SAN FRANCISCO, CA Dec 29 2020 The San Francisco Police Officers Association (POA) has reportedly signed off on a plan to delay pay raises for its officers and to turn over 17 different types of calls that will instead be handled by unarmed civilian service providers.
The POA’s endorsement comes just a few weeks after San Francisco voters passed legislation eliminating minimum staffing requirements for the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). The law, which required the city to maintain at least 1,971 full-time police officers, which was approved in Proposition E, has been squashed by voters.
Now, the staffing levels on the police department will be decided by elected novices, many likely with political agendas. The proposition tasks the police commission with evaluating police staffing levels on a regular basis and to adjust the numbers accordingly.
Ahead of that vote, the union argued that the department has been chronically understaffed as of late and was already struggling to cover calls. At the time, POA Vice President Sergeant Tracy McCray told the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Our response times to 911 calls are lagging because we don’t have enough people on patrol.”
At the end of November, Mayor London Breed announced the launch of the first phase of San Francisco’s Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT) pilot program. SCRT is part of the city’s efforts to develop alternatives to police responses to non-violent calls.
The SCRT pilot program is a collaboration between the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Fire Department with support from the Department of Emergency Management. Reportedly, each team includes a community paramedic, a behavioral health clinician, and a behavioral health peer specialist.
Veteran officers have been leaving the city’s police department in record numbers over the past several months, with many opting to take jobs in other areas. POA President Tony Montoya said in a statement earlier this month:
“The reality is, our staffing is not getting any better.”
In response, Montoya signed a letter of intent with city officials, clearing the way for calls involving mental health, non-violent crimes, and homelessness to be handled by civilian service providers. The letter said, in part:
“Currently, police officers are the initial responders and primary resource on certain calls for service that may be better suited to mental health or non-law enforcement professionals.”
Reportedly, juvenile disturbances, quality-of-life calls, traffic congestion, public health violations, dog complaints, and parking violations will also be addressed by the unarmed citizen responders. Montoya said that officers have been spending a significant amount of time dealing with those types of calls. He said:
“This will be better use of the limited resources we have. It’s going to free up more officers to do what traditionally police officers should be doing.”
Days after Montoya issued the “collaboration agreement letter,” the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 in favor of delaying the SFPD’s upcoming pay increases. Reportedly, officers will receive steeper raises in the future as a result of the two-year labor contract.
Critics of the contract claim that the agreement does “nothing to address the POA’s unrelenting history of delaying much needed reforms.” While the contract may have fell short for these critics, the POA did reach two agreements.
One being the union agreeing to police redirecting 17 types of calls for service to mental health or other professional. The agreement said, in part:
“The SFPOA intends and agrees to work collaboratively with the City to develop and accelerate implementation of specific reforms, including those that address police biases and strengthen accountability.”
The other agreement, signed by both the Department of Human Resources and the POA, is meant to clarify a contentious section of the contract that requires the City to notify the union of management decisions that affect officers. The agreement reads, in part:
“This MOU provision does not expand the City’s bargaining requirements.”
In an interview with NPR, San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) Captain Simon Pang said that the unarmed civilian response is long overdue. Pang is leading the SFFD’s effort to establish the new “response teams.” He said:
“It’s glaringly obvious we need to change the model. Police are handling these calls the best they can, but the fact remains that because of the traditional system, which is in place out of inertia, you have law enforcement officers responding to non-violent, non-criminal calls for service for people whose needs are largely social, behavioral, or mental.”
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