Subject: George Gascon

• Know Your Potential Future Police Chief: George Gascon

  George GasconUPDATE: Mayor Gavin Newsom did indeed choose George Gascon to be San Francisco's next chief. Recently on this page, we noted that Harold Hurtt, potentially Police Chief Heather Fong's successor in San Francisco -- may be out of a job altogether if he doesn't land the top slot here: One of the mayoral candidates in Houston has pledged to fire Hurtt if elected. No such quandary exists for George Gascon, the Mesa, Ariz. chief also widely acknowledged to be in the running for the

  June 16, 2009

• Top Cop George Gascon Meets The Press

  Joe EskenaziIncoming Police Chief George Gascon addresses the sweating throngs of the fourth estate, as Mayor Gavin Newsom looks onThere are two times in life when it's pretty much guaranteed that everyone will find something nice to say about you: Your wedding and  your funeral. It was a little bit of both today in Room 200 of City Hall, when incoming Police Chief George Gascon was given a hero's welcome while his predecessor, Chief Heather Fong, politely looked on -- and was lauded as wel

  June 17, 2009

• 'Three-Ring Circus' Of Immigrant-Bashing in Mesa, Ariz. May Have Hastened New SFPD Chief George Gascon's Departure

  George Gascon, San Francisco's police chief-to-beBy now, anyone even loosely following city government knows that San Francisco's next police chief is George Gascon -- and, if you've been following SF Weekly's coverage, you may even know how he stands on policy matters (and that he sounds a bit like a high-pitched Tony Montana).But it was a full year ago, when Phoenix New Times ran this lengthy but well worth the read cover story, that staff writer Ray Stern foreshadowed that Gascon may have had

  June 23, 2009

• All hail the new police chief

  June 24, 2009

• The Outsider

  July 22, 2009

• Lucky George: Incoming San Francisco Police Chief Says He Was About to be Canned From Old Job

  George GasconIncoming San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon -- the subject of this week's SF Weekly cover story -- is certainly walking into a dicey situation in his avowed attempts to shake up San Francisco's problematic police department. But it's better than filing for unemployment, which he confirmed was imminent in his current post as police chief of Mesa, Ariz. Gascon told the East Valley Tribune that he had been informed, in no uncertain terms, that his days as Mesa's chief were number

  July 22, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  Can you answer Question No. 1? It's Chris Daly's world and the rest of us are just paying rent (you think we can buy in San Francisco?) It was another fabulous week in the city -- or did you black out and miss it, Muni-style? Let's see if you were paying attention: 1. Supervisor Chris Daly, champion of low-income urban dwellers -- arguably at the expense of the middle class -- announced Wednesday he's bought a home for his family (actually, two homes) in what Bay Area suburb? A. FairfaxB. F

  July 24, 2009

• Ever Wanted To Take a Swing at a Cop? Here's Your Chance.

  Did we learn our lesson? Earlier this month we wrote about how a planned cops vs. community softball game didn't come off as planned when the community failed to show up. It turns out that 2 p.m. on a Tuesday may be an ideal time to broadcast As the World Turns -- but not the best for calling out able-bodied community members to defend the honor of their neighborhoods on the softball diamond vs. the San Francisco Police Department. Next month Police Chief-to-be George Gascon and his CompSTA

  July 27, 2009

• Goin' Down South? With LAPD's Top Cop Stepping Down, Will George Gascon's Tenure in S.F. Be Brief?

  Hello, I must be going?​When San Francisco's police chief-to-be was introduced to throngs of media members in a rather small, stuffy room earlier this summer, your humble narrator got to ask George Gascon one question. And he gave us zero answers. "How long a commitment have you given the city?" we queried. "This is a great city and I've been made to feel very welcome," he replied. Well, okay then. That question looms a bit larger now with the news that William Bratton, the chief of the Los An

  August 5, 2009

• Will Police Chief's New U.S. Homeland Security Gig Undermine S.F. Crime-Fighting?

  Will tough-talking George Gascon kill the federal goose that lays golden eggs that buy police departments neat toys like this?​Top S.F. crime-fighter is one of two new hats on the head of tough-talking new police chief George Gascon. He also last month signed on as a member of U.S. Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano's new task force to consider scrapping the frequently-ridiculed red-yellow-and-green terrorism warning system created after 9-11.Since the system was created it has been a su

  August 7, 2009

• New S.F. Police Chief's Decision to 'Prioritize' de La Plaza Case Comes as Surprise to Slain Frenchman's Family, Friends -- No One Told Them

  Hugues de la Plaza​The San Francisco Examiner last week reported that newly minted Police Chief George Gascon will be making time to personally look into a case that has spurred European mothers to urge their children to avoid vacationing in San Francisco and go someplace safe -- like the Middle East. We've written plenty about the Hugues de La Plaza case -- but we'll do our best to sum it up succinctly. Nearly three years ago, dual French citizen de La Plaza was found dead in his Hayes Valley

