SFPD Eliminates Anticipatory Spike Strips—the Last Deterrent to Car Break-ins and Catalytic Converter Thieving
In the face of the Chronicle’s “fiction loop,” Chief Scott’s needs to explain his reasoning
Whether it’s the embarrassment of a CNN reporter’s car getting burglarized in front of City Hall or the $500,000 in items that were taken from A-Rod’s car[1] while he was covering a Giants’ game for ESPN, the entire nation is aware of San Francisco’s reputation as the capital of car tampering.
The headwind for SFPD officers is that as soon as they attempt to arrest a car break-in crew, the crew’s driver hits the accelerator, and they are gone-ghost. And even though 90% of car break-in crews are packing guns, SFPD’s administration and the SF Police Commission still characterize tampering with cars as merely a non-violent property crime that does not justify car pursuits.
SFPD officers’ goal line stand has been to place spike strips under the thieves’ car to deflate their tires and make flight difficult-to-impossible. Placing spike strips under a moving vehicle is easier said than done. Officers must avoid spiking innocent drivers’ cars, correctly guess the route of the felons’ flight, and most importantly, dodge getting struck themselves.
Spike strips were popularized in 1996. Over the next 15 years, 26 law enforcement officers were killed laying spike strips. On July 27, 2006, while attempting to lay spike strips, SFPD Officer Nick Birco got in front of a fleeing robbery vehicle in the Portola District (at Cambridge and Felton Streets) and was struck and killed.
Nevertheless, the effectiveness of spike strips cannot be measured by the law enforcement officers killed, but by the thousands of innocent citizens whose lives were not exposed to the risk from high-speed chases because spike strips were deployed. Stop Stick, a spike strip manufacturer, claims that over 40,000 chases have ended because of the successful deployment of spike strips.
SFPD’s recent deployment of spike strips
On May 24, 2023, SFPD assembled a team of 14 undercover officers to arrest car break-in/catalytic converter crews. After a 9-1-1- caller described a crew that jumped out of a stolen black Infinity and sawed a catalytic converter off a Toyota truck in the Excelsior, SFPD saturated the area.
Officer Kavanagh (Taraval Station) picked up the black Infinity wandering near tourist-centric Alamo Square. SFPD followed the thieving crew back to the Excelsior and watched as the crew sequentially sawed off four catalytic converters from four Toyotas.[2] On Edinburgh Street, Officer Rodarte successfully deployed spike strips in front of the Infinity which deflated the car’s tires. Nevertheless, the crew still fled and SFPD was not allowed to give chase.
The crew bailed from the stolen car on the northside of the Portola District (at Stoneyford and Cambridge Streets, the same street Officer Birco was killed on). SFPD was able to corral the four suspects: three 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old. Two of the thieves live in San Francisco, one is from Antioch, and another is from Fremont. SFPD recovered three guns and five catalytic converters from the kids.
This arrest parallels my November article about an SFPD undercover team that followed a stolen car☑, after they boosted numerous cars☑, stopped the thieves’ car with spike strips☑, and then arrested the crew that included juveniles☑, who live outside of SF☑, and SFPD recovered guns from the kids☑. Do ya think there’s a pattern here?
How the Chronicle misleads readers on SFPD’s efforts to reduce car tampering
Though SFPD issued a press release about the May 24th arrests, the Noe Valley residents comfortably conversing over coffee at sidewalk cafes remain oblivious to how SFPD is addressing the car tampering problem because not one word appeared in the Chronicle.
In August 2022, Heather Knight wrote a derogatory piece alleging SFPD’s incompetency for not arresting a person that a citizen reportee: a) heard, but did not directly observe cutting a catalytic converter, b) couldn’t explain how the saw disappeared, and c) couldn’t explain how the smooth, non-serrated carjack he was holding would have been able to saw a catalytic converter. Per Knight’s second June 8, 2023 column on this incident, Knight confirmed that Chief Scott, and an attorney and two investigators at the Department of Police Accountability (DPA), all agreed that the reportee did not actually see the crime and probable cause to make an arrest did not exist.[3]
Despite the concurrence of the chief and DPA, in her second article, Knight double-downed on her fabrications regarding the reportee “witnessing a man cutting a catalytic converter off a stolen car,” and “Just one more example in a string of complaints by San Franciscans who witnessed crime or experienced it themselves.”
I’m sorry Heather, there is difference between citizens speculating on who-done-it versus actually witnessing a crime. Police officers, DAs, and the DPA must abide by the rules of evidence even though it might not appease our residents predisposed to progressive ideals. Your statement that the reportee in this incident “witnessed” a crime is a gross misrepresentation. I get it though; we definitely don’t want those Noe Valley conversations drifting from the Chronicle’s fiction loop to real stories about four kids driving around in a stolen car with guns while stealing catalytic converters in broad daylight. Because that would involve reality and crediting an oppressive SFPD with creating a well-deserved timeout for these kids.
