March 30, 1999

Joe Sandavol
City Attorney
1390 Market St, 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102

Dear Mr. Sandavol:

In light of last week’s Superior Court decision against the City in my false arrest case, I would hope that your office would take actions against the SFPD to ensure that their procedures don’t trample on the civil rights and liberties of innocent citizens. The results of this and similar false arrest cases show a clear pattern of police abuse of the mass arrest procedure. Rather than wasting taxpayer money blindly defending the police in such cases (and hoping that those falsely arrested wouldn’t have the energy to continue with a lengthy court battle), it would be morally and fiscally responsible for the City Attorney’s office to proactively force the SFPD to follow procedures protecting individual rights. As was clear from my case, the SFPD don’t even follow their own procedures (let alone the law), and it is well within the purview of the City Attorney’s Office to both draft new procedures for them, and make sure that they stick to those procedures.

Sincerely,

Howard Besser
2813 Fulton
Berkeley, CA 97705

cc: City Attorney Louise Renne
Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano
Police Chief Fred Lau