Sacramento Bee: Harris Fibs on Conviction Rate

• The problems with SFPD go back a hell of lot further than Harris's tenure - poor hiring, poor training and poor oversight have made it an agency that does not bring to the DA's table the kind of cases that can be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Add in an aggressive defense bar and a jury pool that appreciates nuance (despite what Jaxon and his ilk might think) and this goes a long way toward explaining SF's conviction rate. Dinging Harris on a "soft on crime" approach is sheer demagoguery - she is a poor manager and lacks the ethical backbone to do what is right at this point in time: Withdraw from the AG race and clean house. Instead, greener pastures on the horizon beckon. And, in the process, SF can go fuck itself. Classy.

• h. brown, the caps are apathetic and lazy because they say the DA won't prosecute anyone and do their job. They also hate her because she won't seek the death penalty, even for cop killers (see: HPB double police murder). That said, I doubt the SFPD would step up and be a real police department even with a drastic regime change at the DA's office.

• Yeah, Just like her top deputy, Henderson lied Monday before the Public Safety Committee when he said that cops couldn't clean up the Haight sidewalks without making merchants and residents testify and risk their asses ... Only reason Harris' conviction rate went up at all was because she stopped charging people at the rate Hallinan did. She only takes slam dunks, thank you. In defense of both Harris and Hallinan the big problem is the cops. They're lousy investigators. Really really lousy. Not certain if it's still the same but I know they used to promote people to homicide on the basis of seniority. Brains not needed. Go Gigantes, h.

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