Pubdate: Sat, 19 Jan 2008
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A - 1, Front Page
Copyright: 2008 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

S.F. COPS ON DESK DUTY TOLD TO PATROL STREETS

A day after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom threatened to demote 
police commanders unless they did more to fight homicides, Chief 
Heather Fong ordered investigators in the department's drug and gang 
units to put on uniforms and patrol city streets at night, officials 
said Friday.

Newsom met with the command staff and other officials at City Hall on 
Monday, a day after San Francisco recorded its sixth homicide of the 
year. Last year's homicide total, 98, was the most in San Francisco 
in a dozen years.

The mayor told commanders that their current strategy of combatting 
violent crime wasn't working and that he would replace them if they 
couldn't get the job done, said one official who attended the 
meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not 
authorized to comment.

Newsom was particularly concerned about the shooting last Saturday 
outside a Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory girls basketball game 
that killed Terrell "Terray" Rogers, a community activist who was 
gunned down when he walked out of the gym at halftime. The mayor told 
the group he had known Rogers, whose Peacekeepers anti-violence group 
was active in the Bayview neighborhood.

Newsom talked about wanting to double or triple the number of 
officers in the Bayview, officials said.

"The mayor is upset about the homicide rate in the city. He made it 
clear he wants to change things," said Newsom spokesman Nathan 
Ballard. "He said, 'Enough is enough. Our current approach isn't 
working, and it's time to fix it.' "

The next day, all 70 or so officers in the narcotics and gang task 
force units were reassigned to the evening shift in uniform. Some 
said they had been told to abandon current investigations, although 
department officials insisted they would continue their existing 
duties even as they pound a beat.

Some reassigned investigators in the gang and narcotics units were 
skeptical, saying potential informants were unlikely to risk being 
seen talking to a uniformed officer and that police who might be 
asked later to work undercover could be jeopardized if they are seen 
now on patrol. None of the officers would speak on the record, 
fearing retribution.

Fong referred questions about the reassignments to spokesman Sgt. 
Neville Gittens.

Calling the move a "new focus strategy," Gittens said the approach is 
designed to back up beleaguered patrol units in high-crime areas. He 
would not say exactly where the reassigned officers would be deployed 
or how many officers in all would be on the evening shift.

"The idea is to bring these people in, put them in uniform, so they 
can address an area where there has been an increase in crime," Gittens said.

The idea is to be flexible, Gittens said. There is no timetable for 
how long the gang and narcotics officers will be reassigned, he said.

He downplayed the possibility that drug or gang probes would suffer 
because investigating officers will be working patrol shifts.

"These guys can make drug arrests - there is nothing that says they 
can't do that," Gittens said. "If the need arises, they will handle 
it accordingly."

Gary Delagnes, head of the Police Officers Association, said the 
department is telling rank-and-file officers that it wants them to be 
aggressive in problem areas.  That approach could be undermined, 
however, by officers' lack of confidence in their bosses and in City 
Hall, he said.

"You have to have the D.A. on board, probation on board, cops on 
board, you have to have City Hall on board - the cops don't have 
faith in the system, the cops don't have faith in the (police) 
administration," Delagnes said. "They don't have faith that City Hall 
has their back."

Delagnes said the idea promoted by commanders is to have specialized 
units "drive around the Bayview, jack everybody up and go after these thugs."

But, he said, "cops are going, 'Oh, yeah, sure, and who is going to 
cover us? Who's is going to defend us?' This city does not have the 
stomach to do this kind of stuff. They try to put the cops in the 
middle and the cops come out the losers.

"They don't trust the system," Delagnes said. "Who could blame them?"

Meanwhile, he said, drug enforcement will suffer as officers are 
pulled away to work patrol duties.

Ballard said the mayor is confident Fong will make the changes needed.

"It's her department and her tactics," Ballard said.  "The mayor 
backs her 100 percent."
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