I'm probably more inclined than the average Stranger reader to give SPD officers reasonable due process before firing them. Six months is reasonable, eighteen months is starting to become absurd.

And maybe after they fire all of the bad seeds they can start responding to and investigating actual crimes that they otherwise completely ignore. You know, things like hit and runs by drunk drivers, mail theft, identity theft, gay bashings, and rape. But then, I'm just a dreamer.

The guild is the problem. De-policing is the another one.

@3: Hardly a dreamer, you're a cynic. Dreamers aren't cynics.

six months is not due process when they have a video like that. The disgusting thing is that these cops won't be prosecuted because of the state law requiring proof of malice. We're lucky when they're fired. (Although it's difficult to figure that this guy DIDN'T show malice.)

@5 I'm referring to actual crimes committed against myself and friends that SPD did absolutely nothing on. It was like pulling teeth to even get them to show up and write a report and that was as far as it went in every case. I'm not being a cynic because I don't claim to know their motives. At most, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that being tied up with these scandals has them stretched too thin and that things will improve once they are resolved. I just know what is (and isn't) happening right now and I'm genuinely hoping they'll start investigating crime.

@9, Maybe it is because SPD has 1,000 fewer cops than Boston, where O'Toole comes from. Boston has 1/2 the land area and about the same population. If we were staffed the same as San Francisco on a per citizen basis, we would have about 400 more cops.

@10: Or maybe it's because SPD allocate far too much staffing to political demonstrations, sporting events, and "homeland security" (just where is our city's homeland, anyway?) Let's see what they're doing with what they have before we give them more.

This article is ignorant and slanderous. If you actually watch the video, you see SPD action as defensive and subduing, not an actual punch. Stupid bitch kicked the cop in the face. WTF is wrong with you people? If you act reasonably, you have no trouble with police, even after committing crime. They have it hard enough, and the consequence of severely restricting cop discretion is failure to get meaningful public safety when it is sorely needed. How would you like to have a camera on you throughout your working career? How would you like to have your reactions judged by a kangaroo court after being assaulted? Give me a break. Judgmental morons.