When San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott was sworn in last month, law-watchers assumed that (like any other new boss), we'd see a shakeup and departures in the current command staff. Contrary to expectations, however, the opposite has occurred: Not only does everyone appear to be staying, but Scott has added several new positions to the top of the cop food chain, making for an "increasingly top heavy and expensive organization," reports the Ex. In fact, they say, "Never before in recent memory has the department had two assistant chiefs or a command staff so large, and expensive."
That's right — despite the recent scandals and controversies that have plagued the department, the only thing that's really new with the Scott administration is Scott, himself, as "Most, if not all, of the promotions of command staff came under" former chief Greg Suhr, who resigned his post after a series of questionable police shootings. Which poses an obvious but important question: If all the department's top cops but one remain unchanged, how much reform can we intelligently expect from the SFPD?
In addition, even more command staff positions have been created, the Ex reports, with a total of "five deputy chiefs, seven commanders and 32 captains" as well as "three promoted civilians in media relations, technology and fiscal management."
This new command staff will cost SF $10 million in salaries alone, the Ex reports. let's take a look at the numbers, shall we?
- 2,992: The number of people employed by the SFPD
- $500 million: The amount of money, out of a $577 million budget, SFPD spent on salaries and benefits last year.
- $11 million: The amount of money SFPD hopes to increase their salaries and benefits budget for the coming year
- $316,000: Chief Scott's annual salary
- $290,000: The salary for Assistant Chief of Operations Toney Chaplin and Assistant Chief and Chief of Staff Hector Sainez
- $260,000: The annual salary for Deputy Chief and head of the Operations Bureau Michael Redmond
- $212,000: The annual salary for Commander and Golden Gate Division head Ann Mannix
- $218,664: The annual salary paid to Susan Merritt, a 2010 civilian hire recently promoted to director of the department’s’ technology division
- $212,160: The annual salary for Commander and Metro Division head Robert Moser, Commander Robert O’Sullivan, and Commander and head of the Investigations Bureau Greg McEachern
- $200,000: The annual salary for Captain Simon Silverman, Captain Mark Osuna, Captain and Major Crimes head Alexa O’Brien, Captain Jason Cherniss, Captain and Tactical head Timothy Falvey, and Special Victims Unit Captain Una Bailey
- $171,721: The annual salary for civilian Marjorie Catherine McGuire, recently promoted to director of the department's fiscal division
- $160,151: The annual salary for David Stevenson "a former television reporter hired in 2015 to work in community relations, who has been promoted and is now director of media relations"
- $80,000: The average starting salary for an SFPD officer
All facts and figures: Expected shakeup of SFPD leadership leaves most in place, but expands top-heavy organization, SF Examiner, February 20, 2017
Related: Bay Area Department Heads Pull Down Admirable Pension Pay While Still Collecting Salaries