Saturday’s “No Kings” demonstration attracted large crowds throughout the Bay Area, stressing law enforcement resources. It all costs money at a time San Francisco is facing a nearly $800 million budget deficit.
It is in this moment of political peril that Lurie must select a new police chief. Even under the best of circumstances, selecting a police chief can be a fraught decision for mayors, who have to balance competing demands of several constituencies.
Lessons from history
In 1988, newly elected Mayor Art Agnos — who this reporter was working for at the time — faced a similar challenge. That September, United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta — a friend and political ally of Agnos — was attending a protest outside the St. Francis Hotel, where Vice President George H. W. Bush was giving a speech. Bush was also the Republican nominee for president at the time.
During a scuffle with SFPD, the 58-year-old Huerta was hit by a police officer’s baton, rupturing her spleen and fracturing two ribs. It brought the department’s crowd control tactics into sharp focus.
“I will not tolerate anything that is not part of authorized crowd control tactics,” Agnos said after reviewing videotapes of the event. He ordered police chief Frank Jordan to investigate the incident and recommend changes to crowd control policies.
Jordan, distancing himself from the mayor ever so slightly, contended that the 85 or so officers dressed in riot gear acted within department policy.
The following year, in a historic twist reverberating today, Agnos signed San Francisco’s Sanctuary City policy, placing sharp limits on local law enforcement agencies’ cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
One of Agnos’s first decisions after getting elected was keeping Jordan as police chief — a holdover from his predecessor, Dianne Feinstein, despite Agnos’s frosty relationship with her. It was a fateful decision.
Jordan was an amiable, non-threatening sort of chief, but he was never “Agnos’s guy.” When Agnos’s main opponent promised to fire Jordan if elected, Agnos said he would keep him, a political calculation to gain support in more conservative west side neighborhoods.
Jordan later resigned and ran for mayor, defeating Agnos in 1991 in a campaign dominated by concerns over homelessness, crime and drug use.
Insider vs. outsider?
Max Carter-Oberstone is a progressive attorney recently ousted from the Police Commission by Lurie. The mayor didn’t give a reason, but Carter-Oberstone had publicly clashed with former Mayor London Breed – something most mayors don’t appreciate in their appointees.
He says whoever is chief in San Francisco must deal with several politically engaged constituencies.
“You’ve got the mayor, you’ve got the police commission, you have the police officers union, the rank-and-file, the command staff, and then of course various constituencies among the residents of the city who each have their own views,” he said.
Former SFPD police chief George Gascón, who was appointed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom after leading the department in Mesa, Arizona, said understanding local politics is essential.
“You cannot be a chief of police if you don’t understand local politics,” Gascón said.
He added that rank-and-file cops are often wary of someone from outside the department becoming chief.
“You’re going to find people wanting an outsider when there’s a perception that the internal structure is not addressing the needs of the organization and the people it serves,” Gascón said. “Generally, outside chiefs don’t last long.”
Scott, who came to San Francisco from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2017, broke that mold.
