Much Respect to the Tenderloin Task Force

It might be a trite phrase, but stepping into another person's shoes can really rock and shock your world. A part of my heart changed on Friday, when I spent four hours in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco - - in a police squad car.

In the past, I have been, at best, apathetic about the police. In college, I had a lot of issues with armies/police because in Southeast Asia, the two are often fused. Not only fused, but politically power-hungry and riddled with corruption. In Malaysia, it is not an uncommon sight to be pulled over and asked if you would like to "settle things here" - that means give a bribe in exchange for not receiving a ticket.

Through a course I am taking under the San Francisco Police, I was granted an opportunity to spend a shift in a squad car. I chose what I felt was the "scariest" district, and at that time, I felt it was the Tenderloin. The Tenderloin has a reputation for being a place where "anything goes" - crack, heroin and pills, (transvestite) prostitution, a thriving black market for stolen goods, go on go on. There is a large population of homeless, of Southeast Asian immigrants, and elderly. Many of the people you see wandering the sidewalks exhibit signs of moderate to severe mental illness, often from long-term drug use.

Riding along with the Sergeant on duty, the both the Tenderloin and the police became a lot more human to me. The Sergeant had worked in the area for twenty two years, so he knew the people on the sidewalk and they knew him. I saw first hand how being a police officer is so much more than passively enforcing the law. It's more than knowing how to shoot a gun or write a ticket.

The best police officers are skilled multi-taskers and multi-dimensional problem solvers. They're psychologists, they're counselors, they're athletes, they're sociologists, they're public policy analysts, they're lawyers... Call after call, I watched how the Sergeant and other officers handled their situations, and I felt an inner awe grow.

This isn't to excuse officers who abuse their power. Much to the contrary, I abhor those officers because they bring such a bad name to the rest who have shown me sincere dedication to their community. When you go out of your way to support the hardworking immigrants, the social workers, and the free clinics, you have earned my respect. When you care about the homeless enough to refer them to vocational programs instead of citing and arresting them, you have done good in my eyes. When children run up to you and ask for Junior Police Officer sticker-badges, you make me smile as you play with them on the sidewalk.

For their skill and for the heart they bring to the job, the San Francisco Police Tenderloin Task Force has truly made my day.