San Francisco politics permeate Police Department
By: Ken Garcia
Examiner Staff Writer
April 21, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Perhaps it was good that departing San Francisco police Chief Heather Fong went years without requalifying to carry a firearm, considering her penchant for shooting herself in the foot.
And Fong’s latest misfiring shows that she has truly become dangerous, further damaging the department, tarnishing the career of one of its most seasoned officers and leaving a mess for the future chief just as she prepares to leave.
Sadly, that has not come soon enough, allowing Fong to show her true vengeful colors — none of which match well with navy blue.
By demoting Deputy Chief Greg Suhr to captain this month because of a dubious interpretation of police reporting requirements, Fong revealed a streak of vindictiveness and pettiness that few would have thought she possessed when she was elevated to the top spot five years ago.
Those of us who dealt with her from the media after she was named chief saw someone so painfully shy she would rather chew her stripes off than face the press. But the same meekness did not come into play in dealing with her own officers, who saw another side of the chief: Heather the Punisher.
Fong’s policy of unilaterally transferring popular captains out of district stations has increasingly drawn the ire of members of the Board of Supervisors. But her treatment of Suhr — viewed by many as the top choice to become chief — has left a permanent imprint on Fong’s legacy. A closer view shows that it’s actually more of a scar.
The facts of Suhr’s case do not support a demotion, let alone minor disciplinary action. But the timeline of the incident clearly reveals why members of the command staff, fearing continuing retribution, are, in the words of one of its longtime members, “currently in a combat crawl.”
Suhr would not discuss the case, but others with knowledge of it said that around midnight Feb. 1, Suhr received a call from a friend who told him that she had been in a fight with her boyfriend and that it had turned violent. She was alone and shaken, and possibly hurt, and she asked Suhr to help. He came to her home, listened to her story and told her that she needed to report it to police.
She balked, saying she did not want the police involved and did not want to seek medical attention. Suhr persisted, and told her she should talk to her mother. A day passed and then the woman called Suhr and said that she would file a report after work and asked him to help arrange the interview, which he did. Depending on who’s keeping the clock, this is within 24 to 36 hours after Suhr first learned of the incident and did his best to persuade a reluctant witness to talk to police.
Since the story first broke of Suhr’s demotion — which came via letter one working day before the deadline to apply for the chief’s job (and nearly 2½ months after the alleged attack) — the victim has subsequently written a note praising Suhr for his help, essentially saying that he saved her life.
Fong apparently contends the incident was not reported in a “timely manner,” which shows why no company should have a clock-watcher at the top — it impedes people from doing their jobs.
Fong has a sorry history of treating some of the department’s top personnel with disdain and going out of her way to block their advancement by sticking them with rudimentary assignments in remote locations. Mayor Gavin Newsom has stood idly by while Fong ruined the morale of the department by dispatching top brass to the agency’s Siberian outposts, but the botched handling of Suhr has put the mayor at odds with several supervisors, the police union and hundreds of members of the public who are backing the 28-year department veteran with written and vocal support.
The Mayor’s Office has been in full defensive mode since the case made headlines. And there has not been a peep from Newsom, who has shown a stunning lack of leadership in dealing with the department’s woes.
Fong was supposed to leave the department at the end of April, and the only question is if the Police Commission will step in and try to undo her mishandling of the case — which it has the power, and hopefully the will, to do.
The victim is now at the center of an attempted-murder case against alleged assailant Mark Roppo. Roppo’s attorney, Michael Cardoza, said the case has been “overcharged,” in part because it’s caught up in the firestorm regarding Suhr.
“It reeks of San Francisco politics,” he told me.
On that point, everyone is in agreement — it reeks.
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