The Chief Is In (for Now)

"Low morale," are you kidding? There is a flat out hatred of this chief by the working officers of the SFPD. When officers are assertive and catch criminals and solve crimes it tends to piss of the criminals and their families. Unfortunately we all know Fong will side with them and those officers will be hung out to dry. Most officers are at the very least waiting for a new chief before they go back to work....

That's what an old boy network is about. If you don't do things the way I like them, you are not an "effective" leader.

There's a difference between being a strong leader/manager and doing things differently than the old boy network. As a police chief, being perceived as kowtowing (wording deliberately chosen) to the mayor, whether it's pouring his water, absorbing his tirades, or having a knee-jerk reaction to misconduct by the men in blue ... those are the actions of a chief without enough backbone. As an Asian, I was impressed that an Asian female is the police chief of major city. However, after reading about how she's losing/lost the rank and file, I feel that the minority promotion is not helping the cause, especially if it perpetuates the 'model minority' stereotype of being silent and subservient. Maybe in other careers that's fine, but not as a police chief. To not vocally and publicly back your guys after one of your own is killed is inexcusable out of a leader. It's a lesson from Management 101 - if your employees don't feel like they have your support when times get tough, you won't have their support. As for Videogate, yes, the guys were wrong, but that's where Fong should've stepped in and told Newsome "You're right, what they did was wrong. We'll handle it in-house." An effective chief/manager has to both support his/her employees *and* hold them accountable for when they're not performing to expectations. The old boy netork usually does the former, but not enough of the latter. Fong sounds like she's completely reversed. Hopefully, the next chief will get it right and take the best of the old boy system and combine it with accountability.

I must say this is the first article I have read about this chief that actually had truth in it. As a 28 year member of the SFPD I can honestly say this is the worst chief I have ever worked with. The old boy system is alive and well with this one. There is no leadership, her command staff have no clue what she wants. There has never been an action plan or goals statement. Its all status quo. Look at how she promotes her management staff she has based most promotions on race and sexual preference,some may not agree but more blacks and gays have been promoted over straights and out of rank order. A white gay female that publicly criticized the chief on Channel 7 was promoted over a straight white female that was ahead of her. She was no more qualified since they were both in the Investigations Bureau just publicly gay. She has had nothing bad to say about the chief since her promotion, I wonder why. She promotes her command staff from the rank of Lieutenant without considering the more experienced Captains in the department. One black Lieutenant that was going to retire this year was promoted to Commander and will do one year and retire at a much higher rate. Nice move for him and a loss for the taxpayers. This is one reason morale continues to drop except for those she promotes. Thirteen member command staff and still no plan for reducing crime most chiefs only had six. The chief gives officers days off or written reprimands for missing one or two range dates within 3 years yet she is allow to not qualify for five years or ten mandatory qualifications this is POST mandated. Talk about unfair treatment, sounds like the old boy system to me. This is the reason she is the most despised chief I have ever worked under. You have to have been a police officer to understand what one does, the chief and her number two in charge have never done police work just administrative jobs as police officers. The only reason the Asian community supports her is because she is Asian not because she has done a good job, she has shown a clear bias against Asians in the SFPD and only appears in the Asian community when the mayor needs the Asian communities support. The mayor does not care for or likes the police thats why he leaves this chief in place, She is easily bullied and will not stand up for herself of the officers of this department. The citizens and public deserve better than her and they won't until the boy mayor's term is over. And he wants to run the state, this is one vote he won't get.

Who is the SFCOP kidding! Heather Fong the worst chief ever? Try your infamous "Earl Sanders" he was the worst police administrator in the history of law enforcement.His quotes were embarassing. He testified against other police departments in the bay area regarding police tactics. He was a total embarrassment to the City of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department. Heather should be concerned! There are old cops waiting to fight for her position. A couple old cops have been scheaming against her for a long time. Those old cops are back stabbers who make phone calls and write articles annonimously. Talk about spineless, there you go!! Get a cops cop for the next chief. Not some old broken down want a be political nobody who wears the SFPD uniform.

BTW, most of the command staff indicted by the Grand Jury for FajitaGate were found factually innocent. The cops involved were acquitted of most charges and at best convicted of misdemeanors. I recall small awards for the plaintiffs as a result of the accompanying civil suit. (Media driven incident).
AND, according to this author, the Cammerin Boyd shooting somehow remains controversial. However, in 2007, a Federal Jury found no police wrongdoing when issueing their 9-0 resounding verdict. (A current example of media perpetuating a controversy).
FINALLY, the liberal establishment wanted a chief that didn't resemble "the old guard", meaning someone they could push around. Now that they have someone they can push around, they want a strong chief. Would you clowns make up your minds?

I agree with SFCOP 100%. Fong is the WORST chief we have ever had. Sanders was never really a chief. He served for barely a year and was only given the job to score a sweet retirement because him and Willy were buds (Sanders was paid by Willy's firm to testify against cops in civil rights violation lawsuits, even though Sanders was not an expert in Use of Force). The so called "good ol' boy" network has been dead for sometime! What it is now is the "good ol' minority" network! Only political hacks and minority insiders get the majority of promotions now. She also got rid of the rank of inspector and replaced it with Sergeants, so she could put more minorities in the bureau, even though many were not qualified. The SFPD may be beyond repair due to the incompetence of not only Fong, but the Mayor and Police Commission too (whom are tied with Fong for being more despised by the rank and file!)

Joel your observations about Saunders is true, we were lucky he didn't last long enough to damage this department as much as it is. But unless you have worked under this administration for the last four years you have no idea what I'm talking about. Policing in this city is tough enough without someone as incompetent as her running it. Thanks for your views.

SFCOP I know more than you think about SFPD. I retired from Richmond P.D. (30 years) Sanders testified against my department and my friends. It was a shameful event. I'm also married to one of your retired Captains. Good luck you'll need it!!

Joel, your right he is a turd and he would testify on duty and get paid by Burris and the PD and he was still made chief. This one only screws the cops that work for this department and yet she get away with breaking the rules. Give MA our regards.

Joel, your right about Saunders, he would testify on duty against other departments and get paid by Burris. I never said he was any good. Chances are he would still do that if he were still chief, you can thank Willie for that. This chief has'nt screwed other cops in other departments, just the ones that work for the SFPD. She has been sued by more members of this department than any other chief. Being married to one of our former cops you got to hear about it and see what effects it had on your wife. I know she had a bit of a rough time here also under him. But this chief is still the worst. Regards to MA.

This has NOTHING to do with Chief Fong. This has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that the bottom-feeding low-life of a Gary Delagnes (head of the SFPD police officers union) cannot pull her strings. Unless that despicable gets someone in that seat that will unquestionably do exactly as he wishes, nothing will get done about the insane crime rate and the absurd performance levels of our Bullies-in-Blue.