Cops, D.A. quick to help union chief after break-in
Nothing like being the head of a politically influential union to get a response when your car is burglarized.
At least that was the case when Firefighters Union Local 798 President Tom O’Connor walked out of San Francisco City Hall after an afternoon of contract negotiations to find his 2010 Chevy Tahoe broken into — for the third time in two years.
“They got a garbage bag that was full of my kid’s clothes,” O’Connor said. “About the only thing of value was a pair of size-13 basketball shoes — if you want to call that valuable.”
One of O’Connor’s fellow negotiators suggested tweeting a photo of the damaged sport
utility vehicle to show that no one is exempt from the epidemic of car break-ins — even people who park across the street from City Hall in the middle of the day.
So that’s what went out on the union’s Twitter feed — along with the message, “While at City Hall this happened #citysfine #noproblemshere @MarkFarrellSF @SFGate.”
There are so many car smash-and-grabs in San Francisco — 30,000 were reported last year — that police usually don’t respond to calls unless one is in progress. Most of the time, victims are told to file a report online.
Like many repeat victims, O’Connor didn’t bother with a report. So he was a bit surprised the next day when a pair of cops from Northern Station showed up at union headquarters on Mission Street to ask if he needed any help in filing one out.
“They even dusted the car for fingerprints,” O’Connor said.
A little later, District Attorney George Gascón himself called and asked if he could be of any help.
Police spokesman David Stevenson said the officers went to union headquarters because “a concern regarding an auto burglary that occurred was brought forward.” He added that the department “has a duty to respond to these concerns.”
The district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Oh, that tweet? It’s since been deleted.
“It was being taken as an attack on the mayor. It wasn’t,” O’Connor said. Schaaf’s star: Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s warning about federal immigration sweeps might look like a no-brainer on the local political front. After all, one poll of 500 Bay Area residents, by KPIX-5/Survey USA, found 48 percent approved of her actions and just 34 percent turned thumbs down.
However, the same poll found that 61 percent said police should help federal authorities in cases involving undocumented immigrants suspected of committing violent crimes. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says about half the 232 people picked up in its sweeps last week had criminal records, though the agency didn’t say how many of those were violent criminals.
ICE also says hundreds of “criminal aliens and public safety threats” remain at large, and that some may have eluded capture because of Schaaf’s warning. There’s every reason for the feds to make the mayor look bad if one of those who got away goes on to murder someone.
Joe Tuman, a San Francisco State University communications studies professor who ran against Schaaf for mayor in 2014 and lost, says she could have accomplished her goal in a way that didn’t put “Oakland on ICE’s hit list.” He said quietly spreading the word to immigrant legal support groups would have been just as effective as her Saturday night news release.
City Councilman Noel Gallo, whose Fruitvale district is heavily Latino, agreed. He said annoying the feds isn’t in the city’s best interest.
“The gang MS-13 is operating in my area, and there are a lot of times that we need the FBI and the federal help,” he said.
Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, rumored to be considering a challenge to Schaaf from the left in this year’s election, tried to have it both ways. First she criticized the mayor for not taking the quiet approach. Then she said Schaaf’s critics on Fox News were “wrong ... to go after her.”
She’ll have a hard time outflanking Schaaf on the progressive front on this one. After all, in Oakland politics, standing up to President Trump and ICE is an easy win.