There is hope yet for a return to sanity in SF. Proud to be a Sunset raised kid like Chief Crispen albeit a few years earlier. Let's all hope Mayor Lurie keeps his foot on the gas. Great article!
One of your best articles yet Lou, and very important! It sheds a small flicker of light on what the heart of public service in a unique city like SF is. A glimpse of a story that probably most of the people who live there now, that didn't grow up there fail to understand or do not have the time to realize. The thing that made the SFPD and FD one of the greatest police and fire departments in the world at one time. The thing that made it a family over just another cog in the wheel of government. Unlike the current LAPD and leaders that come from those chiefs’ circuits across the country. Those kinds of administrators and bureaucrats are just empty vessels and public faces for the policies that lead to the broken system of leadership you see today in the SFPD. They are not true leaders. They don’t care about the cops and firefighters in their ranks because they don’t have a relationship with them. You don’t see them putting on a family day with rides and booths at the range for the cops and their families. You don’t see them putting together a department wide abalone feed or handing out tickets to working cops for the Black and White Ball like chiefs in the past. You do see them going on the news and contributing to the public spectacle and lynching of cops doing their jobs and being undermined. That’s not leadership, that’s cowardice. They don’t understand the culture/workings of the department they are supposed to lead. They are just mercenaries who come in to follow the agenda they are told to follow without regard for how it affects the citizens or the functionality of the department they control. They have no professional opinion nor are they allowed one. They put forth policy developed by persons who have no real working knowledge of policing or the needs of the institution to keep the citizens of the city safe. They just create feel-good talking points or appease the most vile political activists in the nation to keep themselves in power at any cost. They just clinging to their stars like Gollum clings to his Precious. They disregard the expert analysis of those who spent time working and understanding the job of police officer in the city and default to the “national experts” who have never set foot off of the campus they hide on, except to cash the big check the city pays them for their ‘expert advice”. Someone who has and never actually walked a beat or worked a midnight shift, defaulting to baseless opinions of activists who have an ax to grind with any and all things civilized; no understanding of the city, the department or the needs of both.
I hope Dean is representative of a shift in the mayor’s office that could actually save these historic institutions from their destruction.; as the past corrupt leaders of one of the most iconic and beautiful cities in the world like to put it, their reimagining and transformation. It's articles like this one that might help the PD and the FD get back on track if the right people read it and understand it. Articles that show that it's the guys and girls who grind it out every day and care more about putting in the work at the ground level, and when promoted learning how to lead at every level, serving the people from every level, doing the right thing. That understand the idea of taking care of the law-abiding citizens and their troops is more important than their personal glory, being promoted, and the money that comes with it. Or a destructive political agenda.
Hopefully the new mayor recognizes the rot that has occurred in the SFPD under these last 3 mayors and police commissions, and can correct its course before all of the intuitional knowledge and real leaders have retired from the department, and he’s only left with the rotten apples at the bottom of the bag that rot the institution from the inside out; who will teach the new cops coming it the wrong way of policing and leading the police department in one of the most iconic cities in the world.
Thanks Lou. Your insights about Chief Crispen tell us that he's dedicated and qualified. It seems like decades since those were the qualifications that mattered to a S.F. Mayor.
In my 72 years my sense was that SFFD was as good as any, but we only find out when they are pushed to respond. For the longest time - it seemed like they arrived quickly, and it was rare for them to ever lose a home, or have a fire spread.
The biggest fire I remember was when one of the piers burned, and there was nothing they could do but contain it.
1989 in the Marina was bad, but they handled that exceptionally well, and had neighbors helping haul hoses with them.
Sometime between 2000-2010 I spotted a house on fire from 280NB while I was heading home from work - pre cell phone days. I drove to it on Potrero Hill, and raised hell to see if anyone was inside, and to get the neighbor to call 911. Than I left to get out of their way. They had been there earlier that day, and failed to put it dead out. That was not up to SFFD standards of old.
