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?
