By Ron Russell
Antjuan Taswell, whose paperwork to join the San Francisco Patrol Special Police was held up by SFPD for what is believed to be a record 14 years, has finally won his badge.
Police Chief Heather Fong quietly signed off on the appointment in June--a week after Taswell's plight was detailed by SF Weekly ["To Serve & Collect," June 4].
"I feel like the monkey's finally off my back," says the security guard at California Pacific Medical Center, who plans to start part-time as a "patrol special assistant" Friday while keeping his day job.
Taswell, 39, had become the poster child of the "patrol specials," who've been around since the Gold Rush and whose officers are uniquely allowed to own "beats" that they patrol on behalf of private clients under the City Charter.
The "specials" contend that SFPD, which controls who they may hire as assistants, has tried to choke them out of existence by routinely giving prospective hires the runaround. (At issue, observers say, are millions of dollars that moonlighting cops currently enjoy in overtime pay while working for private entities under the department's so-called 10B program.)
Taswell, who had plenty of chances to give up after first applying in 1994, says he was "a little bit stunned" when informed that his paperwork had suddenly cleared.
"He's not any more pleased than I am," says Calvin Wiley, the patrol special beat owner who sponsored Taswell. Wiley says he's hopeful that the end of Taswell's hiring ordeal signals a new era with SFPD. "[The Patrol Specials] could put a hundred people to work [as assistants] right now if we had them," he says. "We'll see what SFPD does from here."
(Photo by Paolo Vescia)
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