At least he's consistent

Incoming San Francisco Chief of Police George Gascon, who as the recent head of the Mesa, Arizona Police Department advocated a policing policy that basically amounted to a "don't ask, don't tell" amnesty for illegal aliens, now also wants to give blanket amnesty to upwards of 75 Frisco officers accused of wrongdoing, simply because there happens to be a backlog of such cases that are awaiting resolution by the civilian Police Commission:

"The new police chief told The Chronicle on Wednesday that he wants to see "the great majority" of roughly 75 discipline cases pending before the civilian Police Commission end with little or no punishment for officers accused of minor misconduct.

Those cases, he said, include charges such as use of inappropriate language, being discourteous, failing to properly fill out a police report or a first-time misdemeanor drunken-driving arrest." (Emphasis mine)

(A DUI charge by an officer sworn to arrest those who behave in such a manner certainly doesn't strike us as "minor misconduct", by the way.)

Gascon wants the power to unilaterally suspend an officer for up to ten days without pay for a first offense (seemingly regardless of the infraction), and only refer cases to the Police Commission for a second offense (or apparently for what he considers to be a serious enough first offense; the story is a little unclear on that particular point).

Sounds OK on the surface, but, as the piece describes, people who live in that city recently took disciplinary discretion away from the last police administration after they perceived that privilege was being abused by the brass:

"Six years ago, San Francisco voters gave residents a uniquely big say over police officers following the notorious Fajitagate street brawl. In that case, three off-duty officers were accused of picking a fight with two men, one who refused to hand over his to-go bag of fajitas. That incident became a scandal when some top police brass were accused of a cover-up. Charges were dropped in the case, and many of the top brass had their names cleared by the courts."

We're sure the chief's proposed plan is a whopping big comfort to those citizens or fellow cops who stuck their neck out to report an officer for a legitimate reason, and who will now have to sit by and watch that person skate with no punishment whatsoever for their wrongdoing or incompetence.

How about this - either appoint people to the commission who will firmly commit to working enough hours in order to reduce the backlog (the gist of the problem, according to the article), or give the chief what he wants going forward while still resolving outstanding cases brought under the current policy. That way, a solution is reached without letting any officers who broke the law or official rules arbitrarily off the hook.

Fair enough?