or misstatement of fact that you make
in the article.
You say that Officer Warner "clashed with the CBD
last year over the hiring of extra patrols at night in
the Castro" and had a kind of "feud" with Dominic
Campodonico, the Executive Director of the Community
Business District. I am well aware of discussions that
ensued between Mr. Campodonico and other staff and/or
directors of the District board last fall, however I do
not believe it accurate or fair to characterize those
negatively in the fashion so indicated.
I assisted Jane prepare a fact-based letter that she
sent to Mr. Campodonico,
copy attached, and I believe as well to Director
Aiello, addressing the matter, and also a chart for
interested Castro Bar Owners (called "Castro After
Dark") designed to
compare service costs of the Patrol Specials to the off
duty SFPD "10b" supplementary policing program.
By reviewing those attached documents you will see
that they were cordial, businesslike, and factual. That
folks can become overly enthusiastic and even sometimes
express frustration during any meeting and/or
negotiation process is clear, and certainly could well
have happened. However, I know for a fact that Jane's
commitment, as I'm sure is the commitment of all
officers and staff of the Community Business District
and Mr. Campodonico, was to the welfare of her beloved
Castro, and that Jane had no intention to engage in any
kind of feud with anyone. I believe the warm outpouring
of affection and grieving for Jane's loss that we all
feel now, is adequate testimony to that.
I also have recently learned that the CBD as well as
various other organizations committed to improve safety
in the Castro including the Patrol Specials, are
presently in the process of working collaboratively
together, something that would have pleased Jane a great
deal.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any
questions in the future about Jane's commitment to her
beloved Patrol Specials, to her clients, and to her
community, or her perspective on safety and how to
provide it in a value- and program-conscious way.
I do hope to see you at one of the upcoming
memorials for Jane, truly a community treasure who will
long be missed.
Best regards,
Ann Grogan, J.D.
Management Consultant
2912 Diamond St., Ste. 239
San Francisco, CA 94131
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