The San Francisco Police Department or S.F.P.D., is responsible for policing in the City and County of San Francisco. The department's motto is the same as the city and county: Oro en paz/Fierro en guerra (Spanish for Gold in Peace/Iron in War).

History

The SFPD began operations on August 13, 1849 during the gold rush and under command of Captain Malachi Fallon. Chief Fallon had a force of one deputy captain, three sergeants and thirty officers.

It was not until 1898, a re-organization of the force was a modern police service created and responsible to the city.

A list of commanding officers of the SFPD:

City Marshalls - 1850-1856

• Malachi Fallon
• Brandt Sequine
• John W. McKenzie

Chief of Police

• 1856-58 James F. Curtis
• 1858-66 Martin J. Burke
• 1866-73 Patrick Crowley
• 1873-75 Theodore G. Cockrill
• 1875-77 Henry H. Ellis
• 1877-79 John Kirpatrick
• 1879-97 Patrick Crowley
• 1897-1900 Isaiah W. Lees
• 1900-01 William P. Sullivan
• 1901-05 George Wittman
• 1905-07 Jeremiah F. Dinan
• 1907-08 William J. Biggy
• 1908-10 Jesse B. Cook
• 1910 John B. Martin
• 1910-11 John Seymour
• 1911-20 David A. White
• 1920-28 Daniel J. O'Brien
• 1929-40 William J. Quinn
• 1940-47 Charles W. Dullea
• 1947 Michael Riordan
• 1948-50 Michael Mitchell
• 1951-55 Michael Gaffey
• 1955-56 George Healy
• 1956-58 Frances J. Ahern
• 1958-70 Thomas J. Cahill
• 1970-71 Alfred J. Nelder
• 1971-75 Donald M. Scott
• 1975-80 Charles Gain
• 1980-86 Corneilius P. Murphy
• 1986-90 Frank M. Jordan
• 1990-92 Willis Casey
• 1992 Richard D. Hongisto
• 1992-1996 Anthony D. Ribera
• 1996-2002 Fred H. Lau
• 2002-2003 Prentice E. Sanders
• 2003-2004 Alex Fagan
• 2004- Heather Fong

In 1997, the San Francisco Airport Police merged with SFPD, becoming the SFPD Airport Bureau. Unlike SFPD, Los Angeles still has separate departments: LAPD and Los Angeles Airport Police.

The S.F.P.D currently has over 2000+ sworn officers.

Famous cases and events

• The hunt for Black Bart
• The early-20th Century Chinatown [[Tong

(organization)|tong]] wars

• The mysterious death of Chief William J. Biggy
• The 1921 Fatty Arbuckle rape case
• The 1934 West Coast longshore strike ]]
• Reveleation of widespread graft reported in the 1937 investigation by hired detective Edwin Atherton.
• The Nick de John mafia murder of 1947
• The 1949 arrest for narcotics possession of Billie Holliday
• The 1961 arrest of comedian Lenny Bruce for obscenity
• The Zodiac serial killer case which rocked the Bay Area during the 1960s and '70s
• The 1960s targeting of SFPD officers for assassination by militants connected to the Black Panther Party
• The racially-motivated 1970s Zebra murders by a violent Nation of Islam offshoot
• The 1975 arrest of Patty Hearst
• The 1977 Golden Dragon massacre
• The assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk and the arrest of former police officer and Supervisor Dan White in 1978, as well as the White Night Riots which followed White's acquittal of first degree murder charges and conviction on lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter
• The 1981 arrest of David Carpenter, the "Trailside Killer."
• The still-unsolved 1984 disappearance of Kevin Collins
• Part of the 1980s case against serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng
• Part of the 1980s case against Richard Ramirez, the night stalker.
• The 1993 massacre at 101 California Street
• The 2001 case against Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller for the death-by-dog of Diane Whipple
• The 2003 "Fajitagate" incident

SFPD Fallen Officers in 2006

In 2006, SFPD faced the loss of three officers.

1. Officer Darryl Tsujimoto, 41, a 13-year veteran of the SFPD, died of a heart attack during K9 training on Treasure Island.

2. Officer Nick-Tomasito Birco, 39, died in a vehicle accident when his patrol car was struck from behind by a van carrying four robbery suspects fleeing from other officers.

3. On December 22, 2006, Officer Bryan Tuvera, 28, a four-year veteran of the SFPD, was fatally shot in the head by a jail escapee from San Bruno in the Sunset District. The suspect was shot and killed by other SFPD officers.

Operations

The head of the SFPD is the Chief of Police. The current Chief is Heather Fong. Chief Fong works with four Deputy Chiefs (Field Operations, Investigations, Airport, and Administration), two field commanders and an airport commander.

Overall operations is split between two divisions: Metro and Golden Gate. Each division has 5 stations under command for a total of 10 overall.

Stations

The S.F.P.D. currently has 10 police stations throughout the city.

• 1) Central Station

  766 Vallejo St.
  San Francisco, CA 94133
  (415) 315-2400

• 2) Mission Station

  630 Valencia St.
  San Francisco, CA 94110
  (415) 558-5400

• 3) Northern Station

  1125 Fillmore St.
  San Francisco, CA 94115
  (415) 614-3400

• 4) Southern Station

  850 Bryant St
  San Francisco, CA 94103
  (415) 553-1373

• 5) Tenderloin Station

  301 Eddy St.
  San Francisco, CA 94102
  (415) 345-7300

• 6) Bayview Station

  201 Williams St.
  San Francisco, CA 94124
  (415) 671-2300

• 7) Ingleside Station

  1 Sgt. John V. Young Ln.
  San Francisco, CA 94112-2408
  (415) 404-4000

• 8) Park Station

  1899 Waller Street
  San Francisco, CA 94117
  (415) 242-3000

• 9) Richmond Station

  461 - 6th Ave
  San Francisco, CA 94118
  (415) 666-8000

• 10) Taraval Station

   2345 - 24th Ave.
   San Francisco, CA 94116
   (415) 759-3100

Pay As A S.F.P.D. Officer

Current pay for a starting S.F.P.D. officer is $64,347 - $84,513

Duty Weapons

Current sidearm issue for S.F.P.D officers is either the SIG Sauer P-226R in .40S&W or SIG Sauer P229R in .40S&W (officer's perference). The inspectors are issued the SIG Sauer P-239 in .40S&W.

Important S.F.P.D. Phone Numbers

Non-emergency, low priority phone number for the S.F.P.D.: (415) 553-0123

See Also-

• Baby blue The controversy over baby blue and white police cars for the SFPD.