  August 11, 2009

• Chiu Says It's Second Chance -- And Last Chance -- for the Entertainment Commission

  Is the party almost over?​Board of Supervisors President David Chiu appears to have the wind at his back in his growing crusade to impose reforms on the San Francisco Entertainment Commission, a seven-member panel of political appointees that has come under fire for not properly doing its job of regulating the city's nightclubs.As we reported in a cover story last month, Chiu has faced a lonely political battle with his efforts to make the commission more accountable to police and residents, w

  August 13, 2009

• The Clogged Bus-Only Lane Theory of Policing: Cite More Motorists and the Rest of the Public Safety Picture Will Fall Into Place

  Jim HerdHere's another way of keeping drivers out of bus lanes​In Mexico, a visitor will quickly get the sense that society isn't working quite right when she's asked for a bribe by police. In Saudi Arabia, the same conclusion becomes obvious when a woman is arrested for prostitution simply because she's at a restaurant in a group that includes men. And in San Francisco, a visitor might get a sense that the rule of law has broken down upon seeing motorists clog with impunity downtown's ubiquit

  August 13, 2009

• Friends Worry LAPD Overview of Hugues de La Plaza Case Will Reveal SFPD Bungling -- But No Murderer

  Hugues de la Plaza​New San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon continues to prove that he certainly knows how to make a first impression (other than being spotted around town in baggy shorts and flip-flops). Yesterday, the Chronicle reported that Gascon's old boss, LAPD Chief William Bratton, has agreed send a pair of detectives to pore over the SFPD's files on the Hugues de La Plaza case.De La Plaza, you may remember, is the French dual citizen found stabbed three times in his bloody Hayes V

  August 19, 2009

• 'Text-a-Tip' Program Drags SFPD Into 21st Century. SFPD Web Site? Still Vintage 1994.

  The SFPD Web Page induces nostalgia for the 1990s​When Police Chief George Gascon today announces San Francisco cops will soon have the ability to engage in real-time text message conversations with people who have witnessed -- or are witnessing -- a crime, it will be more than a technologically uplifting moment. It also marks one of the few socially redeeming uses for text-messaging. The knock on the SFPD has long been that its hardware and IT systems -- and data compilation -- are more antiq

  August 19, 2009

• Activists say the SFPD is unfairly impounding and selling cars owned by illegal aliens

  August 19, 2009

• Proposed Rule Change Would Allow New Chief to Purge Top SFPD Brass

  Chief George Gascon​New San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon has not announced plans to liquidate top SFPD brass and fill positions with his own people, as he did during his first year as chief of the police department in Mesa, Arizona.Notwithstanding, a proposed amendment introduced by Supervisor David Campos last week would change the city's administrative code to allow him to do just that. The proposed rule change would let the chief make appointments to his command staff from lower ran

  August 25, 2009

• Police, U.S. Marshals Nab S.F. Homicide Suspect on Eastern Seaboard

  The SFPD has found its man -- but who will find the municipality of 'Delaware, Maryland'?​Are San Francisco cops trying to put a good foot forward now that new Police Chief George Gascon is in town and vowing to improve the city's poor murder clearance rate? One could be forgiven that impression with the news this morning that homicide detectives had traced the suspect in the murder of a 32-year-old woman in the Mission Bay neighborhood all the way to Maryland (we think -- more on that in a mo

  August 27, 2009

• Hello Holiday Inn: Mesa Cops Aiding SFPD Chief Gascon's Transition Scrimping on San Francisco-Paid Expenses

  The SFPD's new model for tight-fistedness​The Arizona Republic Thursday ran an article reporting that new San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon is enlisting officers from his former post of Mesa, Ariz. to fly out west and help him get the San Francisco Police Department up and running to his standards. First up was Mesa police spokesman Sergeant Ed Wessing, who landed in San Francisco last Tuesday for two days of advising the SFPD's historically tight-lipped public

  August 27, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  ¿Dónde está el jefe?​ Normally, a story about Gavin Newsom going to Mexico and "leaking" would be pretty vile. And, depending on your feelings about the mayor, both of these developments could be interpreted as very problematic ... but not in that way.In any event, it's Friday -- you made it. But were you paying attention? We'll see about that. 1. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local No. 1555 finally ratified a BART contract on Tuesday. After the vote was in, ATU President Jesse Hunt placed

  August 28, 2009

• Mother of Murder Victim: Outside Lands Banned Me From Handing Out Fliers, So I'll Fly My Message Over The Crowd Instead

  Brandon Lee Evans​ Christine Evans has stopped at nothing to find some clue to who killed her 20-year-old son, Brandon Lee Evans, in Golden Gate Park last November. She created a Web site and taped up fliers around the park asking for people with information to come forward. This month, her message graces the sides of 16 public restrooms around the city, and she met with Police Chief George Gascon to discuss the case on Tuesday. So it's no surprise that

  August 28, 2009

• Public Defender Says Tenderloin Drug Sweep Spells Trouble for Court System

  ​No sooner had newly minted San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon declared a much-publicized sweep of drug dealers in the city's notoriously crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood than doubters began speaking up. After all, as San Francisco Chronicle columnists Matier and Ross noted recently, making arrests in the Tenderloin has never been a problem for the SFPD -- the trick is to make important arrests, and make them stick.City residents have every right to ask what makes Gascon's dramatic a

  September 3, 2009

• Police Chief Gascon To VideoGate Cop: No Gun For You!

