SF Gate
Officers wary of program set for test run in January
f you find your home or car broken into in San Francisco, sometimes police respond in minutes. Other times it takes hours.
Fingerprints and DNA evidence are often not collected, Police Chief George Gascón said. To do so, a separate crime scene technician has to be called out, which could stretch into the next day.
"When the police get there, you've been waiting for three, four, five hours," Gascón said. "By this time, you're really fit to be tied."
That's all supposed to change under a pioneering and controversial test program included in the city's new budget that will use civilian investigators to respond to nonviolent crimes like burglaries or car break-ins, freeing up police officers to focus on crimes in progress or dangerous offenders.
