Ingleside district to be SFPD’s testing ground
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
April 2, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Ingleside Station will become a model for San Francisco Police Department reforms that could eventually be instituted citywide — changes that include adding personnel, technology and a focus on problem-solving.
The Ingleside district was chosen because its ethnic diversity, crime patterns and housing mix mirror citywide demographics, SFPD assistant chief Jim Lynch told police commissioners at their meeting Wednesday night.
The Ingleside police district includes nearly two dozen neighborhoods, from tony St. Francis Wood to the Sunnydale housing projects.
Police say the timeline for implementing the reforms is still hazy, and depends on technology and training being in place.
The changes are based on the recommendations of a series of studies by the private Police Executive Research Forum on ways to increase the Department’s efficiency.
Ingleside will hire a fifth lieutenant for its staff, who will oversee community problem-solving. The station will also add a full-time crime analyst to interpret data on suspects, victims and locations of crimes daily. That information will be used to identify criminal hot spots and to combat violence trends.
While several crime analysts currently work out of the department’s Bryant Street headquarters, it will be the first time the information is kept in a station database and interpreted locally.
Much of the funding will come from federal stimulus dollars and state and federal grants, Lynch said. The station’s officers will receive additional training in community engagement and communication with district residents.
“We’re creating a business model for the next quarter-century for how San Francisco provides patrol services to the community,” Lynch said.
The program’s success will be measured through crime levels, public complaints and calls to police. Reduced fear in neighborhoods, public cooperation, and increased trust of police will also be gauged. Police commissioners will then weigh which parts of the pilot program to extend citywide.
