Mission is to protect and serve — not divide
We’re heading into election season, and so far the general climate has been one of uncertainty and mixed messages. When it comes to local politics, however, there’s one message that’s more certain than ever: the San Francisco Police Officers’ Association is at a crossroads — even if its leadership doesn’t seem to know that yet.
Last week’s split election, which is headed to a runoff after current President Tony Montoya led the voting by just 15 ballots — was a very late example of what’s been clear to any outside observer for the past couple of years.
Once a successful player in local politics, the POA is now weakened and divided in terms of both its political impact and its future direction.
This is largely a matter of the association’s own choices. For years, it has fought tooth and nail against criminal justice reforms, bullied elected officials and pursued political campaigns with such zealotry that the public has recoiled from it.
“Every time the POA runs into a political battle, they play the caricature of the overly aggressive law enforcement image,” said political consultant Jim Stearns. “They bully and try to intimidate everyone who disagrees with them.”
Things were very different not so long ago.
There was a time in the recent past when political candidates worked hard to get the association’s endorsement. That’s because San Franciscans — despite what you may have heard on Fox News, where Montoya recently participated in a weeklong series called “American Dystopia” with Tucker Carlson — have always been concerned about public safety, and have always wanted decent relationships between their communities and the police.
For the past several years, regular people have demanded criminal justice reforms and an end to overly aggressive policing. These are reasonable, longoverdue desires. The POA has behaved as if they are not. One result is that its endorsement has become radioactive. It poured money and misinformation into the 2018 campaign for Proposition H, which would have changed the Police Department’s policy on Tasers. It lost to a shoestring opposition campaign run by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Last fall, it dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat Chesa Boudin during the last few weeks of a hardfought campaign for district attorney. I remember coming home to a mailbox stuffed with flyers splashed with mug shots, shouting crazy language about how Boudin was the choice of criminals and gang members.
It wasn’t the only terrible political decision made in that race — Mayor London Breed’s installation of her favored candidate, Suzy Loftus, into the D.A.’s office just ahead of the election turned off voters, too — but it proved that the POA is way out of touch with San Franciscans. The reason why all of this matters? Well, there is that small matter of the public that’s affected by the police union’s decisions.
“Until they come into the 21st century, there’s not going to be any progress on policing issues that matter to the public,” said Carl Tennenbaum, a retired SFPD sergeant who once served on the POA’s board. “The public is tired of its aggressive, oldschool way of doing things. It’s no surprise to me that these campaigns and contributions are backfiring.”
Unfortunately, there aren’t any guarantees that either Montoya or his major challenger, Rich Cibotti, would change course. Cibotti is being supported by Gary Delagnes, the combative former union president.
Delagnes, who remained a union consultant until Montoya fired him last year over a Facebook post attacking Public Defender Jeff Adachi right after his death, has been the kind of neverbackdown bruiser that many of the rank and file love. But ultimately, this approach to San Francisco politics — and residents — will only continue to divide the POA further from the public its officers are supposed to be serving.
In the long run, there’s less safety for everyone when the public and the police distrust and disdain each other.
The way out of this morass may come not from the POA’s leadership but from its rank and file.
Regular officers are voting with their feet. There’s been a big exodus of SFPD cops to suburban police departments.
San Francisco used to be one of the bestpaid police gigs in the Bay Area, but that, too, has changed. I hear rumblings about the younger SFPD cops taking on, essentially, gig work — working second shifts at highprofile retail locations to prevent thefts and robberies — to make their house payments.
That’s the kind of situation that’s got to grate, particularly when your leadership is blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars on unforced political errors. Eventually, some of these cops might decide that they’d like more of a focus on breadandbutter union issues, like wages and benefits.
When that day comes, they’ll realize it’s not such a great idea to alienate the public.
Once a successful player in local politics, the POA is now weakened in both political impact and future direction.