Heather Fong

Low-Level Marijuana Offenders Still Busted By SFPD Even Though They're Not Supposed to

They say the best journalism produces outrage, not awareness. Medical cannabis and marijuana legalization advocates are sometimes easily annoyed, but last week's Bay Citizen report of an uptick in undercover marijuana buy-busts in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood had them apoplectic. There's a r ... More >>

Pot Busts Are a High Priority for Cops -- But They Shouldn't Be

Waiting for Godot to fire up a joint​It's long been the desire of voters and San Francisco lawmakers that the city's peace officers enforce all other crimes before busting adults smoking pot. In light of this, it's hard for pot advocates to figure out why undercover police spent 30 minutes on Marc ... More >>

Heather Fong's Pension: $277,656 Per Year

Heather Fong has become the poster child for oversize pensions​While former Police Chief Heather Fong was about as far from universally popular as you can get, few would question her work ethic. And yet, no matter how diligently the former chief performed her duties, it's hard not to drop one's ja ... More >>

Workers' comp covers retired cops who get cancer

Nine Hundred Ex-S.F. Employees Earn $100K Pensions -- or Higher

​Whatever you're thinking of buying, whatever you've bought, whatever you will buy -- you can't afford it. Trust us. We've read the report. Today's publication by the city's Civil Grand Jury is titled "Pension Tsunami: The Billion Dollar Bubble." Its title is the only part of it that is entertaini ... More >>

San Francisco's Marijuana Arrest Totals Getting Higher

Put out that joint, mister...​What's that smell in the air, wafting from bus stops, parks, and most any street corner? It's evidence of a cavalier attitude regarding open-air cannabis consumption: This is San Francisco, after all -- feel free to puff away freely. Or, maybe not. According to statis ... More >>

Once a joke, SFPD is actually solving murders these days

Feds complain that S.F.'s sanctuary city policies impeded investigation of Latino gang

Support Your Local Police: Cops Ask Permission to Accept Key Chains and Pistols

​Everyone harbors suspicions that police are enjoying deep discounts on coffee and donuts all over the city -- and, as department spokeswoman Sergeant Lyn Tomioka tells us, they usually are. But it's protocol to never accept anything for free. If the clerk insists, the common practice is to toss t ... More >>

'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 u ... More >>

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

Because Somebody Had To: Your Gubernatorial Look-Alikes Article

While perusing the New York Times Magazine's 26.3 billion-word article on the (wo)men who would rule California -- which may well spur the rest of us to consider the merits of Nevada, Oregon, or Arizona -- a thought hit us. Not an important thought, but a thought nevertheless.For reasons unknown, se ... More >>

The Wire: San Francisco's Orthodox Jews Rejoice, as They Can Now Legally Schlep Their Children On Sabbath

Stacey PalevskyRabbi Joshua Strulowitz of San Francisco's Orthodox Adath Israel watches as Supervisor Carmen Chu and Police Chief Heather Fong sign papers granting Jews the right to carry objects on the Sabbath. The chances are exactly 100 percent neither Chu nor Fong ever thought they'd be called u ... More >>

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 littl ... More >>

SFPD's shadow disciplinary system wastes taxpayer money

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 ... More >>

Supes' Proposed $82M Cuts to Cops, Firefighters are 'Symbolic' -- But Portend Bare-Knuckle Budget Battle

The budget battle is under way...A shot across the bow. A brushback pitch. A dropping of the gauntlet. Call it what you will, but when the Board of Supervisors' Budget and Finance Committee yesterday approved $82 million in cuts from San Francisco's police, fire, and sheriffs' departments it was a s ... More >>

Heads of Fire, Police Departments Frown On Proposed Budget Cuts

Last night, the Board of Supervisors proposed cuts of about $82 million to the budgets of San Francisco police, fire and sheriff's departments. Today, those departments got together and called a press conference. Police Chief Heather Fong, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, Police Co ... More >>

What the Hell Is Guardian Thinking With Newsom-Police Chief-District 6 Love Triangle?

Pose with the mayor and he'll support your run for higher office. It's the law. Anyone who ever languished through a Rhetoric 1A course in college knows the joys of syllogisms: We won't delve into the ins and outs, but we do recall a few examples of spectacularly bad logic, along the lines of: A. My ... More >>

Police Commission Confirms Three Chief Hopefuls, Mayor Expected to Make Swift Choice

Police Commission President Theresa Sparks announced Wednesday she had forwarded to the mayor the names of three finalists in the race to replace retiring police chief Heather Fong."My perception, and this is just a guess, that the process will now move very quickly," said Sparks, following a closed ... More >>

Friends, Family of Slain Frenchman Hugues de la Plaza Threaten to Sue City For Negligence

