Editorial: Pointless waste of resources at the SF Police Department

http://www.sfbg.com/bruce/2011/08/23/editorial-pointless-waste-resources-sf-police-department

So you're sitting in a doorway, filling a bowl from the dregs of what was once an eighth of (perhaps non-medical) bud, and some guy comes up and offers you $20 for what's left in the little plastic bag. Maybe you're unemployed, or maybe just a bit short of cash, but either way, it's a no-brainer: For $20, you can get some more pot. If the guy's that desperate, and he's waving the cash in front of you, what are you going to do?

So you take his money and give him the bag — and next thing you know, a half-dozen cops are surrounding you. You're knocked to the sidewalk, cuffed and arrested — for selling drugs. And although the amount may be miniscule, the charges aren't; selling drugs, any amount of drugs, can land you in the county jail.

As Deputy Public Defender Bob Dunlap notes, "There's something distasteful about going into the poorest neighborhoods and fishing with money." And it's expensive — as many as 14 officers can be involved in a single buy-bust or RAT patrol. Some of the officers are working overtime, collecting money the department doesn't have. Since most of the people who get arrested are too poor to afford lawyers, the public defender has to put resources into defending the cases. The courts — which are so strapped for cash that civil cases aren't even getting heard these days — have to take the time to sort out the charges. And the taxpayers have to fork over money to keep people who in many cases aren't a threat to public safety in jail.

Suhr ought to shut down the two programs — and if he doesn't, the supervisors should hold hearings, demand an audit of the cost of the undercover operations and make that a factor in the next police department budget.