SF Communities Responding to Violence

From today's SF Chronicle, a story about how neighbors in Bernal Heights joined with residents in the Alemany Projects to lobby for a strategic response to the shootings and problems there.

After a spike in violence last year that spilled beyond the borders of Alemany and into the surrounding neighborhood, leaders of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center helped organize the Alemany Working Group comprised of public housing residents and their neighbors to come up with a plan.

They worked closely with Captain Paul Chignell of the Ingleside police station, other police officers, Supervisor Tom Ammiano and representatives from the mayor's office.

The group eventually secured $90,000 in funding -- $30,000 apiece from the city, the Police Department and the San Francisco Housing Authority -- to start a three-month public safety pilot program involving more police presence and an increased effort on the part of officers to get to know Alemany residents.

Starting in December, the station assigned police officers to work overtime to patrol Alemany 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

In January, violent crime in Alemany was down 83 percent compared with January, 2006, according to police statistics. Other offenses, including unlawful weapons possession and disorderly conduct, were down 32 percent....

The effort proved so successful, the city and Police Department decided to make it permanent. Starting last weekend, four police officers were assigned full-time to the Alemany beat. The Ingleside police station received four new officers to make up for the ones assigned to Alemany.

http://www.sfgate.com

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