commissioner dejesus: is that for us?

president marshall: do you want us to look at it right now? >> we want you to accept it. president marshall: we accept it. >> first off, my name is allen, and i'm -- president marshall: tell everyone i'm going to hold it to three minutes. the packages are from clintse clients, customers showing support for us. e-mail letters, petitions. we also -- prite of these crime logs, -- we also have private crime logs.

her studies were somewhat limited. there was no guarantee from this confidential. we have given information to the police department before, and it has leaked out. so we have an air of distrust. i think her report is full of mistakes, flaws, and probably a few lies. 837 of the penal code says how you can arrest a person as a private person. you can arrest a person for a felony if it happens in in your

presence, or you can arrest a person if you have reasonable cause inform believe that that person committed a felony, even if it was not in your presence. she comes from massachusetts, it may be a little different there. we have a lot of support from our clients. there is a need for us. he also spoke that you shouldn't have to pay for police services. what is the 10-b program. we have gone through the department. i've been doing this for 33 years. i've been in the police department. in 1995, you kicked me out and said i'm no longer a member. i took courses on my own time to learn more. i feel that this is all coming down to two things -- money and

more money. thank you for the time. >> i've been a patrol specialist for 12 years. we want to hire someone, we have to go through a private background. so you guys are approving who we hire. second of all, i met with her for five minutes. we spoke about my business for five minutes. she said she had to leave and go on to something else. 2,700 officers, you get two sfpd officers for the same price. so you are saving money.

that price is over. we respond to trespassers, we respond in two or three minutes. all of our clients complain that when they call those low priority calls, they never show up or show up hours later. we are saving money for the city where they can -- where we can respond to low-priority calls. they said they have to -- when we go to the range, the staff is there regardless. they are -- we go there, they are getting paid to be there. 30 minutes, we call up, we leave. members of the department, five

days a week, when we go to training, they are there being paid. we have been paying for advanced training, and we get the same training every time -- c.p.r. there is also a question, we have three high-ranking officers in charge of us. do you need three? do we really need all three of those in charge of us? and the liability issue, we have $3 million in liability. i have workers comp and car insurance. the city does not compensate me at all. it comes out of my insurance policy. we back up to sfpd every day.

thank you for your fime. -- time. >> good evening. my name is ernest. look at the big picture. he was there for a purpose. it is up to you how you want to handle it. but the police department -- look at the big picture. the patrol special has a viable position in today's society. the fact of the matter is, they rely on them when they have a need. when they are falling down, when they have an ambulance.

it doesn't matter who the uniform is, it matters who the officer is. i think with the oversight we have now, the training, everything that they say they give us, it is required. it is required to go to training. it is required to go to the range. we go to the range, we pay $15 to buy the ament ammunition. you talk about the radio. what are we being reimbursed for. if we're getting beat up or another officer is getting beat up. it is prep tri -- preparatory. let's look at the big picture. let's look at the good we do. it can be corrected. there is nothing out there that can't be corrected. what we need is cooperation. the police department needs to work with us. we need to work with them. it can be one happy family. the officers, the rank and file

out there, they know us, we're one happy family. people don't get along. if there is something wrong, it can be fixed. if you are going to put something on officers to have to pay for their uniform? the uniform is not played by the police officers, they are paid for by us. we are just proud if we want to look at the police department. let's look at the pick-and-roll tour, and let's try to get along. [applause] >> i have been a patrol special for five years 0 so. the neighborhood i grew up in was an underserved neighborhood. we lived in richmond,

california, and during that period of time, the murder capital of california, we did not have nor have any trust for police officers that came in. police officers that came into that neighborhood were more than likely -- more than deal with you as a human. when i got into this business and started getting involved in this, i made an effort to go out and be the best cop that i can be. you can ask anyone who knows me on the streets, whether it be citizens or other cops, how i operate. unfortunately, we are here today because of this report, and frankly the report has a lot of issues. maybe you have -- the rest of the -- the rest of us did not get this information until today. there is no mention of police