There is hope yet for a return to sanity in SF. Proud to be a Sunset raised kid like Chief Crispen albeit a few years earlier. Let's all hope Mayor Lurie keeps his foot on the gas. Great article!
Thank you Lou for your time , well written and its a blessing to have you as a friend the same goes for Chief Crispen
One of your best articles yet Lou, and very important! It sheds a small flicker of light on what the heart of public service in a unique city like SF is. A glimpse of a story that probably most of the people who live there now, that didn't grow up there fail to understand or do not have the time to realize. The thing that made the SFPD and FD one of the greatest police and fire departments in the world at one time. The thing that made it a family over just another cog in the wheel of government. Unlike the current LAPD and leaders that come from those chiefs’ circuits across the country. Those kinds of administrators and bureaucrats are just empty vessels and public faces for the policies that lead to the broken system of leadership you see today in the SFPD. They are not true leaders. They don’t care about the cops and firefighters in their ranks because they don’t have a relationship with them. You don’t see them putting on a family day with rides and booths at the range for the cops and their families. You don’t see them putting together a department wide abalone feed or handing out tickets to working cops for the Black and White Ball like chiefs in the past. You do see them going on the news and contributing to the public spectacle and lynching of cops doing their jobs and being undermined. That’s not leadership, that’s cowardice. They don’t understand the culture/workings of the department they are supposed to lead. They are just mercenaries who come in to follow the agenda they are told to follow without regard for how it affects the citizens or the functionality of the department they control. They have no professional opinion nor are they allowed one. They put forth policy developed by persons who have no real working knowledge of policing or the needs of the institution to keep the citizens of the city safe. They just create feel-good talking points or appease the most vile political activists in the nation to keep themselves in power at any cost. They just clinging to their stars like Gollum clings to his Precious. They disregard the expert analysis of those who spent time working and understanding the job of police officer in the city and default to the “national experts” who have never set foot off of the campus they hide on, except to cash the big check the city pays them for their ‘expert advice”. Someone who has and never actually walked a beat or worked a midnight shift, defaulting to baseless opinions of activists who have an ax to grind with any and all things civilized; no understanding of the city, the department or the needs of both.
I hope Dean is representative of a shift in the mayor’s office that could actually save these historic institutions from their destruction.; as the past corrupt leaders of one of the most iconic and beautiful cities in the world like to put it, their reimagining and transformation. It's articles like this one that might help the PD and the FD get back on track if the right people read it and understand it. Articles that show that it's the guys and girls who grind it out every day and care more about putting in the work at the ground level, and when promoted learning how to lead at every level, serving the people from every level, doing the right thing. That understand the idea of taking care of the law-abiding citizens and their troops is more important than their personal glory, being promoted, and the money that comes with it. Or a destructive political agenda.
Hopefully the new mayor recognizes the rot that has occurred in the SFPD under these last 3 mayors and police commissions, and can correct its course before all of the intuitional knowledge and real leaders have retired from the department, and he’s only left with the rotten apples at the bottom of the bag that rot the institution from the inside out; who will teach the new cops coming it the wrong way of policing and leading the police department in one of the most iconic cities in the world.
Thanks Lou. Your insights about Chief Crispen tell us that he's dedicated and qualified. It seems like decades since those were the qualifications that mattered to a S.F. Mayor.
In my 72 years my sense was that SFFD was as good as any, but we only find out when they are pushed to respond. For the longest time - it seemed like they arrived quickly, and it was rare for them to ever lose a home, or have a fire spread.
The biggest fire I remember was when one of the piers burned, and there was nothing they could do but contain it.
1989 in the Marina was bad, but they handled that exceptionally well, and had neighbors helping haul hoses with them.
Sometime between 2000-2010 I spotted a house on fire from 280NB while I was heading home from work - pre cell phone days. I drove to it on Potrero Hill, and raised hell to see if anyone was inside, and to get the neighbor to call 911. Than I left to get out of their way. They had been there earlier that day, and failed to put it dead out. That was not up to SFFD standards of old.