The San Francisco Police Department is looking to hire an additional 4 police academy classes to keep up with attrition thanks to the planning by Police Chief Greg Suhr and the cooperation of Mayor Ed Lee. It’s a great job as long as you go in with the right attitude. It’s all about providing a service to the community coupled with teamwork. And there is always the camaraderie shared by watching out for each other, for example:
It’s May 17, 2015, at 1700 hours in the Bayview District and Officer Kevin Adams and Curran Gong were dispatched to Garlington Court on an assault-in-progress reported by the SFFD. The officers faced nothing but resistance from the combatants when they arrived so they had to call for back-up units to assist. Officers from across the district responded to help.
Meanwhile, while overseeing the subsequent investigation on Garlington Court, Lieutenant Sean Ryan heard multiple gunshots just a block or 2 away. The units on Garlington now made their way over to Oakdale Avenue and located several gunshot victims. This particular incident also involved domestic violence with the suspect firing into the house where his girlfriend, who is expecting their first child, and her mother were hosting a baby shower. This was now a major crime scene resulting in the apprehension of the armed suspect shortly after the incident. It was only 1803 hours in the Bayview.
At approximately 1928 hours a takeover robbery of a gas station on Bayshore Blvd. Bayview officers were acutely aware that a serial robbery suspect had targeted other stations in their district so they responded code 3 in hopes of catching him. They first had to deal with a hysterical victim while maintaining the crime scene. Although the suspect wasn’t caught this time, sufficient diligence was taken to ensure identification of the felon soon.
Then at 2023 hours, while the officers were still processing the gas station robbery scene, gunshots were heard 2 blocks away on the unit block of Flora. The Bayview officers raced to the location but could only find numerous shell casings along with several parked cars covered in bullet holes. Nevertheless, another crime scene was declared in case a victim/suspect was transported to one of the nearby hospitals for treatment.
It’s now 2024 hours and Bayview officers are responding to a call of a man with a knife stabbing patrons of a bar. The suspect was gone when the officers arrived but they found their victim who had been stabbed numerous times and was bleeding profusely. A suspect was named and reports were made for follow-up.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Martin Bandvik was still conducting a follow-up investigation at the gas station where the takeover robbery occurred when he heard a commotion outside. He ran out and saw a woman being violently assaulted by a male suspect. Sergeant Bandvik called for immediate back-up while confronting the out of control suspect. Units arrived shortly and the attacker was placed under arrest while the victim was provided with much needed medical attention. Information derived shortly after found that the woman being beaten was a victim of human trafficking while also being used as a slave to the man assaulting her. It was now 2143 hours.
In a little under 5 hours on May 17th, the true professionalism of the following members of Bayview Station was highlighted. It showed, once again, that no matter how many calls for service or emergencies they handle and, regardless of how dangerous those calls can be, these officers are equal to the task!
After 3 prior felony convictions you might want to change the way you do things. Then again, some people never learn. Take the driver of the vehicle that was pulled over by Officer David Wasserman and Officer Rene Romero for a traffic violation. He said he “forgot” his driver’s license. A records check revealed that it would have been pretty hard to “forget” since he was on 2 current DMV suspensions (how do you manage to do that . . .?) Anyway, one thing led to another and soon the officers discovered narcotics in the vehicle and, when placed under arrest, the officers found a loaded, .22 caliber gun in the driver’s back pocket. And, yes, Officer Wasserman and Officer Romero work in the Bayview.
Newhall and LaSalle Street is located in a neighborhood (Bayview) where the residents and business owners have repeatedly expressed their concerns over the rampant drug dealing in the area. Officer Jeffrey Fortuno, Officer ____ Heppenstall, and Officer ____ Lujano were well aware of their concerns. So when they noticed 2 individuals hiding behind a parked car on the street exchanging something they decided to investigate. One of the 2 ran only a short distance before he was stopped by Officer Lujano for further investigation. That investigation revealed the detained suspect was in possession of a large amount of crack cocaine along with a loaded firearm.
Every time a gun is recovered from the street it means there just might be one less shooting. So when Officer Kevin Adams, Officer Jeff Rosenberg, and Officer Milen Banegas (Bayview Station) stopped a car for a traffic infraction they had no idea just what else might be involved. Nevertheless, after a patient and all-encompassing investigation the officers found the driver of the vehicle was transporting a very large quantity of crack cocaine for sale and her passenger just happened to have a fully-loaded, semi-automatic weapon tucked in his waistband.
Officer Ali Misaghi, Officer Gabriel Alcaraz, Officer David Johnson, and Officer Eduard Ochoa (Bayview Station) should probably receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for being mentioned in this column so many times over the years. Nevertheless, they are back, once again, with an outstanding arrest. The officers were investigating 2 separate shootings that occurred in the Potrero Hill Housing Projects in May. In one of the incidents 2 subjects were shot on Turner Terrace only yards away from a children’s preschool and learning center.
The officers conducted an extremely intensive investigation using the most modern techniques provided by our new electronic age and tracked down an individual who was known to have a weapon and located in the neighborhood in question. Officer Misaghi obtained a search warrant for the subject’s residence and, along with the rest of the team, managed to take the suspect into custody as well as the weapon (.40 caliber, semi-automatic) he was known to carry.
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Last month we asked for assistance in preparing this column by requesting copies of incidents that reflect well upon all of you wearing the SFPD star. Since then the only commendations received were from Bayview Station. We’d like to compliment Captain Raj Vaswani, Acting Captain Valerie Matthews, and, of course, former Captain, now Commander, Rob O’Sullivan for making sure that the members of their command were appropriately honored.
Last time we looked, there were at least 9 other district stations in the City. It’s hard to believe that those districts had nothing to forward to the Close Encounter column highlighting the outstanding work of their members, especially since many of the officers work in some very demanding and dangerous neighborhoods.
Let’s just hope that maybe submissions were made and maybe the information sent to the SFPOA might have gotten lost in transit. That scenario seems like a much more logical explanation - right? So we would definitely appreciate it if the District Stations could please re-send the "missing" copies for inclusion next month.
Stay safe.
