COURT JESTERINGS

With h. brown

Restructured Jiminez Patrol nabs bad guys

By h. brown

September 13, 2007

When you have a window overlooking the action at U.N. Plaza, you get to see lots of arrests, but today's takedown that just went down under my window was a new scene altogether.

No shooting or fighting or anything like that. It was the nature of the response. Four of the first six vehicles on the scene were cops on bikes and the other two were undercover civilian-looking vans (one trashed and the other bright and shiny).

Whomever they got, they were elated. Within 5 minutes there were a half dozen undercover cops there going through the vehicle (I thought I saw a bullet-proof vest as being one of the first items taken from the suspect's trunk) and sharing their finds.

Within ten minutes Tenderloin Captain Gary Jiminez was there and he stayed and spoke with passers-by and the manager of the Renoir Hotel and several people from Café do Brasil (arrest was at their doorstep on McAllister) and patted a couple of the first cops in on the bust on the back.

Have I gone soft?

Naw, but that was just such a much better mix of street cops than we usually see around San Francisco. Four bicycles!! Hey, I'd have like to see a couple of Patrol Specials on foot, but this was a vast improvement. Kudos to one of my favorite whipping boys. Now let's see some single-officer walking patrols.

Apologies too. I phoned Luke Thomas when Captain Jiminez showed up and he immediately said he was gonna run over (he lives right around the corner) and get some shots. When he didn't show in 5 minutes and Jiminez started to leave, I got on the fire escape and yelled at the cops to have him stay cause a photographer was coming. Then, Thomas gets on the phone and I look like a worse idiot than usual. Sorry, captain. Luke can run a file photo if he runs this. The main point is that there is a definite change in response (no more 15 screaming patrol cars) and it is appreciated.

Tenderloin Captain Gary Jiminez, file photo.

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h. brown is a 62 year-old keeper of sfbulldog.com, an eclectic site featuring a half dozen City Hall denizens. h is a former sailor, firefighter, teacher, nightclub owner, and a hard-living satirical muckraker. Email h at h@ludd.net.

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