News & Updates

By Sean Webby and John Woolfolk
swebby@mercurynews.com

After months of nervous anticipation, 106 San Jose police officers are getting notices this week that they may be laid off as the reality of the city's dire financial picture cast a gloom over police headquarters and City Hall.

An additional 20 more cops learned they may soon be demoted. And overall, the city could lose about 9 percent of its police force in what could be the first layoffs of officers in the city's history.

The Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) is up for review by the members of the SF Board of Supervisors. The Board will be looking at an actuarial report to decide whether/not the DROP Program is cost efficient. While the initial actuarial data is not encouraging we believe that a very good case can be made to continue the program.

by By Gary Delagnes, featured on SFGate.com

Keep on sitting. Keep on lying.

The ban on the behavior on public sidewalks citywide - approved by voters in November's election - has been temporarily delayed because of a lag in the police department's ability to get enforcement up and running.

One of the problems has been the department's inability to track warnings handed out to sitters or liers (not liars, though enforcement of that at City Hall would be nice, wouldn't it?).

The City’s controversial sit-lie ordinance remains unenforced, but the Police Department hopes to finish training for officers and unveil a public education campaign in the next “couple of weeks,” interim police Chief Jeff Godown said Sunday.

The ordinance, which makes it illegal to sit or lie on public sidewalks, with certain exceptions, between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. daily, was approved by 54 percent of voters in November.

The law took effect in December, but enforcement, which had been targeted for February, has been slow to roll out.

San Francisco police released a sketch Tuesday of a man wanted for questioning in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old boy in the city's Ingleside neighborhood.

The victim, Victor Zheng, and a friend were walking on the 500 block of Holloway Avenue about 10:45 p.m. Feb. 7 when a man walked up to Zheng and punched him numerous times without provocation, police said.

The San Francisco Police Department's $470 million 2011-12 budget will pay for a lot fewer officers next year.

Because of the city's budget woes, no police academy classes are scheduled for next year, so instead of the 1,861 sworn officers who worked for the department in July, retirements and resignations are expected to drop that to 1,745 by June 2012.

Losing officers means the department will have to make changes, Interim Chief Jeff Godown told the Police Commission Wednesday night.

San Francisco police may get the OK to study and pilot the use of stun guns

The San Francisco Police Department may be one step closer to getting Tasers.

A recent spate of officer-involved shootings of mentally ill people has reignited the divisive debate over these controversial weapons, which have never been used by the department.

Friday's Chronicle brought us the news that as many as 185 police officers may leave the force due to budget considerations.

It turns out that was nothing. Try a loss of more than 500 officers.

At issue is the department's Deferred Retirement Option Program. The plan, crafted by Police Officers Association President Gary Delagnes and approved by San Francisco voters, is designed to keep veteran officers on the force.

Mayor's willingness to include public defender in pension reform discussions is politically tricky

A group composed of union leaders, philanthropist Warren Hellman and an increasingly large coterie of city executives has been meeting every other week for months, trying to come up with a consensus plan to rein in the city's ballooning pension and health care costs.