When Supervisor Jackie Fielder and Assistant Chief David Lazar sparred at a San Francisco city hearing this week, two questions arose: Is it good for public safety that the city’s police officers can go work private security after work, and are those officers spread out equitably across San Francisco’s neighborhoods?
Lazar said yes, full stop. The program “is a big win for the community, the public, the city, and for the department,” he said. Allowing SFPD to act as a broker for off-duty police officers is a way to have police ”visible in public” and “out in the community” reducing crime — but with private businesses paying the tab. It’s a great program that needs to continue, he said. SFPD should actually look to expand it.
Fielder countered. The program — known as 10(b) — gives certain parts of the city a stronger police presence, she said, based on the ability of local businesses to pay for it. The police department “should be equitably allocating public safety resources, including officers” where they’re most needed, without an option to buy your way into city-trained and subsidized security…