After reading a number of blogs reporting on the presence of police officers at the GOP and Democratic Party convention from beyond Cleveland and Philadelphia, I grew curious to learn if San Francisco sent any cops to either or both conventions.
A public records request to the SFPD for the names, ranks, badge numbers and costs of sending personnel to the conventions that were incurred by taxpayers, produced this note:
"The San Francisco Police Department reviewed your request and determined that the records requested are exempt pursuant to Cal. Govt. Code § 6254(f), which exempts from disclosure records of complaints to, investigations conducted by, intelligence information or security procedures of, and investigatory or security files compiled by local police agencies. The information you requested would reveal security procedures, which if disclosed would compromise security and officer safety. This information are records [sic] of security procedures compiled by SFPD for law enforcement purposes."
Attempts via email and telephone to get clarification from the department confirming or denying they sent any officers to the conventions didn't elicit a verbal or written response.
Just last month, another public records request of mine produced all the names and related info about SFPD cops who traveled to the funerals of Dallas, Texas, officers killed in the line of duty. Why can't the same info be released related to the political parties?
It's safe to assume SFPD sent officers to the conventions, hence, records were created otherwise there would be nothing to release. If I'm wrong about this, then the department's legal and public info divisions can supply me with correct info and I'll write a new post.
Bottom line, the cops aren't being transparent about how many of them were paid by San Francisco taxpayers to be on duty in Cleveland and Philadelphia. That needs to change.
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