SFPDSouth...@sfgov.org
September 10, 2010
Captain’s Comments
The summer is coming to an end and schools are back in session. During this time of the year we see an increase of children walking the streets to and from school and a general increase in vehicular and pedestrian traffic as the summer vacations end. Please be mindful of the extra pedestrians and vehicles in the district, especially around Bessie Carmichael School where there are a number of students and parents in the area.
Last month’s issue focused on pedestrian safety and in this month’s issue I am updating you on our efforts and progress towards safer streets. In last month’s newsletter I asked for your input on the problem locations and intersections in the district. Many of you e-mailed your concerns and we have compiled a list of locations where we will focus our enforcement efforts. During September we will be running at least eight operations within the district targeting locations where pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular violations occur. It is our goal that by increasing the enforcement at certain locations the number of accidents and violations will decrease as the public sees a visible presence and effort to make the streets of the SOMA safer. Some of the locations you will see us conducting enforcement include, the Market St. corridor, the 6th St. corridor, Townsend St near the Cal-Train station, and a number of intersections where vehicular code violations, which lead to accidents, are common. Please be mindful that we will be out doing enforcement as we assist the community in making the streets safer for all that use them.
The Southern Station Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB) meets monthly to address problems and concerns in the SOMA area. One of the projects the CPAB is working on is identifying and mapping out the community groups in the neighborhood. SuSan Nelson, a member of the CPAB, is asking for your assistance by providing your community contact information so that we can include all the groups in our mapping. SuSan writes:
Calling All Neighborhood Groups!!!
Please contact Captain McEachern with your updated neighborhood group information, including:
Group Leader Contact Name & Email,
Street Boundaries and the purpose of Your Group. Please include List of Special Events.
Why, You Ask?... The Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB) is a group of community leaders working with the SFPD and SAFE for the mutual benefit of our neighborhoods. The CPAB group strives to raise awareness of quality of life and safety issues. We are currently in the process of listing and mapping neighborhood groups in the Southern District.
Your information will help to build a communication network between Community, SFPD and SAFE.
Help us to link the SoMa, Mission Bay, Embarcadero, Yerba Buena & Treasure Island neighborhoods and join together our "corner of the world."
Please forward your Community Group Information to Southern Station at sfpd.southern.station.sfgov.org.
On a separate issue, Lt. Dan Leydon of our Sexual Assault Unit has asked the Captains to include some information in our monthly newsletter related to an increase nationwide in sexual assaults. Lt. Leydon and his investigators are working diligently to arrest and prosecute offenders and would like the public to know the following:
1. This year has seen a marked increase in the number of reported sexual assaults where the victim is incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs. While this has always accounted for a significant number of incidents, we are seeing more reports this year than in years prior. The reasons for this are not clear. The most affected demographic are 18-28 year old white females.
2. Older folks have been telling the younger generation for years not to accept drinks from strangers, not to go home with people you don't know and to go out socializing in groups; and that message is no different today.
3. Anyone who believes that they have been a victim of sexual assault should report the incident to police or respond to the Rape Treatment Center at SFGH.
4. San Diego County has agreed to allow us to use their campaign websites to educate the public to the various aspects of the issue. Please visit the listed website for further information on how to avoid becoming a victim of a sexual assault.
Crime in the District
Compstat has given our department an opportunity to have real time statistics for crime within the district. Through August, violent crimes in the Southern District are down 5% and property crimes are down 10%. Overall, part one crime’s, which include violent crimes and property crimes, are down 9%. While I am pleased with these numbers our goal is to reduce part one crime even further and have a sustained double digit decrease year over year. Through the combined effort of law enforcement, community engagement, and pro-active actions I’m hopeful that we will meet our goal of further part one crime reduction in the future.
Monthly Community Meeting
This month’s Community Meeting will take place on Wednesday September 15th. The meeting will be at Pier 40 in the South Beach Harbor Community room. The meeting will take place at 6:00 p.m. I look forward to meeting many of you and discussing the state of the SOMA district and your concerns.
Issue of the Month
This month’s issue will continue to focus on pedestrian and vehicular safety. Because we will be running a number of operations regarding pedestrian safety as outlined in my comment section and because school is back in session I feel it is prudent to extend the focus on pedestrian and vehicular safety through September. Look for the results of our operations in next month’s issue to see the progress on our efforts.