reports, criminal cases resolved because of the specials involved. nothing about the lives that have been saved. they did a great job of covering all the negatives, but failed to see what we do right. we have exclusive right to patrol the streets. the law is on the books. we have asked over and over and over again. the police department refuses to even deal with that. so 1750 is a red herring, this ideas that we're getting an unfair advantage to patroling. that's not fair. any citizen can go to radio shack and buy a police scanner. the majority of security systems patroling have scanners in their cars. that is bogus. if you want to secure the channels, make it encrypted, and then we could have an issue

there. you are broad casting it in public, not in digital format, anyone can listen to it over a trunking scanner. you talk about our uniform looking similar, if we are truly private, why is there a need to regulate the uniforms we wear. anyone that would confuse us with sfpd or they would confuse sfpd working 10-b stuff as not working for private clients. the thing is, people are going to confuse. it is our role out there to say, this is what we are. i have one more thing to say, i know it is over my time. you say we don't serve the citizens. i would like you to tell that to the district attorney, because the district attorney commended

us for the arrest of a gang member now serving time in san quentin because of my testimony. thank you so much for your time. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners. i am a private citizen here in san francisco. i have worked in telecommunications for years. anybody can receive the channels on san francisco's smart net system. as a private citizen i have gone out and seen patrols, and i am sure it psychologically reduces the crime in my neighborhood.

i am pleased. i became friends with some specials, and therefore i am here to support them. the economy is in a bad state, and i think that the minimal amount that it takes from the city serves a great benefit for us citizens. thank you for your time, commissioners. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners. i would like to acknowledge that i am speaking in in memory of officer jane warner tonight. i have six years direct experience, two in glenn park and two in the castro. i certainly appreciate another opportunity to submit a more cogent response. the program was designed to

implement improvement, but that doesn't seem to be the study in front of you. the recommendations are there, ask there are a few things we can work on together with you. some of them are simple. i'm sure we can amend and put information on the prosures, and apparently the -- brochures and apparently the one we drafted in glen park is confusing. i have already started a revised edition. we don't say it, but it didn't come from us or the patrol specials. the issue here, we have tnt people in the community on the police department in our officer force. let's sit down and work together and deal with some of these sub

stantive issues that remain. we really can resolve them. it concluded five months ago, and it is simply out of date. it is not relevant to what is happening in this city. crime is moving into formerly safe neighborhoods. it is affecting tourists. business is being concerned downtown. crime is not just car booths and purse snatchings anymore. women are getting knocked down in the streets of glen park. a formerly quiet village. what happened two years ago, we gathered a group of grassroots organizations. we raised money and we considered, should we hire a security guard company. we did consider that. we decided it didn't provide a sufficient level of security for what we needed. we wanted an office with --

officer with police radio so he would know who was coming into our area and could help us wamp out fofferthafment -- watch out for that. we hired officer wiley with 35 years of experience. and we feel enormously relieved seeing him on foot patrol. we have an officer, and i pay for him along with others. the hourly rate is quite open and posted foffer -- for you. my second response -- a bit more time, sir? president marshall: i can give you 30 seconds. 30 seconds. >> may i have her time. president marshall: 30 seconds. >> i would like to enter into evidence the patrol specials do

serve the wider community. they don't just serve me, they serve my entire neighborhood. i would like to event a commendation for robert burns railroad are for -- burns for medal of honor. he witnessed a shooting, he had time to assess the situation and protect hundreds of fleaing people. these are words from the 10ant who recommended him to central station for an award. president marshall: thank you very much, ma'am. >> i have two more documents simply to offer. president marshall: give it to the lieutenant. >> thank you. president marshall: thank you. [applause]

>> commissioners, i'm from the libtarne -- libertarian party. i don't have any financial stake in this. i don't work in law enforcement in anyway. i feel more represented as a citizen by the patrol specials than i do by the sfpt. i feel they better reflect the kind of priorities i would like to see law enforcement take in this community. they are community driven.

