2020–12–01 Bayview Station Community Meeting
Are you a general member of the public or an Official League Observer?General member of the public
Date of the meeting
12/01/2020
Location
Zoom
What meeting did you attend (name of the body, whether it was a regular or special meeting, etc)?
Bayview Station Community Meeting 12/01/20 (monthly meeting)
Did you attend the whole meeting?
Yes
Tell us about how easy it was for the public to participate: Was it easy to get information about when the meeting is held & how to join? Did you understand the format, agenda, & how to participate? Did this meeting build trust? Did the meeting build relationships between government & the public?
Captain Troy Dangerfield and the organizers made it easy for the community to participate in the meeting. We were invited to submit comments and questions multiple ways: before the meeting via a Google form or email and during the meeting either by posting in the written chat or raising a virtual hand to speak. An organizer from SF SAFE kept eye on the chat and moderated speakers in the queue while the captain responded to comments and questions. About 10 people submitted questions or comments and the captain spent a good amount of time responding to each one.
The captain seemed to genuinely want to connect with the attendees and had a respectful and friendly interaction style. The captain and organizers seemed attentive and prepared for the meeting. They were very courteous throughout. The open and respectful communication from the captain and moderator in this meeting was encouraging. I’d be comfortable attending again and contributing questions if I had any.
Want to tell us anything else: about the process used, the content of the meeting, decisions made, adherence to laws and regulations, etc?
The captain started by welcoming and thanking the attendees. Then he introduced Building Trust & Legitimacy, the first pillar from The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. He then reviewed crime statistics for Bayview since the last meeting. He underscored that there had been a spike in violent crime in recent weeks. He began taking questions after that.
All questions and comments from attendees concerned quality of life or property theft/damage issues. Sideshows were a big theme that community members raised several times. Some people weren’t satisfied with the captain’s description of how the police district was addressing sideshows and were pretty upset that not enough was being done to suppress them. They specifically took issue with sideshows contributing to noise pollution and damage to cars parked on the street.
Another attendee complained about an encampment of people without homes living near his home. They were specifically upset that an SF community service had recently provided portable toilets and a water tap for the people living in the encampment. They feared that this would make the problem worse by attracting more people to the camp. The attendee began to accuse the people living in the encampment of various crimes, at which point the captain interrupted and explained that it was not ok to baselessly accuse these people of crimes. I was happy with the way the captain addressed that attendee’s prejudices.