Hugues de la PlazaTwo years have come and gone since Hugues de la Plaza was found dead in his blood-stained Hayes Valley apartment. He had been stabbed twice in his torso and once in the throat, and the knife was nowhere to be found -- and witnesses reported the door repeatedly slamming at 2:30 in t ... More >>

Alleged Latino Mortgage Fraudster Accused of Preying on Own Community Headed to Court

Edwin Parada, a Mission-based real estate and mortgage broker who allegedly stole from Spanish-speaking immigrants seeking to buy, sell, or re-finance their homes, has been charged by San Francisco's district attorney with 24 criminal counts, including grand theft and tax evasion. We wrote a cover ... More >>

Activists Say SFPD is Trashing City ID Cards

Pretty fancy 'garbage'Neighborhood activists complained to supervisors today that San Francisco police officers are showing "disrespect" for people holding the municipal identification cards the city began distributing in January -- including one alleged incident where an officer in the Tenderloin ... More >>

Homeless, Edwardians, Very Old People Mix at '06 Quake Commemoration

All Photos | Joe EskenaziQuake survivors William Del Monte, 103, and Rose Cliver, 106. No, they don't let you wear a hat like that until you turn 100.As a convoy of archaic fire trucks led by an ethereally beautiful convertible Jaguar -- of the vintage that Isadora Duncan may or may not have die ... More >>

Condi Rice for Next SFPD Chief! And Other Ideas From Last Night's Tenderloin Policing Forum

Peter JamisonPolice Commission President Theresa Sparks (right) talks it outAhhhh, democracy. Try as we might, it never quite runs according to script, save in those enlightened, post-democratic nations -- such as Russia, Haiti or Uzbekistan -- that have figured out how to tame the snarling beast of ... More >>

Azeem Drops Dope New Video

AzeemFor years, we've been following the career of local wordsmith Azeem with interest--and occasional awe. Dude has been killing it for a while with his spoken word-influenced rap style, not to mention his collaborations with DJ Zeph, Wide Hive collective Variable Unit, and his one man theater piec ... More >>

Tenderloin Activists Push San Mateo Chief as SF's Next Top Cop

An influential neighborhood group serving one of San Francisco's most crime-ridden districts has thrown its weight behind San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer as successor to San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong, who announced her retirement last month. In a statement released Saturday, the ... More >>

SF's New Top Cop Won't Have Contract Protection

By John Geluardi The San Francisco Police Commission will begin the New Year by kicking off a national search for new police chief who, unfortunately, will be denied a critical tool to make improvements on one of the most dysfunctional departments in the country. Chief Heather Fong, who will step ... More >>

11th Hour Decision: Let there be BINGO! (At least for 90 days)

By Lauren SmileyWaiting for "Bingo!" at Army Street Bingo has been suspenseful for more than dauber-wielding grannies in the last couple months. The eight non-profits who hold games there to fund-raise for their charities have worried they'd lose a major source of revenue since the police denied th ... More >>

Fong Retires with "Dignity"? Nope: Try "Perjury."

Every time I think the Mayor's office couldn't take 100 homicides any less seriously, he one-ups himself with a stunt like this. By Benjamin Wachs There's lies, damn lies, and then there's the stunt that Gavin Newsom and Heather Fong just pulled. Silent Fong's supporters are going on about how SF' ... More >>

B Zero

Cops say nonprofits and their landlord were gaming the bingo laws.

No Sanctuary

Police slow to help crime victims who are here illegally.

Stiffed

Amidst all the murders in San Francisco, some suspicious deaths are hidden in a secret burial ground of bureaucracy.

SF Weekly Letters

The Chief Is In: Is She Accountable?

The Chief Is In (for Now)

With homicide cases going unsolved and morale in the police department sinking, Heather Fong's days as chief may be numbered.

After 14 Years, His SFPD Paperwork is Approved

Gay Weddings We’d Really Like to See

VideoGate cop injured on duty at his desk job

The Case of the Missing Heather Fong Letter

Halloween Headlines: Cops, BART, Parking, Protests, Funerals

Castro Halloween: ‘100,000 People are Coming. Where Will They Urinate?’

Newsom’s Resign-O-Rama: Sixteen Reasons it Could Become a Fiasco

Earl’s Last Laugh

Exiled in retirement after Fajitagate, ex–Police Chief Earl Sanders has re-emerged with a fresh account of the infamous Zebra murders. And his critics are on the warpath.

The First Step

Image Problem

Why have SFPD Chief Heather Fong and Mayor Gavin Newsom pursued an overblown pseudo-scandal when there’s so much else on the department’s plate?

Cops Who SPY

No. 1 With a Bullitt

San Francisco's murder rate is at its highest level in a decade. Whose fault is that?

Straight to Video

Dog Bites turns into a film critic to help us understand the Bayview police video scandal

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, November 17, 2004