In this journalistic environment; it is of paramount importance for SFPD Chief Scott to educate the public on the logistics of his officers’ efforts to deter car tampering.
SFPD’s rules on deployment of spike strips
Because of the inherent danger to SFPD officers deploying spike strips, some officers have recently gravitated to putting the spike strips under the crew’s car when it is at rest, called an anticipatory deployment. Ironically, right after the May 24th deployment of spike strips,[4] Chief Scott’s administration asserted that anticipatory deployment is not authorized by the Department General Orders (D.G.O.s) and suspended its usage.
I have been advised by numerous SFPD officers that they believe Chief Scott has focused on the word “moving,” used in D.G.O. 5.05 and has concluded that if a targeted car is not moving, then laying spike strips is not allowed. D.G.O. 5.05 (IV)(2)(a) states “Spike strips are tire deflation devices laid in the path of a moving motor vehicle to disable its tires.”
I believe the chief’s interpretation is incorrect based on the language of D.G.O. 5.05, the intent of the D.G.O. 5.05, and pure logic.
Language of D.G.O. 5.05
Immediately following Chief Scott’s “moving” sentence is a reference to Field Operation Bureau Order Order #03-02. This order states spike strips are used in “order to reduce the need for, and duration of, vehicle pursuits.” So clearly, per SFPD’s own rules, deployment of spike strips should also be considered a preventative measure to avert a pursuit from even happening. And the only way a pursuit can be avoided is if the spike strips are placed under a stationary vehicle prior to flight.
Intent of D.G.O. 5.05
D.G.O. 5.05 (IV)(3) states, “Nothing in this order shall preclude a[5] officer from using a Department vehicle as a tactical tool to block a stationary suspect vehicle to prevent its escape if: c) substantial risk exists to the public if the operator of the vehicle is allowed the opportunity to flee.”
Thus, per Chief Scott’s narrow interpretation, an SFPD officer is allowed to risk personal injury by positioning himself in his patrol car to block the flight of felons, but under no circumstances should that same SFPD officer endanger a single thread on the felon’s tire by laying a spike strip. The chief is overreaching on his analysis of D.G.O. 5.05, tantamount to saying an officer can physically hold (restrict) an arrestee’s wrists for 24 straight hours, but the officer is not allowed to place handcuffs on that same person for five seconds.
The logic of anticipatory spike strips
There are only two possible outcomes if SFPD places anticipatory spike strips under a break-in crew’s stationary car and then commands the suspects to remain in place:
1) If the suspects comply with SFPD’s commands, the anticipatory spike strips will not be triggered. No-harm-no-foul. (Like an officer pointing a firearm in an empty room, no one is offended.) or,
2) If the suspects attempt to flee, under the laws of physics, their car will be moving, and therefore will meet Chief Scott’s moving car criteria.
Chief Scott, you need to fight for your workers
Chief Scott, the exodus from SFPD at the end of this month[6] will be acute. The Board of Supervisors--controlled Police Commission, and the legacy newspapers have created an untenable environment for police officers to work in. Officers are demoralized from the chaos of overzealous oversight and are drowning in the libraries of constantly updated rules. All of which contributes to the domino effect of businesses and tax dollars fleeing SF.
Yet, in this spiraling environment there remain the green shoots of young officers that are still dedicated to and aspire to make SF a better place. One legendary captain recognized them as the workers. I urge you to fight for the workers by delivering your common sense to this discussion. Please reevaluate anticipatory spike maneuvers, while factoring in the ratio of the billions of lost tourist dollars because of our reputation as a dysfunctional and unsafe city versus the potential cost of damaged tire rubber on the stolen cars driven by felons.
[1] Sounds like an exaggeration for insurance purposes.
[2] A) Morse & Pope Streets, B) Madrid and Amazon Avenue, C) the 500 block of Edinburgh Street, and D) Paris and Amazon Avenue.
[3] Knight’s new article conflated a DPA wrist slap on an officer(s) for something like not giving the reportee a correct form or not turning their body cameras on in time, as a bungling of the entire case. An extremely prejudicial analysis by Knight.
[4] It does not appear the May 24, 2023 deployment of spike strips was anticipatory.
[5] SFPD’s use of “a”, not mine.
[6] June 30th is the end of San Francisco’s fiscal year.
The stupidity of C.C.S.F. management is off the charts. All of the law abiding citizens have been thrown under Muni. When this does hit bottom (it must be deep) it will take decades to right the ship. Thanks for documenting the voyage of the Titanic Lou.
As always, well written and exposing gross irresponsibility (if not almost subversive) behaviour in what is supposed to pass for ‘Journalism’ in San Francisco.