  Officer Andrew Cohen -- seen here gracing the cover of his musical venture. No, really. ​Misunderstood filmmaker Officer Andrew Cohen had hoped to get off on the good foot with new Police Chief George Gascon. But his attempt is going down the crapper, and Gascon's statements in the Chron today indicating that Cohen may be on the chopping block are just the beginning. For a refresher, it's been four years since Cohen was banished to the department's records room af

  September 14, 2009

• Chronic City: How Much Should We Read Into S.F. Police Chief's Prohibition Reference During Pot Press Conference?

  George Gascon​Did San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon tacitly hint at the benefits of marijuana legalization during a press conference this week? That's one way to read the, er, tea leaves. At the conference, held Wednesday to tout the SFPD's recent raids shutting down illegal marijuana growhouses in the city, the first question from a reporter was whether legalizing marijuana could help prevent the house fires that sometimes result from illegal grow operations.Gascon quickly noted that "

  October 2, 2009

• Did Police Union Block New Chief From Hiring Outside Brass?

  Police Chief George Gascon​When George Gascon became chief of police two months ago, everybody seemed to agree: This bad-ass cop would rid the SFPD of its dead wood, and reform what experts had taken to calling the Western United States' most hidebound law enforcement agency.On Tuesday, Gascon is scheduled to suffer his first major setback in that quest, as the Board of Supervisors votes on a measure that effectively cancels the hope that Gascon will install his own leadership team from outsid

  October 5, 2009

• Murder or Suicide?

  October 7, 2009

• Supe Candidate Who Earlier Proposed Kickoff/Withdrawal Event Now Says He's In It To Win It

  Police Chief George Gascon (left) dropped by District 6 Supe candidate David Villa-Lobos' campaign kickoff last night​District 6 Supervisorial candidate David Villa-Lobos thought we were giving him a hard time when we described him as "mercurial" last week. That wasn't our intention. But, really, how much more mercurial can you get than when you announce a fete at which you may be officially kicking off your campaign or may be withdrawing altogether? On this matter, it seems, Villa-Lobos is me

  October 16, 2009

• Transblazer

  October 21, 2009

• Say Hello To My Little Friend: S.F., Meet CompStat

  Can the SFPD saved by the miracle of computers? ​ Wednesday morning, at the unveiling of the city's new crimefighting tool, CompStat, San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon had the city say hello to his not-so-little friend and implementer, LAPD detective Jeff Godown.Gascon intends to bring Godown onto his command staff to run CompStat, a part-management plan, part data-keeping system that will purportedly help the SFPD spot crime trends. Once a month, the 10 district sta

  October 21, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  It's the law...​Cops! Compost! Conspiracies! Killers! The Board of Supervisors has voted, 8-2, that we should have a quiz right now (Michela Alioto-Pier abstained -- but we won't hold it against her). 1. The San Francisco Police Department announced that DNA evidence could tie an unsolved 1984 murder to what infamous killer(s)? A. The Zebra KillersB. The Zodiac KillerC. The Night StalkerD. The Committee of Vigilance 2. True or False: Though the city's mandatory composting law went into effect

  October 23, 2009

• Popular Tenderloin Police Commander to Step Down

  Captain Gary Jimenez​San Francisco Police Captain Gary Jimenez, who oversees the crime-plagued Tenderloin district, has announced that he will step down next month as Tenderloin station commander. He will be replaced by Dominic Celaya, a former lieutenant at Mission police station, whose promotion to captain was recently announced by SFPD Chief George Gascon.Jimenez announced the move via a terse paragraph in his latest community newsletter. He said he will be taking on a new job as a "night s

  October 26, 2009

• Cops: No Tolerance For Halloween Drunkenness, Pissing -- Making This a Remarkable Day in S.F.

  It's a butterfly knife, Charlie Brown...​At yesterday's SFPD press conference, Chief George Gascon -- he of the nifty suit -- appears to have dressed as a police officer for Halloween. You can, too -- but if you tote a weapon, stumble drunkenly through public thoroughfares, urinate or defecate in public, Gascon promised that San Francisco Police will have zero tolerance. Well, to borrow a phrase from another holiday, "Why is this night different from all other nights?"Following a shooting that

  October 30, 2009

• Once a joke, SFPD is actually solving murders these days

  November 4, 2009