To: All Members
From: Martin Halloran
Last year, the POA raised the issue of the SFPD’s dilapidated fleet. We hoped the Board of Supervisors would approve Chief Bill Scott’s request to bring our aging fleet up to date. But the request went largely unanswered -- the department was granted about half of the vehicles it had requested. The POA brought this to the attention of the media (watch the video below) because sometimes certain elected officials only pay attention to a problem if it is on the 6 o’clock news. Despite Chief Scott’s request, the economic health of our city, and our concerns about officer safety, our fleet is no better today than it was at this time last year.
Yesterday, I saw a SFPD radio car parked near the Hall Of Justice. This vehicle looked like it was recently in a demolition derby contest. I asked the officers assigned to the vehicle about it. Sarcastically, they told me that “It is the pride of the fleet at Central.” They did tell me that the low band is out, the computer doesn’t work, and the loud speaker is out. That sounds like an officer safety issue to me.
A month ago, I met with another officer near the Hall of Justice. He was driving a similar looking Ford Crown Victoria. That officer told me that his lights and sirens were inoperable and he had a hard time getting to a 10-25 of a 148 the day before. That is beyond an officer safety issue. Furthermore, due to the lack of radio cars at the stations, sergeants lend their cars to the patrol officers so they can handle runs. Unfortunately, that means sergeants sometimes can’t get to the scene, when requested, because they now don’t have any means of transportation.
As the fleet continues to age, officers are less willing to bring vehicles in for minor repairs since the car is often down for a significate period of time. By keeping older cars, the department is not meeting the clean air goals established by the Board of Supervisors. But more importantly officers are not able to get to that cry for help from our residents or to that 10-25 called by our fellow officers.
Every budget year the department asks and justifies why we need a modern fleet and almost every year the department gets turned down by City Hall Budget Committee. We often just receive half of what was requested and that would include the admin cars, investigation cars, specialized units and patrol. I know the department will again be requesting a number of new vehicles from our Board of Supervisors during this budget cycle. Will the BOS listen or will they dismiss us again?
Martin Halloran
SFPOA President
