San Francisco is considering reviving its “patrol special” squad, a for-hire private security service enshrined in the city charter and with roots stretching back to the Gold Rush-era.
Patrol specials are non-sworn but armed officers appointed by the Police Commission, established in the city charter in 1857. They patrol specific beats or corridors in the city, and are paid by residents and business owners.
Today, as only one patrol special officer remains, one Police Commissioner is pushing to bring the force back.
The program “would likely have to be totally revamped,” said Commissioner Debra Walker as she introduced the subject before the Police Commission on Wednesday night. Over the years, she added, “there was a kind of a lack of oversight and coordination.”
A 2010 study of the program found that the patrol specials violated the rules and procedures set by the Police Commission and were a financial burden to the city, leading the Controller’s Office to recommend the dissolution of the force.
Patrol specials dress nearly identically to San Francisco police officers, and attend a 64-hour training with Peace Officer Standards and Training, a state program that trains law enforcement agencies, similar to police. But they do not have the same power or authority as police officers. They cannot make arrests or file police reports, nor are they subject to the same oversight and accountability measures.
The 2010 study found that patrol specials “overstep their authority,” posing a liability for the city.
Walker has ideas for bringing back the patrol specials as a new and improved pilot program to start, with better day-to-day coordination from the city’s Community Benefit District Alliance, body-worn cameras and improved training.
“I think it can really help,” Walker said in an interview with Mission Local. “Some of the neighborhoods were really successful.”
Commissioner Kevin Benedicto said that in order to consider reimplementing the patrol special program, he would have to see a comprehensive plan addressing the “serious concerns” outlined in the controller’s report.
Alan Byard, the city’s last remaining patrol special officer, briefly addressed the commission on Wednesday. He called the program “the original community policing.” He remembered a time when there were about 450 patrol specials supplementing more than 1,500 police officers, when he first took the job in the 1970s.
Byard, who today patrols sectors of the Marina District that pay for his services, appeared to be advocating for fewer restrictions to the program, suggesting that applications and the police academy training requirement were creating a “bottleneck” for approving new patrol specials.
“Apparently, SFPD doesn’t accept our backgrounds, and it’s taken over a year just to review one” application, Byard said.
Lt. Patrick McCormick, who addressed the commission on Wednesday, said that he had three applications ready to be scrutinized by the Police Commission.
Armed private security officers, who are not held to the same standard as the police, have recently faced calls for increased regulation, however.
Earlier this year, an armed security guard shot and killed Banko Brown, an unarmed transgender man, as Brown retreated from a Walgreens after being beaten and pinned to the ground following an alleged shoplifting attempt. The district attorney declined to criminally charge Brown’s killer, saying guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony acted in self-defense.
In response to the incident, District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston introduced legislation restricting when security guards may draw their firearms in protection of property.
Nonetheless, Byard and the prospect of patrol specials is apparently popular — the Police Commission received dozens of emails from Byard’s clients and other residents, calling for the body to save the program and approve pending applicants.
This is a very bad idea. We don’t need cop wannabes who can’t pass SFPD’s already low, low standards pushing people around.
It was a great idea when they could do the job. Now with the city wanting more ‘oversight ‘ businesses may as well just hire private armed security.
Maybe, just maybe, if the SFPD was actually in compliance with the Justice Department’s 2017 recommendations about how to clean up their own house, then, and only then, could this be discussed as a Bad Idea. As things stand now it doesn’t merit serious consideration even as a fundamentally Awful Idea… Fruit from the Poison Tree and all that. Sure, what could go wrong if we let rich enclaves pay for a non accountable private, but sanctioned, military force. There wouldn’t be any chance they might embody the prejudices of those paying their livelihoods. Nah, nothing could go wrong. Super smart idea.
Poor Banko was shot by private security, not a patrol special. See the article for what the difference is…
So… rather than tax SF’s many, many billionaires to increase resources and lower crime, London Greed and Crook Jenkins want an officially-sanctioned vigilante gang.
How could that POSSIBLY go wrong? 🙄
Because not enough Banko Browns have been shot? WTF SFPD, that program is garbage and you have Lt.’s excited about candidates ready to go to the commission? As if everything with that program is fine as it is? This is beyond tragic.
More cops/cop-like types?
Oh, no!
The social justice warriors and anarchical socialists must be fit to be tied!
Of course, the police commission will do everything in its power to dumb Patrol Special Police down even more, rendering it effectively useless.
My fellow San Franciscans love their chaos and high property crime rate.
Indeed – just look at the thief not paying taxes for the company he ruined at 1355 Market. He claims he has no money for rent, but has $100K to use against Dean Preston?
There’s the real source of crime in SF.
Agreed – we should evict everyone who doesn’t pay rent. Roll back tenant protections.
People said things without lack of information. Patrol special have the same training as swords officer but they don’t want admitted because politics issues . Those who say thing like wanna be cobs . What do they know . They are a bunch of ignorants . Patrol police officers aren’t private Security just keep ni mind that .