According to the San Francisco Police Officer’s Union, Chief William “Bill” Scott has refused to publicly “stand up for his officers” in the wake of violence directed towards members of the San Francisco Police Department on Sunday.
According to a letter posted by the Union, the protests in San Francisco have been peaceful but that changed on Sunday when the crowd attacked police officers by throwing bottles at them, attacking police cars with officers inside and spray painting the faces of officers.
CREATING A PAPER TIGER OUT OF AMERICAN LAW ENFORCEMENT
The Union stated that they “are deeply disappointed that Chief Bill Scott refuses to condemn these attacks on our
officers publicly and stand up for those under his command. Our officers carry out their duties in a professional manner, and they deserve the support of their commanding officer. We take zero issue with those who wish to exercise their first amendment rights peacefully, even when they do so in criticism of our profession. However, that should never be a justification for violence. Never.”
The Union said that they should not “have to plead with the Chief of Police to publicly state he expects his officers to be free from violent attacks.”
Here is the letter in it’s entirety:
We are proud of the fact that in San Francisco, the protests surrounding police reform have
been overwhelmingly peaceful. That changed Sunday when some in a crowd took to violence to
attack our police officers, including spray painting their faces, throwing bottles at them, and
doing damage to and attempting to destroy a police vehicle with our officers inside of it. There
was zero cause or provocation for these attacks.
We are deeply disappointed that Chief Bill Scott refuses to condemn these attacks on our
officers publicly and stand up for those under his command. Our officers carry out their duties
in a professional manner, and they deserve the support of their commanding officer. We take
zero issue with those who wish to exercise their first amendment rights peacefully, even when
they do so in criticism of our profession. However, that should never be a justification for
violence. Never.
The SFPOA is outspoken in its support for police reforms nationally, as well as locally. We intend
to be active partners in these efforts, but we expect our leader to state clearly that there is zero
tolerance for violence against anyone, including our police officers. We shouldn’t have to plead
with the Chief of Police to publicly state he expects his officers to be free from violent attacks.
The Chief should order a comprehensive investigation of those that assaulted our officers,
complete the investigation, and send those findings to the former public defender, Chesa
Boudin, for prosecution.
We know that there is little likelihood that the former public defender will actually hold anyone accountable for the violent assault, but that should not absolve Chief Scott from doing his job to identify the culprits and arrest them and from also showing some support for our officers and our department.
