Ingleside captain outlines Phase 1 reorganization, credits drop in several crimes and expands community outreach

Captain David Lazar told the San Francisco Police Commission on July 29 that Ingleside Station is implementing the first phase of recommendations from the Police Executive Research Forum to reorganize staffing and operations in order to reduce crime and improve quality of life.

Lazar said the Phase 1 package establishes a resource unit (led by a lieutenant), a problem-solving team (1 sergeant, 8 officers), 14 foot-beat officers, housing officers, school resource officers and a dedicated crime analyst. "Crime is my number 1 priority," Lazar said, describing daily reports the analyst will produce to guide deployment and problem analysis (SEG 814–SEG 3167).

Why it matters: the reorganization is intended to shift sector patrol so that officers spend no more than 40% of their time on reactive calls and the remainder on community policing and problem solving. The captain tied the staffing changes to a measurable plan: baseline surveys, an advisory group, panel surveys and weekly problem analysis committee meetings involving the captain, lieutenants and the crime analyst.

Key facts and numbers cited in the presentation: Ingleside is about 6.5 square miles with roughly 114,000 residents; the station has 148 sworn personnel assigned (127 police officers plus supervisors), a crime-analyst position newly assigned to the station, and 7 civilian staff. Lazar reported reductions in complaints and many Part 1 crime categories: citizen complaints at Ingleside fell from 39 (Jan–Jun 2008) to 20 (Jan–Jun 2009); total Part 1 crimes were down about 16.5% year-to-date; homicides in the district were down from 14 to 5 (a 64.29% decline) while reported rapes rose from 9 to 13 (a 44% increase). He also reported 58 total gun seizures over recent months (SEG 100–SEG 140, SEG 1300–SEG 1390).

Operations and community work: Lazar described targeted enforcement (robbery abatement, pedestrian and traffic stings, probation checks), code-enforcement partnerships with the city attorney on nuisance properties, and a public-facing push: every officer at Ingleside now has a San Francisco government email and voicemail and officers are required to check both once daily. The station plans multilingual newsletters, multi-language tip lines and outreach partnerships with ethnic media and community groups to address underreporting in non-English neighborhoods.

Cautions and next steps: Lazar said some issues remain: an uptick in reported rapes and the need to bring response times down (he cited an average A-priority response time around 3 minutes 47 seconds). Over the next 90 days the station will staff the resource unit, select district investigators, finalize the problem nomination form, begin weekly problem-analysis committee meetings and ramp up training (domestic violence, crisis intervention) (SEG 2500–SEG 3060).

Commissioner and community response: commissioners and residents praised the focus on community engagement and language access and asked for more data disaggregation (for example splitting Asian categories into subgroups) and clarity on staffing origin and cost. Lazar and command staff said most staffing changes were achieved by redeployment and by moving an analyst to the station rather than large net increases in citywide sworn counts.

Ending: Captain Lazar said he will return with progress updates and baseline metrics; the commission left time for extensive public comment after the presentation to surface community problems for the new Phase 1 process.