San Francisco Blog

The San Francisco Police Department is always one of the most politically charged city agencies and mayors can often be defined by crime statistics and their relationship with rank and file cops.

That’s why many believed the city’s record high homicide rate — 98 deaths in 2007 — and not-so-subtle rumblings from the Police Officers Association (POA) would put the soft-spoken Fong in jeopardy of losing her job.

Fong has demonstrated a timid leadership style and has not shown a willingness to back street cops who often face intense political scrutiny for the way their perform their jobs, says POA President Gary Delagnes.

The outspoken union president says Fong’s failure to speak out in support of rank and file cops means they are not so conscientious when it comes to enforcing the law.

“Policing is a self-motivated profession. The way cops think is that when they do their jobs, the media will come down on them, the Police Commission will bend according to the political wind and the Office of Citizen Complaints is always chasing them down,” Delangnes says.

“Unless you have the support of a chief who says ‘sure these people are going to come after you, but they will have to go through me first,’ cops are not going to go the extra mile.”

That kinda talk is just standard union balderdash says Police Commission President Theresa Sparks, who is a fervent Fong supporter.

“Gary has told me that cops aren’t doing their jobs because of Heather Fong or because of the Office of Citizens Complaints and he’s even said they aren’t doing their jobs because of me,” Sparks says. “I don’t believe it. I absolutely have more confidence in the police than that. These people are professionals and they take their jobs seriously.”

The San Francisco Police Department is at the threshold of a sweeping change, Sparks says. Taxpayers have put up more than $1 million for five department studies currently underway that are reviewing everything from surveillance cameras to foot patrols to precinct boundaries.

“These studies will be the basis for restructuring the police department for the next century,” Sparks says, “and that effort would go forward without Heather Fong but it would be a lesser outcome.”

Police Commissioner Joe Alioto-Veronese, a Newsom appointee and candidate for state senate district 3, says the city’s high homicide rate calls for a little more leadership out of Fong and the Mayor’s Office.

“The homicide rate is at the center of a lot of people’s minds right now,” Alioto-Veronese says. “If Willie Brown were mayor, everyone would know exactly where they stand. Mayor Newsom has a very different style and the commission has been given very little direction from his office. It’s time to take a stand; people are dying.”

Former Police Commissioner Peter Keane says blaming the chief of police for a high homicide rate is unfair. Homicide is a complex social phenomenon that has its basis in a variety of social and economic conditions, Keane says.

“Fong is the most professional police chief I’ve seen in the last 40 years, the most intelligent, the most creative and the most innovative thinker,” says Keane, now a law professor and media legal affairs commentator. “You can blame her for the surge in homicides, or the fact that there’s a drought in the Middle East or the fact that there’s global warming. They all have about the same relationship.”

While Fong’s ability to head up the police department is up to debate, it’s becoming clear that Newsom will bring a hands-off management style to his second term. The “big purge” that turned into a little whimper probably means that we will see less decisive leadership such as the bold same-sex marriage ordinance and more image conscious posturing for what promises to be a illustrious career of political mediocrity.

Contact staff writer John Geluardi at john.geluardi@sfweekly.com