Tracy McCray - SFPOA President

“The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them knows anything about the subject.”
— Marcus Aurelius

Last month our new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was approved by a 10-1 vote from the Board of Supervisors. Active and retired members had been following this contract drama as it played out in the media, the local newspapers, and videos of the board meetings that had been held to discuss the contract up to the vote on it. There were many back and forth discussions whether this contract could help to keep our current officers here in the City and attract new recruits.

By now, everyone has seen the videos from the Board of Supervisors’ supplemental budget hearing. In what for some was a complete about face, they implored Chief Scott to send officers to their districts and to value lives over Versace and Louis Vuitton purses, so that the people in their districts can feel safe walking down the street and not get shot, robbed, or assaulted.

This month’s lead article is written by Sean Perdomo, who served the POA in many capacities from starting as a defense representative to being our treasurer. I am honored for him to write this month’s President’s column.

As I briefly wrote last month, the SFPOA and the city are involved in contract negotiations. Much like the last time we went into a negotiation for our contract in 2018, the road to getting something fair and equitable is just as hard if not harder than 2018 when the POA got an arbitration ruling. In 2018 we were battling several things. It was the beginning of our staffing issues, and the detractors of our profession began to be more vocal, even as the men and women wearing the uniform were going out everyday to do the job.

Killer robots, contracts, traffic stops, ah the list is endless when it comes to what 2023 has to offer us. For union business, there is never a shortage of “things” on our plate. From the continual meet and confer circuit, to an election for POA board positions, and even recovering from all those holiday parties! There is never any shortage of work to be done.

This year-end article is somewhat daunting for me. It feels like 2022 went by with lightning speed. As I try to remember all the things that happened during the past year, I don’t want to miss any details. It has been a very eventful year in San Francisco.

San Franciscans have a choice to make when they turn in their ballots for this election. Do they want to start on the road to recovery, no pun intended, or do they want to see the city keep circling the drain with no end to what is plaguing it. We all see it, the open air drug use, the smoking and injecting of drugs on the sidewalks, the mentally ill in deep pain screaming and talking to themselves, the graffiti on homes and businesses, and the trash throughout every corner of the city.

We have all seen the viral videos and news reports, both local and national, heck even international, about the state of the streets in San Francisco. The streets downtown are in chaos. It’s not just the usual Tenderloin streets that we all know so well, but the surrounding streets of Mission, Howard, Folsom, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th streets, and where the Linkage Center sits at UN Plaza where chaos is on full display.

The pandemic has made a mockery of any sense of what a “normal” routine is. During this time people are trying to find all sorts of ways to handle stress. Some meditate, some workout, some play music, others cook. I find going to the dump to be a great way to relieve stress and to handle the negativity that has been thrown towards our chosen profession. I do not wear my heart on my sleeve, and some would say I’m stoic.