Captain Greg McEachern
Commanding Officer
Southern Station
Crime Alert
Theft of Copper Wire from Underground Vaults
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In the past 3 weeks, there have been 12 individual thefts of bare copper wire from the interior of electric underground sidewalk manholes in various locations throughout San Francisco. The targeted copper wire is the neutral leg, which connect the underground transformers feeding high voltage electricty to our customers. The thefts have resulted in some outages and have caused considerable damage to residents and businesses. There is no geographic pattern to the thefts, but we believe that the thieves park a vehicle at the curb adjacent to a grated sidewalk vault in the early morning hours ( 2 am-6 am), remove the manhole cover, and descend into the vault. The copper wire ( which is 1 1/4 inch thick) is then cut with ratcheted bolt cutters (in earlier cases a hack saw was used) and removed . Thieves have also uncoiled copper grounding wire from the transformers.
The target areas appear to be areas which have no overhead wire s and are usually located in light industrial area s . Areas targeted in the past include 4500 & 4900 blocks of Mission St, 12th & 14th Sts of Mission, Folsom & Hawthorn e , Drumm & Battery, 400 block of Jackson, Gough & O Farrell , Sacramento & Webster , Turk & Masonic , Mission & Harrington and 8th St & Minna.
Anyone observing any suspicious behavior in the area of underground vaults are encouraged to call the SFPD immediately (911), or PG&E's security control center (staffed 24/7) at 1 800 691 0410. Officers and citizens should not attempt to enter the vault as the possibility of electrocution is very high.
Community Events
September 11 – Alzheimers Walk - Embarcadero
September 16 to 24, Oracle World 2010 Convention Moscone Convention
Center (Howard St closed between 3rd and 4th Streets)
September 25 & 26 Dragon Boat Races - Treasure Island
September 26 Folsom Street Fair
October 2 Lung Cancer Walk – Treasure Island
October 7 to 11 - Fleet Week - Blue Angels Air Show October 9 and 10
Crime Log
On 8/1/10 at 10:30 pm 2 Officers responded to 1 Clarence Place where the residents were holding an arson suspect. On arrival the residents told the officers that they saw the 22 man from Concord standing under some temporary scaffolding in front of the building with a lighter in his hand. They said he then set on fire the tarp covering the scaffolding. The residents were able to put the fire out themselves and hold onto the suspect until the police arrived. The suspect told the officers that he used to have a problem setting fires but that he doesn’t do that anymore. He was booked on arson charges.
On 8/5/10 at 6pm Officers responded to 11th and Howard Streets to a report of a fight on a Muni Bus. On arrival they detained several juveniles. After interviewing several witnesses and one 38 year old victim the officers determined that three fifteen year olds, 2 girls and a boy, had beaten and robbed the female victim who they had dragged off the bus. They were booked at Youth Guidance Center. One other juvenile was cited and released from the scene after interfering with and spitting on the officers during the arrest.
On 8/26/10 at 3am two Officers pulled over a late 90’s white Ford Econoline Van with License Plate 4Hll224. The Officers were aware that a vehicle with that description was wanted in connection with several ATM burglaries and thefts recently. The vehicle pulled over and when the Officers approached it the driver took off. A female jumped out of the passenger side when the vehicle took off. Officers pursued the vehicle for a short time but discontinued the pursuit because of the driver’s total disregard for the safety of others on the road. The driver went through several red lights and also drove the wrong way on a one way street. He was last seen in the area of Hwy 101 and Ceasar Chavez Streets. It turns out the female who jumped out of the vehicle was a prostitute the driver had just picked up and she said she jumped out of the vehicle because the driver fled from the officers. The license plate on the van was stolen and belongs to another vehicle.
On 8/26/10 at 1:30pm Officers were doing a check of the Civic Center Muni Station. When they were leaving the station they observed a 22 year old woman with a red Sharpie marker scrawling graffiti on the stainless steel siding of the escalator she was riding. They detained her, caught in the act. She started screaming at and fighting with the Officers, saying that they should be out catching murderers. She was cited vandalism and given a court date.
On 8/26/10 at 3pm two Officers detained a 46 year old man riding a bicycle on the sidewalk at 7th and Market Streets. They checked him for warrants and found he had a no bail warrant for his arrest for burglary. The Officers arrested him and noticed he was riding a very expensive bicycle. They checked the serial number on the bike and contacted the company that sold it. The company was able to give the Officers the name of the person who had purchased the bike, who lived in the Richmond district.. The Officers contacted the owner of the bike who told them that he had just come home and discovered that he was the victim of a residential burglary and the bike the suspect was riding belonged to him. The suspect was booked on his warrant, burglary, and possession of stolen property charges.
On 8/30/10, just past midnight a 22 year old woman was walking to the Bart station at Powell and Market Streets. She was talking on her phone as she walked. Two females, one 17 and one 21 years old came up behind her and pushed her and wrenched her purse from her shoulder and ran. The victim chased the suspects on 5th street toward Mint Plaza. Two citizens and a security guard observed what was going on and followed the suspects into the Plaza. The suspects dropped the purse and started to walk away when they saw they were being followed. The good Samaritans picked up the stolen purse and held on to it for the victim. Responding Officers arrested the suspects nearby and they were booked at Youth Guidance Center and County Jail respectively on robbery charges.