even ms. craven said they were more approachable, in effect. she said the lighter colored uniforms are seen as more approachable. you may know in, commissioners, but i understand that miss craven actually works for the police union. what you are seeing is a blatant conflict of interest. the police union has been opposed and wants to shut this organization down. they have been trying to do this for years. it has already been decimated from what it used ton to be. -- what it used to be. i believe it is all about the money. they would rather have clients of patrol specials being forced to pay police officers overtime in order to attend the program at higher rates. this $300,000 will save the city a lot of money in the long run by maintaining this program.

you were mentioned earlier about the cost. i believe this is a scare tactic. you should look at lawsuits against sfpd strs patrol specials. what you are talking about is not even a real thing that's happened. the city has had to pay off millions of dollars in lawsuits against the sfpd. so really by having more patrol specials there with their own private insurance, that is decreasing the state's liability, not increasing it. she said you can't let your police department be subpoena -- be supplanted. choice helps the public. i think it will help keep the police officers on their toes if

they know there are other officers out there who are doing similar work at a lower cost to the public. [bell] the patrol specials should not be put under the control of the police department. that is causing a lot of problems we are seeing here. thank you very much. >> good evening. my name is andrea aiello. when i first took this position, i was really shocked. i thought, oh, my this is

interesting. but san francisco is unique. people explained to me that this is in the city charter. i think the problem is, after i finished reading that report last night, i thought, this report doesn't talk about the benefit patrol specials brings to the city, it talks about the cost the city incurs, but there is no accounting of how much financial benefit the patrol specials bring. i think they bring a benefit way beyond just to the individual businesses that hire them, because they can patrol. so they have a lot of clipets and they patrol the streets of that neighborhood and provide a lot more safety and security. we have hired patrol specials to basically patrol three hot spots that we have in the castro and upper market neighborhoods.

we couldn't hire for community security reasons. we have a popular castro at harvey milk plaza. they walk through. they are on call. and then down on market street, they patrol by -- the public toilet is by safeway. those public toilets are a haven for drug use. we couldn't hire a security guard to stand in those spots. it wouldn't work in our neighborhood to have security guards stay there. we considered working with the late late-night miller commants. just way too much money. we couldn't afford to hire 10-b officers. i know there were -- one of the commissioners was concerned about access to patrol specials, and if there is not a patrol special in the neighborhood, they don't have access.

many well, -- well, the 10-b is too expensive for many neighborhoods. we pay the same rates as glen park. it is more affordable, and it works. i would also like to note that in the newspaper yesterday or this morning there was published a letter -- [bell] patrol specials can help the police department meet their needs. i think we can all pork -- work together and be really creative force --

president marshall: sorry to stop you. thank you. >> hello. my name is ken craig. i fill a number of roles. one of them i lead a martial arts organization and have been for a number of years. i recently got a number of different events. we are a civilian organization. which actually patrols the streets of the castro. we do that in association with the san francisco mission police station. we work with supervisor dufty. support for that entire program. we are a lot of what -- a lot of what was in the report was

factually accurate. it shows a complete misunderstanding of what the special officers do. what i do in my neighborhood is i am part of the n.a.r.c. team. i was talking to some neighbors down there, and they see low priority crimes take two to seven hours to respond to it. they will always get there, specifically if the event mass acoward and has gone. that dunts respond to the needs of the local community. the patrol specials are an option. i also provide the opportunity of volunteer patrol.

most of these condominium owners are aware of private security. they choose to wemple patrol specialists to get the that safety they have for private property. it is a red herring to suggest that private security is an alternative or equivalent to. it isn't. otherwise people would not be utilizing them. basically i would scug read the report and take a look at what's going on in the neighborhood. i don't believe that miss craven has attended many community meetings. [unintelligible] >> as we responded to that,

s.f.p.d. did not have enough control. they did direct ourselves as well as -- [bell] so there is much in that report that doesn't reflect the true situation oferinge on the ground. thank you. president marshall: thank you. >> demigsers, my name is jane green and i am a resident that benfits from the patrol specialists. there has been a trrtable improvement in terms of plife, -- of life and safety. you have those testimonials in