Candidate Promises, Citizen Mayor Delivers?

By Larry Bush
When he was a candidate for mayor in 1991, Frank Jordan claimed incumbent Mayor Art Agnos had let the Police Department decline in strength, and pledged in a position paper that he would "Develop an aggressive recruitment and training program aimed at bringing the police department up to strength in the shortest possible time. Recruiting statewide for already-serving officers from other jurisdictions to reduce training time will be seriously considered."

As mayor, Jordan proposed cutting police staffing in 1992 as part of his budget, including eliminating one class at the Police Academy and postponing a second. The Board of Supervisors forced restoration of the cuts. By 1994, Jordan's cuts in the police budget brought the staffing to the lowest level in over 20 years, resulting in a proposal from the Board of Supervisors for a charter amendment requiring full police staffing. Jordan opposed the measure.

Under Jordan, the city began hiring police from other jurisdictions for the first time. He also reduced training. Currently, one of those officers recruited from elsewhere -- Mark Andayana -- is under investigation in the death of Aaron Williams while in police custody. Three other recruited officers have been dismissed on charges of misconduct. This year, Jordan also sought to reduce training for new recruits but changed his mind after state officials said they would no longer certify the San Francisco department if training fell below state-mandated standards.

Next week: Jordan on support for San Francisco businesses.