The biggest controversies hanging over the SFPD: the fatal shooting of an unthreatening burglary suspect that was caught on video in December, the fatal shooting of a homeless man in murkier circumstances in April, and two rounds of revelations about racist and anti-gay text messages sent by police officers.

Until a week ago, Suhr was in an odd middle ground. He was under fire from activists but also from his own officers, whose union depicts him as a coward who refuses to stick up for a police force that by and large acts professionally.

However, the local political establishment seemed generally in his corner, including some prominent commentators. Suhr was seen as a relative source of stability in a city rocked by an ongoing investigation of a massive corruption scandal that took down state Sen. Leland Yee, among others, and appears to be zeroing in on Mayor Lee.

Making officers promise not to be racists

Despite years of criticism from San Francisco’s progressive media, Suhr wins praise from some San Franciscans for seeming to have his heart in the right place. Agreeing with some of protesters’ complaints, he formally requested a U.S. Justice Department review of his department, which is now underway. Suhr also drew national headlines for his policy of having officers take an annual pledge not to be racist or intolerant.

Yet critics says the kindest possible assessment is that Suhr may be a good person, but he is in over his head in dealing with a department mired in the past — specifically the ugly culture of big-city 20th-century police departments. Some outsiders surveying the situation agree. 

“If you have a poorly managed department without standards of accountability, everybody sinks to the bottom,” Samuel Walker, a retired criminal justice professor from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, told the Associated Press.

But in Mayor Lee’s most direct comments on the matter earlier this month, he disagreed. “I just don’t believe that having a different chief automatically gains the kind of groundwork that we are already gaining with the reforms that we have,” Lee said at a news conference in which he announced new policies meant to lead to fewer police shootings.

Willie Brown backs chief

The San Francisco political heavyweight offering the loudest support for Suhr is Willie Brown, the African American former mayor and Assembly speaker. This is from his Saturday column in the San Francisco Chronicle:

I feel sorry for Police Chief Greg Suhr.

From the tone of the attacks against him, you’d think he was the guy who put 20-plus bullets into Mario Woods [the suspect shot in December]. That he was one of the guys sending out racist texts. That he personally ordered the stopping and frisking of every person of color in the city.

In truth, he’s one of the most progressive police chiefs the city has seen in decades.

But every time he makes a move to reform the SFPD’s culture, whether it be to improve racial sensitivity or come up with smarter use-of-force policies, he’s overshadowed by another story about some cop’s inappropriate behavior.

The 82-year-old California political legend also took a pointed shot at the protesters.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin suggested at a recent board meeting that they bring in me to broker a peace deal between Mayor Ed Lee’s administration and the Black Lives Matter people, as I did during the last labor stalemate at Muni.

Are you kidding? Muni drivers are rational geniuses compared with these protesters.

Suhr appears safe for now — unless there is another dubious fatal shooting or still more racist police text messages emerge. That could prove the last straw.

The San Francisco Chronicle has some key details:

Video taken of the confrontation showed Woods starting to walk away from police when five officers opened fire with at least 15 rounds. Critics of how police handled the incident say there’s no indication on the videos that Woods was lunging at or otherwise threatening the officers.

 

The district attorney’s office, police and Office of Citizen Complaints are investigating whether the officers either committed a crime or violated department policy. On Monday, Lee asked the federal Justice Department to look into the Woods killing and other police actions.

 

Also on Monday, the Police Officers Association sent the supervisors a strongly worded letter deriding the Woods Day resolution. It cited several police officers and firefighters who were killed on the job, and said the city hadn’t designated a day in their honor.

Unlike N.Y. mayor, leaders don’t try to placate police

The parallels with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s relationship with his police force are plain. In December 2014, when de Blasio spoke at a ceremony for two murdered officers, hundreds of officers turned their backs on him, furious over the mayor’s comments broadly condemning how minorities are treated by police in New York and elsewhere. Union leaders said de Blasio had “blood on his hands.”

A week later, de Blasio criticized their behavior. “Those individuals who took certain actions the last two weeks, they were disrespectful to the families involved. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “They were disrespectful to the families who lost their loved ones. I can’t understand why anyone would do such a thing in the context like that.”

But by May 2015, de Blasio and police union leaders had patched up their relationship with the mayor, with credit given to de Blasio’s handling of the killing of another officer, his support for getting officers new and better bulletproof vests, and his opposition to a proposed ban on police chokeholds.

In San Francisco, by contrast, leaders are taking a much sterner tone, describing police criticism of their actions as ominous and deplorable:

Supervisor David Campos, who authored the Woods Day resolution with Supervisor John Avalos, told his board colleagues, “By standing up to the bullying and intimidation we have seen, you are not only standing up for yourself, for your family, but you are standing up for an entire city.”

