Some friends shot this picture the other night, the SFPD has been doing this for years, I don’t have an issue with it. But I like the ironic difference between the bicycle cops and the cycle cops. Nothing like having a nice ride on the bike trail and being passed by a HD.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdHIatS36A[/youtube]
Like when our SWAT team blew out the windows of an apartment building to catch an unarmed fugitive, or when they put over 40 bullet holes in houses trying to coax a mentally ill-sucidal veteran from his home. But my favorite was when over 20 of them (My count from an Argus Leader photo) showed up to be Looky-Loos at a murder/suicide scene. I thought to myself, “Isn’t that many officers at a crime scene like that give more of a risk to contaminating the site?” The other part that surprised me, besides the fact that it seems they don’t have a lot to do as patrol officers is that when Chief Barthel was asked during the budget hearing how many officers are on patrol at any given time, he said between 20-40. I thought to myself, “If half to all of our patrol officers are at one scene, where the suspect and victim are clearly dead, who is patrolling the rest of the city.?”
During the SF City Council informational meeting open discussion the topic of the landlords that had their property destroyed while police where capturing a fugitive came up. Councilor Staggers argued that they should be paid because they were innocent. City attorney David Fiddle-Faddle said that the city did file a claim with their liability insurance and were denied. Chief Barthel also said that since one of the tenants living in the building knew the fugitive (the fugitive was trying to find them) that doesn’t totally leave the landlord off the hook.
Huh?
I’m sure we ALL either know or are related to convicted felons or criminals, so does that make us guilty by association? Seems like a strange justification. Chief Barthel also says that if we just give them the money, even if the claim was denied, we would be setting a precedence.
In other words, when the SFPD breaks up innocent people’s property, no matter the circumstance, they won’t pay – EVER.
There is a solution. The city council can write a resolution and put it on the council agenda to award the landlords the money. This is fair for a couple of reasons, first off it shows their is no precedence and these things can be handled on a case by case basis, secondly, there would be public discussion by our legislative body whether it is appropriate to reimburse them.
Of course that would require common sense, prudence and compassion by our city council, something a few of them don’t have.
The hypocrisy of SF city government never ceases to amaze me. Department heads simply lie to the public and media and hope we believe them.
Paying for major damage done through police action isn’t what the public would want, however, Barthel said.
“It’s not the police department we’re talking about here, it’s the taxpayer,” he said. “I don’t think the taxpayers feel they should be liable for the damage done by a criminal.”
The ‘DAMAGE’ was done by your officers, not the criminal. Sure, he broke the door and the landlord should seek restitution on what HE damaged. But blowing out the windows was done by your officers. Also, I will never use the indoor pool, ice hockey center or tennis facilities, why should my taxdollars go towards facilities I will never use? Besides, if it is an insurance claim, that money comes from insurance, not the taxpayer. Do as the county does in these situations;
Some agencies have paid property owners for damage sustained during police action.
“We’ve had some situations where we’ve broken a window, and we’ve paid for the window,” said Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead. “We don’t stand there and immediately write a check, but if there’s an innocent person who suffers some damage, we work with our insurance carrier to cover the damage.”
Milstead cautioned that the standoff situation involved in the Graham case was unique.
“I can’t recall a case where we’ve had a person break into an innocent person’s home,” Milstead said.
The county has liability insurance for mistakes its employees might make, Commission Administrator Ken McFarland said, but he also couldn’t recall a comparable situation, either.
“If we feel there’s some liability on our part, we’d push it through,” McFarland said.
Why not turn in a claim? That’s what we have a risk management for, to handle these kind of situations. What’s the harm in filing the claim and seeing what happens? Once again, the city shows little respect for the little man in town. Plenty of money for TIFs to rich developers, to relocate the railroad (for rich developers) and multi-million dollar river greenway bulkheads (for rich developers) but scrounging up a measly $2,200 for property CITY EMPLOYEES damaged, NO WAY!
Ryan BultenaIMPORTANT!!! PLEASE WATCH!!!
I was the passenger in a vehicle tonight that was stopped for no reason, when asked why we were stopped the state troopers, Sioux Falls police, and K-9 units had no reasonable response… I was only the passenger and yes I had a few drinks but I am legal to ride in a car after drinking. They would not answer my questions and said there was an open container which I was sited for that was never there. They also illegally detained me from using a public restroom after I asked if I was under arrest. One officer says he found a open container while the other officer next to him (looking nervous) says no there was no open container… They are very confused and called 7 units to this call for 2 people In 1 car. The drug unit as well as Sioux Falls pd and state troopers arrived. The end result after the whole situation was I was charged with open container even after the officer in the video says there was no open container. The point of this video is for everyone to share it and stand up and fight for your legal rights as a citizen! If we do nothing then your part of the problem not the solution.