Mirkarimi pushes for police foot patrols in high-crime neighborhoods

By Daniel Powell

August 8, 2006

The traditional image of a neighborhood "beat cop" walking the streets may become a regular sight in the violence-plagued Western Addition if a pilot project meets with board approval.

Sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, the proposed ordinance would assign two officers a day, one during the afternoon and one at night, to patrol high-crime areas on foot.

During Monday's meeting of the Select Committee on Ending Gun and Gang Violence, Mirkarimi stressed that he hoped the yearlong program would eventually spread citywide.

"Supervisor [Tom] Ammiano said he supports this legislation but would also like his own version of it," Mirkarimi said. "I want to see this in his district, in your district, in every district."

Community members attending the meeting expressed praise for the legislation, saying that it was the first step in building trust between the residents of the Western Addition and the officers who regularly patrol it. But some felt the program, which would only affect District 5, is too limited.

"We believe there should be at least two or three communities in which this is initially dispatched," said Richard Hobson, a leader with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. "If you take just one sample you cannot come to an effective conclusion of what works and what doesn't work."

Deputy Chief David Shinn of the San Francisco Police Department also expressed his support for the heightened foot and beat patrols, but warned that with current officer levels well below the city-charter mandated level of 1,971, the SFPD's ability to respond quickly to emergencies could suffer.

"If I have an officer on foot who is responding quite a distance away for a violent crime, that becomes a problem for us," he said. "That becomes a safety issue not only for the citizen, but also for the officers responding to that when there is inadequate backup."

Mirkarimi acknowledged the potential strain on the understaffed department saying he believed the foot and beat patrols themselves would help to alleviate the problem.

"I can't think of a better ambassador program than having officers on the street, building trust, and in return having the community coming out and requiring that we are hiring more officers," he said at the close of the meeting. "It's a win-win, and I believe that this is the tipping point that helps make it happen."

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