2018–05–29 Mission Police Station Community Meeting

League of Women Voters of San Francisco Observer Corps Report

Observer name(s): A. Marseille

Location:Mission Police Station

What meeting did you attend (name of the body, whether it was a regular or special meeting, etc)?

Mission, Regularly Scheduled Community Meeting

Did you attend the whole meeting?

Yes

Tell us about public input: Did it happen? How was it conducted? Did it seem adequate?

There were multiple opportunities for public input. The Lieutenant running the meeting took questions throughout the evening and set aside time at the end for questions as well. He listened respectfully to questions and comments from the public, answered questions, and directed some people to stay and speak with him after the meeting. This after-meeting discussion seemed to be prompted by questions or issues from meeting attendees that were related to a specific individual or incident.

Tell us about the government: who was there? Were they attentive? Were they prepared? Were they courteous with each other and the public?

The Captain wasn’t in attendance at this meeting, but Lieutenant Chris Canning, who is an investigator, ran the meeting. Two people from the SF Department of Elections attended the first part of the meeting and gave a 20-minute presentation on the upcoming June elections. They were well prepared, answered questions, and provided voter resources to the meeting attendees. An individual from the DA’s office was also in attendance but didn’t speak/present at this meeting. The Lieutenant was courteous and respectful of the public. He listened to everyone’s questions and offered insight and answers into their areas of concern. He presented some information about the work the department is doing related to vehicle burglary abatement and addressing prostitution-related activity, which generated questions and comments from the public. The Lieutenant answered everyone’s questions and remained after the meeting to follow-up with people and answer any additional questions.

Want to tell us anything else (about the process used, the content of the meeting, decisions made, adherence to laws and regulations, etc)?

The two major areas of focus of this meeting, as mentioned above, were vehicle break-ins and prostitution-related activities. In the case of the vehicle break-ins, the Lieutenant emphasized the success of their new strategy, as measured by an increase in the number of arrests. The strategy includes work done by a team of plainclothes officers. He also emphasized the importance of neighborhood residents to be vigilant and described suspicious behaviors (related to vehicle break-ins) that should warrant a 911 call. In the case of the prostitution-related activities, the Lieutenant discussed a relatively new program called LEAD (which, he thought stood for Law Enforcement Assistance Diversion Program) that connects sex workers with resources to help them transition out of prostitution if they so choose. This program has provided a new resource for police officers in addressing prostitution-related crimes in the district.