San Francisco Chief of Police doesn't qualify...

[jrance@iacwds.com 716]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../BARR1138G6.DTL

Sounds about right.

 

S.F. police chief has skipped target practice

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Thursday, June 5, 2008

 

(06-04) 16:47 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- After being assailed by the police officer whose satiric videos earned him and nearly two dozen others suspensions in 2005, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong acknowledged that she has gone years without taking the target practice required for officers who carry guns.

 

The head of the city's Police Commission said Wednesday that the panel is likely to take disciplinary action against Fong, which could range from a letter of reprimand to something more severe.

 

Department rules require all police officers who carry guns to pass shooting range tests every six months. Fong said in a statement this week that "the duties of a police chief are demanding and time-consuming. I acknowledge that I have not scheduled time for firearms re-qualifications. This will be addressed for future re-qualifications."

 

Fong did not say when she last took a target-practice session at the department's shooting range at Lake Merced or when she would be tested next.

 

The issue of Fong's proficiency with a gun was raised last week by Officer Andrew Cohen. He wrote to Police Commission President Theresa Sparks that the chief had gone five years without being certified, which he called "an egregious matter of misconduct."

 

"I know the chief is busy, and an occasional lapse or non-appearance may be justified," Cohen wrote. "However, 10 consecutive failures to qualify are simply outrageous and insulting to all the men and women of the department."

 

Cohen, an officer since 1995, ran afoul of the chief and Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2005 after he shot videos showing officers responding to mock calls. One showed a homeless black woman railing against white people after apparently being hit by a patrol car. Another showed an officer ogling a woman he had stopped for a traffic violation.

 

One officer was shown dressed as a transgender person, and another video showed officers attempting tai chi to vaguely Asian music, then heading into a massage parlor.

 

Newsom and Fong called a news conference to label the videos as homophobic, sexist and racist, and Fong suspended Cohen and 23 other officers at the Bayview station without pay.

 

An appeals court ruled that Fong had exceeded her authority, but Cohen and other officers still face disciplinary procedures. Separately, he and some of the other officers have sued over the chief's actions. Cohen is out on medical leave after he had an accident while working in the records room.

 

He told the Police Commission that Fong should face discipline for failing to pass her target-practice tests and should be forced to give up her weapon.

 

Under department policy, failing to qualify on the shooting range results in admonishment for a first offense, followed by a reprimand for a second, a possible suspension for the third and an automatic suspension for the fourth.

 

Cohen noted that in the last five years, "scores of officers" have been disciplined and even denied pay raises and promotion for the same infraction the chief has committed.

 

Allowing those under her to be disciplined while she was skipping target practice herself amounted to an "arrogant, ethical and moral failure" on the chief's part, Cohen said.

 

Sparks said Wednesday that Cohen's complaint has "opened a whole kettle of fish we need to look at."

 

"I think there's little chance that this will go without something, some disciplinary action," Sparks said, adding that the Police Commission probably would take up the matter in a closed-door personnel session next week.

 

"I don't think there is any question that the chief violated the general orders," Sparks said. "She admits it."

 

She added that police officials "need to qualify like anybody else. ... There are certain things you do to become a police officer, and qualifying at the range is one of them."

 

Gary Delagnes, head of the Police Officers Association, said Fong "should have been smart enough to qualify at the range."

 

But, he added, Cohen's accusations "have been very personal and vile in nature. It's unfortunate we are wasting our time on this."

[Bayoupiper 738]

Professionally, I think this is intolerable!

 

Personally, I think San Francisco got what it deserves in their current chief!

[loki0629 55]

Yeah but prior to becoming a police officer, Fong was part of the Chang Sing gang and helped Jack Burton defeat the evil Lo Pan and the Three Storms. She really doesn't need target practice with a gun because her kung fu is very strong. And what about her mastery of the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique?

Unfortunately, it seems all those years training with Pai Mei seems to have taken a toll on her sense of humor. The cops running into the massage parlor was brilliant (in my humble opinion) and kinda Reno 911-esque.

 

I'm really sick of the one-sided articles in the msm these days.

[ClickClickD'oh 1]

Some animals are more equal than others.

[Shooterman 0]

Ha! What would you expect from the Chief of a city that tried (and failed, thank God) to ban private ownership of firearms. It's a bureaucratic and political position anyway.

[Gaddis 1,689]

She probably looks like the Asian chick in the Devo "Whip It" video going after the beer can when trying to range qualify anyway...

 

Well, except for most likely looking like a masculine bull dike.

[G O B 3,516]

If the rank and file are suspended after skipping 4 range dates, skipping 10 should cost the Chief her job.

[Azrial 1,091]

Fong is a joke of a police chief with little qualification outside of being a female minority. This is a major qualification for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

 

He has appointed females to 6 key positions of leadership in the city for little other reason then pandering to his liberal left wing supporters.

 

This is the same moron that attempted to legalize gay marriage in San Francisco before being bitch slapped down by the state's highest court.

[soberups 1]

I dont see the need for San Francisco police to be armed in the first place. Guns are illegal there. All you need for a police presence in San Francisco is a bunch of gay black handicapped vegetarian women in uniform....rather than arrest criminals they can hand them granola bars and pledge to honor their diversity.

[IndyArms 10,186]

AMEN!!!! Sing it, soberups!!!!

 

[Shooterman 0]

I dont see the need for San Francisco police to be armed in the first place. Guns are illegal there.

 

Wrong. Check your facts. The ban was overturned by the state court of appeals in Jan. of this year, and residents can once again own firearms.

Edited June 9, 2008 by Shooterman