Outsiders help boost SFPD’s public face
By: Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer
August 28, 2009
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| New San Francisco police Chief George Gascón has brought in outsiders to help revamp the department's public affairs office. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Police Department — where the message had been tightly controlled under former Chief Heather Fong — is beefing up its sworn public affairs staff and opening up to the public, and it only took a couple of outsiders to make it happen.
Last week, new police Chief George Gascón brought in his former spokesman, Sgt. Ed Wessing, from Mesa, Ariz., to foggy San Francisco for three days and two nights to help expand the office that deals with the media.
San Francisco paid for Wessing’s flight and hotel, while Mesa paid his normal salary for the visit, according to San Francisco Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Lyn Tomioka. Two more Mesa officers are expected come to The City to help pull together the centerpiece of Gascón’s efforts to overhaul the SFPD, the Compstat system. The arrangement was first reported by The Arizona Republic on Thursday.
The public affairs office at the SFPD will immediately bring in two more officers, ideally Cantonese or Spanish speakers, to provide
information to the public, spokeswoman Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said. The added staffing means the office will remain open four more hours, until 9 p.m.
The additional officers won’t cost the Police Department more because they’ll be drawn from the ranks of sworn officers.
Public information officers will also reach out more to new media, such as blogs and Web sites, and will hand out credentials to more than just traditional media, newspapers, television and radio.
The public affairs office will also stop its practice of keeping hard copies of newspaper clippings, instead filing everything electronically.
“We’re moving forward,” Tomioka said. “The whole world is moving forward, so we have to look at other peoples’ perspectives on issues.”
Mesa’s Sgt. Wessing declined to comment for this story.
The expansion could mean a major shift towards transparency at the department. Fong not only shied from the media herself, but under her rule, the entire department was discouraged from talking to reporters. In a bulletin sent to homicide inspectors during her 5-year stint, for example, Fong ordered detectives to obtain approval from their supervisors before talking to reporters, although that approval was rarely granted.
bbegin@sfexaminer.com
