Don't expect newly minted San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr to systematically undo reforms pushed by his predecessor, George Gascón.
Gascón certainly doesn't.
"I can't think of a better choice for this position today in San Francisco than Greg Suhr," Gascón said Wednesday before the new chief was sworn in at City Hall.
Gascón, who came from Mesa, Ariz., was the first outsider to lead the department since the 1970s. The incoming chief is a native San Franciscan who has spent 30 years rising through the department's ranks. But city officials said the path of modernizing the department and increasing accountability will remain.
Suhr "will be a reformer from the inside out," Mayor Ed Lee said.
In an interview with The Chronicle after being sworn in at City Hall, Suhr said he has embraced many of Gascón's policies. Those include clearing the backlog of discipline cases to get more officers either back on the streets or off the force; using the CompStat computerized crime-tracking system to evaluate district captains' effectiveness; and moving police inspectors into district stations where they can work more closely with beat officers on serious crimes.
"The station investigative idea was long overdue," Suhr said. "I've been an advocate of that for many, many years."
Making strides in Bayview
Suhr credited that move with helping dramatically increase the number of crimes considered solved at the Bayview Station, the city's largest police bureau in a district that is home to some of its toughest neighborhoods.
"We have an 80 percent clearance rate this year on homicides, which is pretty unprecedented," said Suhr, who has been the station's captain since 2009.
Suhr said he's committed to opening a long-awaited police substation on Sixth Street to help revitalize the Mid-Market area into an arts and theater district.
The new chief also praised the department's efforts to gradually implement the new, voter-approved ban on sitting or lying on public sidewalks.
Some proponents of the ban have complained the law has had little effect on deterring vagrants after police began handing out written warnings in the Haight last month. Police officers must issue a warning before handing out a citation. The maximum penalty is a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.
Suhr said the judicious approach has helped officers know who they are dealing with without being overly punitive.
"I think it was really carefully rolled out," Suhr said. "I think the tracking system works."
Gascón praised Suhr, who works with the Bayview YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco, as well as setting up soccer and basketball programs for youths with gang ties, as "the ultimate champion of community policing."
Seen as force of stability
The 30-year veteran is widely viewed as a steadying hand for an organization buffeted by turmoil in recent months.
In a surprise move, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascón as district attorney in January, leaving incomplete the structural reforms he had initiated after coming to town 18 months before. Jeff Godown, who Gascón recruited to San Francisco, took over as interim chief.
Then in March, the department suspended operations of a plainclothes unit accused of using illegal tactics against suspected drug dealers at residential hotels, allegations that prompted an FBI investigation and led to several cases being dropped.
Now the city faces a $306 million budget deficit that Lee must close by June 1. Godown recently warned that could mean laying off 171 officers. There's also mounting political pressure for officers to defer $14.5 million in raises due starting July 1.
Given the budget woes, Suhr said he'll have to be creative in addressing policing needs, including calls for an increase in foot patrols, which provide officers an unparalleled way to interact with people but limit the ground they can cover.
"We can get a lot more police work done with our manner and our mouth than we ever can with force," Suhr said. "You have to be smart about where you use the officers and where you put them. ... You talk to the community, and you're honest with them. Maybe you can't give somebody 16 hours a day of coverage, but maybe you can do five."
Suhr said he's coupled that strategy with staggering some shifts in the Bayview district to maximize officers on the streets at the right times.
"Maybe you can take an officer out of a car to work Third and Palou for two hours at change of watch," Suhr said. "Officers at the Bayview have been fabulous about moving their shifts around an hour or two - without overtime - to make the Third Street corridor safer."
No room for corruption
As for the allegations of illegal searches by narcotics officers, Suhr, a former narcotics sergeant, said corruption won't be tolerated.
"We have no room in the department for dishonest cops," he said. "If anybody is proved to be dishonest, they shouldn't be wearing a San Francisco police officer's uniform."
Suhr dismissed concerns that clearing the backlog of police discipline cases through training and education rather than drawn-out hearings would result in unfit officers remaining on the force.
"It's all about giving the appropriate discipline for the offense committed," Suhr said. "You have someone who re-offends and reoffends and reoffends - if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you have a duck that you have to take care of."
