By Steve Johnson
We left off last month with a critique, of sorts, of the 3rd Quarter Report submitted by the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC). It wasn't pretty. This document actually redefines the literary term, 'non-fiction'.
They could be backed up 1,000 cases, or maybe not. Hard to tell the way the numbers were presented. And there were also more dispositions than cases filed . . . how does that work?
We referenced Bernie Madoff in last month's article noting, sarcastically, that he is the one who must be preparing this statistical report from his cellblock. Well, our apologies to Mr. Madoff, even he wouldn't try to push these numbers by the Police Commission.
One final glance at the details reported and we noted that there were 17 sustained allegations for the 3rd Quarter. 7 of those sustained cases involved officers who failed to "collect traffic stop data." Really? I don't believe "failing to collect traffic stop data" is a civilian complaint. And this particular allegation made up almost 50% of the sustained complaints for the 3rd Quarter of 2010!
Wouldn't it make more sense to let the Department Administration know that there is, potentially, a pattern discerning an issue (i.e. traffic data collection) that should probably be checked out and remedied rather than "padding" your statistical report?
And when will the OCC stop making our officers wait 9 months before they are interviewed. Or, better yet, when will they stop charging our members with Unwarranted Action complaints when the officer makes a warrant arrest.
If you are charged with an Unwarranted Action allegation for making a warrant arrest, contact us immediately. We will file a complaint with the Police Commission because OCC is in violation of Department Policy (General Order 2.04,) That General Order provides that if, after a preliminary investigation, the OCC finds that what the officer is alleged to have done is legal, proper, or justified, then the matter is referred back to his/her commanding officer and no complaint is to be filed.
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Sunday, to most people, is a day of rest . . . this assumption does not, unfortunately, hold true for police officers - they are the exception. Sundays in San Francisco can be just as crazy as any other day of the week and usually are. Officer Kim Koltzoff came up for a run involving a 'loud music' complaint at one of the downtown hotels on Sutter Street on an early Sunday morning in September. Officer Koltzoff, accompanied by the hotel manager, responded to the cause of the problem which was an apartment on the 7th floor. There was no answer to the door so a well-being check was in order. As Kim looked past the now open apartment door she saw a large handgun on the floor next to an individual who was calling out to her to kill him. Kim grabbed the gun and called for back-up. The crazed suspect ran over and locked the door, blocking Officer Koltzoff's access, telling her "now it's just you and me." He then came at her and managed to retrieve his weapon and now it was a stand-off. He pointed his gun directly at Kim, taking aim, giving her no choice but to use her weapon to neutralize the situation. This was a classic 'police suicide' where the suspect did everything he could, forcing Officer Koltzoff into making a decision that shouldn't have to be made on a Sunday morning in San Francisco.
O.k., so now we go to the other end of the spectrum and it's one-thirty in the morning when most people are asleep. Not our guy on 1000 block of Larkin. He's up. He's up and he's running through the halls of his apartment building with 2 extremely large and heavy metal poles, pounding on the doors of the other residents. They of course are all petrified, dialing 9-1-1. Officer Mike Bushnell and Officer Donn Peterson get the call. They arrive and are met by several of the building's occupants who warn the officers to be careful. The officers can hear the suspect yelling and they run up 4 flights of stairs before they find him. He's a big guy, no shirt, sweating profusely, tattoos all over his body, and he's not going to listen to anything Officer Bushnell and Officer Peterson have to say. In fact, he starts coming after them when the officers utilize their less-than-lethal shotgun and drop the threat in his tracks. The suspect later admitted to the officers that he had been up for 4 days on methamphetamine . . .
The car with no license plates sped by Officer Edward Zeltser at which time he also noticed that the driver must have been thinking she was immune to the seatbelt law. Officer Zeltser caught up with the moving violation and noticed that the driver was extremely disoriented to the point where she forgot to wipe the white powder off the tip of her nose . . . hmmm. She also forgot to leave the Ruger P-89 fully-loaded, semi-automatic pistol at her house. The gun was located in the purse she had right next to her when the traffic stop was made. The driver, now suspect, would soon be going to jail, but Officer Zeltser just had to take care of one more thing - he had to find the real mother of the 8-month old baby that was in the back seat of the car.
We apologize because this next incident is a little bit belated in reporting but it's off the charts when it comes to the danger related to police work. Officer Baron Darnell and Officer Erik Whitney hear 6-8 gunshots going off right around the corner where they were at Shafter and Ingalls. They then saw a car take off at high speed. They gave chase with Officer Percy Hernandez jumping in as well as the secondary pursuit vehicle. The suspect eventually trashed his car on a turn and managed to get out and start to run from the area. All three officers were right on his tail. He jumped a fence allowing him access to a wrecking yard. The officers ran around to the entrance with Officer Whitney first on track. As Officer Whitney turned the corner the suspect was standing there with his fully-loaded, .380 semi-automatic weapon pointed directly at Erik. Officer Whitney later stated that he thought there was no way out of this predicament without a firefight. The suspect suddenly dropped his arm to his side and released the weapon. The victim from the shooting showed up at SFGH later wounded by the gunfire but reluctant to cooperate. The only statement the suspect had was, "I didn't even get the right guy." Now there's someone who's learned his lesson . . .
So much of the initial investigation of a crime takes place on the street with members of the Patrol force. But we also need to recognize our Inspectors. The District Attorney's Office does so on a regular basis so we wanted to give credit where credit is due:
A homicide took place in August of this year at Jones and O'Farrell Streets. The potential motive evolved around a relationship that went sour. The homicide victim was shot 17 times with a TEC-9. An arrest was made soon thereafter and the District Attorney's Office credited Inspector Lawrence Mack and Inspector Michael Philpott for the capture.
On November 13, 2010, a 3 ½ month old child was killed as a result of child abuse injuries inflicted by his own father. The suspect was later located and taken into custody. The District Attorney's Office credited the inspectors assigned to the investigation citing, "The arrest of the suspect was the result of the original investigation by Inspector Alexis Goldner and then a subsequent investigation by Inspector Kevin Jones."
When the District Attorney's Office mentions a 'subsequent investigation', this usually entails hours and hours of work interviewing people, drafting search and arrest warrants, and coordinating everything necessary for a successful prosecution - it is not an easy task and we think it's something we all take for granted. So we want to recognize the members of the District Attorney's Office who work so well with our Inspectors because there are no easy answers when you're dealing with victims who deserve answers. We'll be working on specifics in future articles.
The job of police officer in San Francisco never changes. It's just always dangerous. Whether it's a Sunday morning or a late night, the stress of knowing you may have to use deadly force is always there. It doesn't make the job any easier or any less stressful when you have a civilian watchdog agency that's looking over your shoulder every second. An agency that has the power to charge officers at the Police Commission with job-threatening allegations. It would be nice, for a change, if that agency would back-off, just a little bit, and re-evaluate how they do things. The numbers aren't as important as some people think. Mark Twain was right when he said that there are three kinds of lies: 'lies, damned lies, and statistics.'