 

“We won’t be intimidated by the POA,” board President London Breed said. “This is a victory, but we have so much more work to do.”

That’s from the Chronicle.

Super Bowl may face protests over police killing

Meanwhile, the SF Weekly, the city’s alternative paper, has consistently likened Woods’ shooting to a police execution. It reports activists are considering protests during Super Bowl 50, which will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Feb. 7, as well as disruptions at game-related events:

Something major is afoot, and public officials know it. They’re just not exactly sure what it could be — or where and when it’s coming.

 

Already, marches and demonstrations are planned and advertised on Facebook. But the “real” show — the equivalent of a blocked Bay Bridge or a takeover of a BART train, except seen by a worldwide audience of more than 100 million viewers — is a closely held secret known only by its organizers (if something like that is even in the works).

 

None of the members of black.seed, who organized the Bay Bridge protest, responded to queries from SF Weekly. Organizers from the Mario Woods Coalition, which made Lee do the offstage shuffle, declined to speak with SF Weekly as well.

 

But opportunities abound. Buses ferrying fans to the game could be blocked. The NFL owners’ dinner, in a public place, could be made ugly. …

 

“There’s gonna be some funny s— going on here,” a veteran media consultant speaking on background told SF Weekly. “It makes me sick to see this coming.”

Update 8:30 pm: The protests have occurred. Please post below any reports of protests you attended or witnessed.

May 21, 2013

By John Seiler

The Tea Party is holding peaceful rallies today at noon across the country to protest IRS abuses. As has been revealed the past 11 days, the Obama IRS targeted an Enemies List of conservative and libertarian groups for harassment. The protests are being held at IRS offices.

I hope people work not just to “reform” the IRS, but to abolish this abusive “service” entirely, and the robbing income tax along with it.

The full national list of peaceful protest locations is here. California locations:

450 GG AVE, SF IRS OFFICE
450 GOLDEN GATE AVE
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102

SAN DIEGO IRS OFFICE
880 FRONT STREET
SAN DIEGO, CA 92101

SERVICE CENTER – BUTLER AVE CAMPUS
5045 E. BUTLER
FRESNO, CA 93727

SAN JOSE IRS OFFICE
55 SOUTH MARKET STREET
SAN JOSE, CA 95113

NORTH POINTE IRS OFFICE
4330 WATT AVE
SACRAMENTO, CA 95821

611 W. SIXTH ST IRS OFFICE
611 W. SIXTH ST
LOS ANGELES, CA 90017

NEW BAKERSFIELD IRS OFFICE
4825 COFFEE RD.
BAKERSFIELD, CA 93308

REDDING RALLY LOCATION
1001 HILLTOP
REDDING, CA 96001

SAN BERNARDINO RALLY LOCATION
290 N. D ST
SAN BERNARDINO, CA 92401

SANTA ANA RALLY LOCATION
801 CIVIC CENTER DRIVE WEST
SANTA ANA, CA 92701

LAGUNA NIGUEL RALLY LOCATION
24000 AVILA RD.
LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA 92677

290 North D Street
San Bernardino, CA.
12:00 Noon

751 E Daily Dr
Camarillo, CA 93010
10am to 12:30pm

California government workers’ pensions are pretty lavish. Consider this one from San Fran:

New city records show that former Police Chief Heather Fong – who retired in 2009 – received a grand total of $528,595 in her final year….

Now that she’s gone, she’s pulling down an annual pension of $229,500 for life.

Pretty sweet. But consider this pension for a government worker, one that would make even Fong envious:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is likely the world’s richest man, with an estimated fortune of  $70 billion dollars.

Media reported Monday that Mubarak’s family fortune could be as high as $70 billion, much of it in Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in New York, Los Angeles and London.

The $70 billion dollars would put the 82-year-old comfortably ahead of Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim Helu, worth about $53.5 billion dollars, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the richest American with $53 billion.

Mubarak also has been a government employee funded by U.S. taxpayers. Since 1979, Egypt has been given $2 billion a year in subsidies, or about $64 billion. Thus, almost all of the money given to that country has gone into Mubarak’s retirement account.

While California’s government-worker unions are negotiating about their pensions as the state’s budget deficit worsens, I suggest that talk to old Hosni about how he managed such a great pension for himself. He needs work, so hire him as a consultant.

Of course, in the meantime, they may have to deal with Egyptian-style protests in front of the state capitol objecting to the government-worker ripoffs.

Feb. 14, 2011