Stop! Police!

By Rachel M.

Way back in 2007, when dinosaurs roamed the neighborhood, I had the pleasure of somehow attaining an interview with Gary Jimenez, the Captain of the Tenderloin Police Station. It began as an offhand suggestion by Colin Hussey at a Loin's Mouth editorial meeting, and somehow by the next day, I had a 1 p.m. appointment for a tour of the station. I guess I'd expected a lot more red tape than that, so I was pleased to learn how accessible our local police force is.

When I arrived at the station, I introduced myself to Captain Jimenez and Officer Peachy who were standing out front. They cordially invited me to come inside, but instead, I had to awkwardly explain that I was "waiting for my friend" to bring me a "package." Like they haven't heard THAT before, right? The "package" was really just the makeup bag I'd left at my friend's house the night before (yes, he was "that kind" of friend), but I didn't exactly feel like explaining that to our local police force, you know?

Anyway, while we were waiting, I chatted with Officer Peachy for a minute and then literally eight officers burst out of the station and shot across the street! Apparently there was a guy selling drugs on the corner across the street from the station. What people will try in this town never ceases to amaze me...

After my friend showed up (which occurred in the interim between the cops running away and coming back), I went inside to meet with the Captain. I felt so important being buzzed into the back area. He even introduced me as a "reporter" which I thought was pretty cool. Clearly he had never seen an issue of The Loin's Mouth.

I couldn't help but recall that movie Hot Fuzz that was out last year—not because the experience seriously reminded me of that, but because (entirely by coincidence) I'd just watched it the night before. Every time we went into a new room, I imagined that scene where they're showing the new officer around the station and everyone's eating pie and acting like retards. This, however, was NOT what I encountered. In fact, Captain Jimenez runs a tight ship, and everyone he introduced me to was both friendly and competent (imagine that!)

One of the most interesting parts of the tour included the "Gang Room", which had mug shots lining the walls of the local thug drug dealers. According to Captain Jimenez, a lot of the crime in the neighborhood (specifically the drug dealing) is perpetrated by individuals from the East Bay. They come over to the city on BART and exploit the neighborhood by catering to our already drug-addled, mentally ill citizens. (JERKS!)

The next thing he showed me was the Tenderloin arrest book. At the time of the tour it was around the end of October, shortly before Halloween, and the book was ridiculously thick. The number of arrests in our neighborhood by far outnumbers the arrests in other areas—and the Tenderloin is the smallest district of all!

The next stop on the tour was the men's holding cell. The drug dealer they'd arrested on the street only ten minutes earlier was sitting behind the glass window, frothing at the mouth like he had rabies. At one point (which unfortunately, I did not witness) he screamed, "I HAVE AIDS!!!" and tried to bite a bunch of people. Whether or not this was true (that he had AIDS), his temporary removal from our streets was surely a good thing.

According to the Captain, law enforcement in our city has little authority when it comes to drug charges. In general, a man arrested within the city limits of San Francisco needs only to exclaim, "I am a drug addict!" in order to receive rehab instead of jail time. In all likelihood, the frothing drug dealer was back on the streets in business before his customers realized he was gone.

After the tour we sat in Gary Jimenez's office and talked about the neighborhood. One of the things we discussed was the brutal murder of Leslie "Jill" May in February of 2007. As everyone who was here remembers, Jill was kidnapped by two females in revenge for her having reported them for theft. She was then driven against her will to Candlestick Park, doused with gasoline, and mercilessly set on fire. One of the writers on our staff had known Jill personally and was deeply affected by the tragedy.

What many people probably did not hear about, however, was the support shown to Jill's family on behalf of the officers at the station.

"The officers at the station collected money for her family to provide for the burial. So much money was raised because people who'd heard the story from all over America were sending checks to us. We'd opened up a special account for her," recounted the Captain. "In fact, her daughter was here just about a week ago and picked up [the remainder of the money]. A lot of times people say that the police don't care and that's not true. If you look at the reality of what the officers do and what they contribute to charities [...] there is another side to these officers than just what the people see."

Unfortunately, Captain Jimenez is correct. The reality is that there are not enough officers to patrol the neighborhood as effectively as crime statistics really warrant. Often, when the officers patrol a given block, the criminal element clears out temporarily only to reconverge on the scene moments after the officers are out of view.

I witnessed this phenomenon first hand when he took me on a walking tour of the neighborhood. We began by walking down Jones Street toward Market, and while we stood talking to a woman in the middle of the block, activity on the street entirely dissipated. Then when we walked around the corner and circled back around to the same block, we discovered that the exact same people were back in place minutes after we left.

"I think there are some that witness officers doing positive things and carry positive images. There are many people in the community working with the police officers to make this a safer more wholesome neighborhood. Some of them have become activists like the TNT ("The New Tenderloin"). They've taken the concerns of the community—the three major concerns being the drug problem, the violence, and pedestrian safety—and they've taken them to the Board of Supervisors. They want to see the change."

He went on to tell me about a meeting he'd attended the previous afternoon that a lot of elderly Asians had attended "because they're concerned about what's going on on the 300 block of Jones. Someone who doesn't speak the language, and they're in their 70's or 80's and they have to get down the block—they do feel like they're targeted."

A lot of the crime against the elderly goes unreported because of age, culture, and language barriers. People don't feel open to approaching the police because they're worried about their status as immigrants. What people don't realize, however, is that San Francisco is a "Sanctuary City", and officers are forbidden to harass anyone for not being a citizen. There are special units that are directed by federal agencies to occasionally undertake specific sting operations related to criminal activity perpetrated by immigrants, but the Tenderloin police officers have strict orders not to factor issues of immigration into their dealings with law abiding community members. Unfortunately, people within illegal communities do not realize this, which exacerbates the problem as more and more crime goes unreported.

"There are new arrivals to the city everyday and many people that take advantage—even from their own side. They want people to think they'll be dragged away. It's how they intimidate them."

What we were really talking about at this point was slavery—for example, the local "massage parlor" sex trade. According to the Captain, however, the sex trade is only a small part of the problem. The garment industry is one of the main offenders.

"Do we have [sweat shops] in the area? Well, it would be up to you to walk around and look and make whatever determination, and you may be right. The only way to know is to investigate. If it's brought to our attention—if a person is incarcerated or assaulted or held against their will or kidnapped or tortured or threatened—and they come to us and make that complaint, we will investigate. The fact that they're illegal would not hamper our investigation. Nor would we call INS and ship them away."

The problem of crime going unreported in the neighborhood is not just specific to the immigrant community. It can be difficult to know sometimes when it's appropriate to call the police. There have been times when personally I've struggled with whether or not to make a call myself. (Is that man really bleeding or is he just a little drunk? If he really is bleeding then WHY is he bleeding? Did he trip and scrape his leg or does he really need assistance? etc) In the end though, I'd rather know that I did something even though it wasn't necessary as opposed to NOT do something and finding out a man died near the steps of my apartment building.

Anyway, the next time you see a police officer roaming the streets in our humble hood, just remember that they have a tough job—one that I personally would really not want for any amount of money. Despite how it may appear sometimes, they're honestly doing the best they can to make this a better neighborhood.

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