— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Look SFPD, we get it. Between all the gang wars, drug dealers, and cyclists riding through stop signs, you have your hands full. The Mission is happening nearly every hour of every day, yet you somehow manage to keep the 'hood from looking like 7th and Market. You deal with the complaints of geezer neighbors without totally ruining the fun. You look away when we spark a joint. And no one has ever watched you slap a pair of cuffs on Cold Beer Cold Water.
For all that, most residents give you well-deserved credit.
But every time we start thinking SFPD isn't all that bad, you go pull a stunt that reminds us all that you employ some of the most toolish douchebags to ever live in the City and County of San Francisco.
Take yesterday's closing of Sunday Streets. Argubly one of the most successful civic events in the city, Sunday Streets brings thousands of San Franciscans from every corner of the city together to enjoy motor-free streets for five measly hours. The streets are lined with musicians, neighbors barbequing on their stoops, local merchants and cooks flipping their wares, children learning bike polo, people adoring low riders, kids going nuts with chalk, art bikes, costumed rollerbladers, and even dance lessons. The community the event fosters is enough to bring a smile to even the most cynical dipshit's face.
So when the public's time was up, how'd you close down the event? Send officers walking down the street, politely telling people to move to the sidewalks? Dispatch the Mission's bicycle cops down Valencia to assist in winding the event down? Strap rollerskates on officers dressed like The Village People and kick people off the streets?
No, you sent Officer Power Trip and his sidekick Sargent Shitbag down Valencia on motorcycles, wailing on their sirens, yelling over the loudspeaker to get on the sidewalk, and accelerating into crowds of people so they'd jump to the curb. And it wasn't jump unemployed kids on fixies you treated like this. No, these trailblazers in misdirected anger chirped their horns at families in the street, yelled at merchants that hurriedly dragged their belongings to the curb. Hell, I even saw the officer pictured above accelerate his motorcycle right into former city supervisor and mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty and his volunteers.
Your department treats families, neighbors, and generally lovely people with the same respect you show #OpBART protesters. What the fuck is wrong with you?
Comments (10)
SFPD Motorcycle cops are the worst fucktards I have ever encountered.
You aren’t even a San Franciscan…go back where you came from loser.
I hate to go all process oriented on you. But that’s worth an actual complaint to the SFPD.
You fail to mention the entitlement of the sidewalk dwellers when it is time to roll it up. They’ve had all day to play in the streets and when it’s car time, they need to move. It’s not like, “get on the sidewalk when you feel like it,” it’s “there are cars coming now so you need to move!” then they glare and throw shit at the cars just for driving down the street.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
There are only several career paths open to sociopaths.
Many sociospaths enter a life of violent crime.
Educated sociopaths become bankers.
The rest become cops.
Apropos of possibly nothing, in New Orleans, following the end of Mardi Gras, the cops line up side by side on horses and roll the F down Bourbon Street. Get in their way, get a horse in the face or worse. When the party is over, well, it’s over. Ever been to Madrone when it’s time to get the f out? Or Benders? Or Zeitgiest? When it is time to leave, it is time to leave. When it is time to get off the street, don’t expect cops to hand out flowers with notes saying “Pretty please, get of the sidewalk, or my sergeant will be mad”. C’mon.
Said Officer Power Trip is actually SFPD’s representative for Sunday Streets. He is a problem every month and I personally witnessed him at the start of a recent Sunday Streets talk about how much he disliked the event and at the end, precisely at 4pm, he began to throw the SFPD barricades that were used to close off the street into a pile with several bicycles locked to each of them. The sound of bike’s scraping the street was worse than any chalkboard and fingernail combo. Then just as I thought that he was the biggest dick ever, a set of keys that had been attached to one of the bikes being moved fell off and he promptly picked them up, looked at them and then turned in the opposite direction and chucked them as hard as he could down the street. So much for Protect & Serve.
p.s. - There is a BIG difference between Mardi Gras, closing down a bar full of drunk idiots at 2am and Sunday Streets…so yes people should be asked to leave in a different way.
Nice writing So well written that it more than compensates for the being too, too, what’s the word..
“you employ some of the most toolish douchebags to ever live in the City and County of San Francisco”…isn’t actually true because the majority of these toolish douchebags don’t live in the City and County of San Francisco but in Novato or other suburban fortresses. It’s a big problem and contributes to the horrible attitudes you see.
I wasn’t there so I won’t comment about what the officer did or didn’t do. If you have proof of what you say then you should go to O.C.C.. What I am disappointed in is seeing how many of you will label ALL cops as jerks based on the behavior of a few. Even the author writes in the opening of the blog about how good we are, then proceeds to bash all of us and paint us all with the same brush. I find it ironic that what people accuse us of doing, treating all people the same ie: like criminals, they will then turn around and do that exact thing to us!! Pathetic really. As for living in the city or not living in the city: I was born and raised here and choose to live where I can enjoy sunshine, a larger home for the money, and better schools, none of which I, as a police officer, can change in SF. A good cop is a good cop because he/she want’s to be the best they can, which is what most of the officers I work with do daily. If you really think it matters where you live then you are beyond ignorant.
I have seen how people act when it is time to re-open the streets. They want to take their sweet time and act like the rest of the world should wait for them to decide when they are ready to get back on the sidewalk. If your picture is factually accurate, then I see about 100 people not returning to the sidewalks. But I guess it is always someone elses fault for why they can’t do something as simple as return to the closest sidewalk!