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Residents tell police commission Mission Station officers appeared to act as more than private citizens at merchant meeting
Summary
Speakers at the Nov. 7 San Francisco Police Commission meeting urged the commission to investigate whether Mission Station officers, including Captain Mosier and Sgt. Chuck Limbert, acted in an official capacity while attending a merchants meeting in plain clothes and whether police presence favored merchants over activists.
Several members of the public told the San Francisco Police Commission on Nov. 7 that Mission Station officers appeared to take an active role at a neighborhood merchants meeting while claiming to be off duty.
"He was not wearing a badge. He was in plain street clothes and came over to me and other members of the public...and said that he was not on duty," Michael Petrellis told the commission, describing an encounter at a Nov. 1 meeting of merchants in the Upper Market–Castro area. Petrellis said Sgt. Chuck Limbert told attendees where to sit and later directed some people to leave when contentious items were put to a vote.
Petrellis asked the commission to verify whether Limbert was acting as a private citizen or carrying out official duties during the meeting. "We need some answers," he said, pressing the panel for clarification about the officer's status and the presence of multiple uniformed officers outside the meeting.
Another speaker, Clyde, told the commission he shared Petrellis— concerns and described separate interactions in which he said a Mission Station officer offered only "no comment" to media questions about a prostitution-related incident, leaving observers to assume a cover-up.
The commissioners did not take immediate action during the public-comment period to resolve the allegations. The meeting record shows public comment was received and closed; commissioners and department representatives did not provide a direct factual response on the record during that portion of the meeting.
The commission will consider community input and the department's internal review processes through its existing channels; speakers asked the commission and department to follow up with verification of officers' duty status and to address perceptions that the Mission Station favors merchants over other neighborhood constituents.
Next steps noted in the meeting included the commission's scheduled district meeting in Richmond on Nov. 28, where community members can raise local protection issues to Richmond Station leadership.