Text-a-Tip Set Up Instructions
Non-Blackberry Cellular Telephones
Dial 847411-then “Store”
Select “Mobile” phone contact-then Select
The screen will appear to attach a name to the stored number
Name: TIP411 (The mobile number 847-411should be attached)-then Okay
Then “Done” to save it.
Now that it is stored
Select TIP411 as the address
Menu-Send Message-Select
New Text-Select
The message board will appear-Type SFPD then leave a space
Type your Message and Send
You will receive a reply message in seconds
Blackberry telephones
Similar to above
First you need to add TIP411 to your mobile contact list
Select TIP411 enter
The cursor will be in blue on the #8 (847411)
Click the ball and select SMS TEXT TIP411
Type your message starting with SFPD (space) … then send
You will receive a response within seconds
Community Court
Become a Community Court panelist and give back to your community. Community Court is a restorative justice program that addresses misdemeanor crimes which occur in your neighborhood. As a panelist, you have a unique opportunity to hear offenses that impact your quality of life, determine its consequences, and figure out how best to resolve it using meaningful sanctions. Use your neighborhood wisdom to solve neighborhood problems. Make your neighborhood better – get involved today!
For more information, please contact the District Attorney’s Officer, Jackson Gee, 551-9531 or jacks...@sfgov.org
Southern Station Resource List:
EMERGENCY: 911
Non-Emergency: 553-0123
Anonymous Tip Line 575-4444
Customer Service Center: 311 *
Cell phone 911: 553-8090
Southern Station: 553-1373
Web: www.sfgov.org/police
(For Crime Stats, Internet reports, etc.)
Southern Station email sfpd.south...@sfgov.org
Captain Greg McEachern Greg.Mc...@sfgov.org
Graffiti Abatement 278-9454
Graffiti Fax 278-9456
Southern Station Events: 553-9191 Sergeant Tad Yamaguchi
Southern Station Permits: 553-9192 Officer Jake Canion
Code Abatement: 553-1308 Officer Maureen Leonard **
Deputy City Attorney: 554-3887 Jennifer Choi
Dept. Parking & Traffic: 553-1943
DPW: 695-2020 Dispatch
Quality of Life Liaison: 553-1373
SF SAFE 553-1984 San_Francis...@mail.vresp.com
Homeless Issues: 553-1373 / © 713-1618 Officer Walt Miranda
Officer Kevin Edison
Megan’s Law Website Access:
The general public can find out information on sexual predators on line by going to the DOJ website: www.meganslaw.ca.gov or at the SFPD link at www.sfgov.org/police. You may check specific names or zip codes to locate those listed in the database.
Join The San Francisco Citizen’s Police Academy
For more information, including application process, please call Ms.Lula Magallon at (415) 401-4720, or Officer Maria Oropeza at (415) 401-4701. You can also email us at sfpd_citizens...@yahoo.com or visit our website: http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=20182.
311 Customer Service Center:
What is 311? 311 is a toll free, NON-EMERGENCY phone number that the public can call to access information about government services. A live customer service representative will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. The service is available to both wired and wireless customers. Wireless customers should call (415) 701-2311. 311 employees will be able to provide translations services in more than 145 languages and dialects and will employ a diverse staff of customer service representatives. Additionally, 311 is set up to accept calls form the hearing impaired by utilizing a TTY System.
*311 will also take police reports if you DO NOT have any suspect description and the crime is not in progress. After meeting these conditions these are the reports 311 will take: Harassing phone calls, vehicle break in, vehicle tampering, lost property, theft, and vandalism/graffiti reports.
Cell phone 911:
How does 911 work on cell phones in San Francisco?
If you are on surface streets in San Francisco and dial 911, your call will be answered by the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management Services. Once the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management Services determines what emergency services are needed, they will then route your 911 call to the San Francisco Police Department or the San Francisco Fire Department, including ambulance service.
If you are on a freeway in San Francisco and dial 911, your call will be answered by either by the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management Services or the California Highway Patrol Dispatch Center. Regardless, your 911 call will be routed to the proper emergency agency, the San Francisco Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, or the San Francisco Fire Department, including ambulance service.
Community and Business Groups & Associations:
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- Mid-Market Project Area Committee (PAC)
- Rincon Point South Beach Citizens’ Advisory Committee
- South of Market Project Area Committee (SOMPAC)
- North Mission Neighborhood Alliance
- SOMA Leadership Council
- Central Market Community Business District
- TreasureIsland SF (www TreasureIslandSF.org)
Captain Greg McEachern
Southern Police Station
850 Bryant Street
SF, CA 94103