Dave Oberhoffer started a law-enforcement career in 1979, having survived the Vietnam War, and owning an Irish Pub. His San Francisco Police Department assignments were: Walking a foot-beat, numerous sector car assignments, and Vice and Narcotics work. As an Inspector, he was then assigned to the Special Investigations Division for five years. This was followed by work as a Squad Sergeant running a team in the housing projects on Potrero Hill. As a Lieutenant, he ran the Records Division, the Crime Scene Investigation Unit (CSI), and was a Watch Commander in four different districts, retiring at the San Francisco Airport. After retirement, Dave had a cup-of-coffee as a small-town Chief of Police, and then taught Law Enforcement Studies at several Bay Area Colleges.
A foot-beat assignment is the quintessential best and worst job in my business. You make hundreds of contacts that help you, amuse you, and make your life productive and fun. However, the downside is, you get to arrest the same...
Read moreBeing a beat cop in a major city has its perks, and its downsides. Keeping the regular drunks, hobos, and addicts’ shenanigans to a socially acceptable level (or I should say what the brass thought was allowed) was a large part...
Read moreYou never know when someone is going to go crazy, or where, or how. Sometime its stress, sometimes it's your brain chemistry that's off, sometimes it's what your doctor gives you to help you get through the day. A lot...
Read moreThe Gods must love technology! At least the ones that politicians, liability lawyers, political activists and bureaucrats pray to that is. I took my oath of office shortly after the invention of fire, but before the Wheel 2.0 was patented...
Read moreTechnology is a wonder... And I sometimes wonder if it’s for us, or a’gin us. In street parlance, (which is understandably much akin to prison language given the perpetual cross-over connections), a rat is someone who “squeals” on someone to...
Read moreBobby Shoe-Shine. That’s what all the Street cops called him back waaay long ago. He’d show up at the Station's Sally Port door before the pay-day line up, and for the money, you’d get the best spit shine that could...
Read moreExperiencing Mr. Stinky! You kinda had to be there, so follow me... Back when homeless people were hobos, drunks were winos, and “substance abusers” were hypes, I pounded a classic foot patrol beat on San Francisco's gritty Mission Street. After 3-4...
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