Capt. Michael Yalon: Police Beat

Bio-Paranoia
With three reported deaths and scores of east coast anthrax exposures in the national news, the possibility of contaminated mail is no joking matter.

Luckily, San Francisco has dodged this lethal bullet to date. No Bay Area safety entity has responded to a confirmed case of biohazard mail. We have been kept quite busy dealing with complaints of "suspicious mail," however - so much so that a new radio code (535) has been coined to address this potentially deadly phenomenon.

During one October week, for example, officers from Taraval Station handled nearly a score of such calls. Many mysteries were easily solved by phone calls to the sender verifying their credibility. Others required officers to transport the suspect letter to postal authorities for further investigation. Questionable letters with return addresses in New Jersey or Florida were fairly common, for obvious reasons.

A number of suspicious envelopes with irregularly shaped, lumpy enclosures turned out to contain rosary beads proffered by a religious charity suffering from a case of poor timing.

One particular incident is worth relating in detail.

Last week, employees at a noted spiritual institution sat down to sort through the daily mail. An inch or so into the stack, one worker peeled open a legal sized envelope and simultaneously noticed dust in the air and on the table. She began coughing and gasping and soon so did her co-worker. Dust combined with breathing difficulties merited an immediate 911 call and police and fire responded post haste.

SFFD Hazardous Material Teams donned their tyvex suits and masks and entered the structure. Medical personnel gingerly ministered to the victims and Taraval officers began a localized evacuation - just in case.

Hazmat officers examined the envelope and contents and began checking the room for contaminants.

Since the police conduct the investigative follow-up, fire personnel soon brought Sgt. Joe Reilly a digital photograph of the envelope. Trained as he is, Sgt. Joe carefully examined the likeness and noticed a major clue; the return address of 850 Bryant Street - SFPD headquarters! Next came a photo of the contents: the monthly grant check from SF SAFE and SFPD to reimburse the church for state-funded services.

Needless to say, both victims recovered quickly. The check went to the bank instead of the evidence locker. The suspicious dust was traced to its likely source - a nearby construction project.

"Better safe than sorry" is one lesson learned; the power of suggestion is another.

Emergency units are always available to respond to calls of suspicious packages or letters. We only ask that you use common sense in justifying your suspicions. And always remember: you can decide for yourself whether or not to open a questionable piece of mail.

Internet Seduction

Adolescents have always had a very real need for peer acceptance. How many times have parents heard the excuse, "It wasn't my idea. I only did it because Johnny wanted to."

Growing up was hard enough in foregone days of radio and TV. Now the real-time Internet has added an entirely new dimension. This case involves a 16-year-old Sunset girl who chose the unthinkable over risking a chat room friendship.

Young Alice met Nora on AOL. They soon became pals and shared secrets and feelings. Then Nora asked, "Do you want to earn some easy money?"

"Sure," Alice replied, "How?"

"I have a friend who can help," came the response, "Just give me your phone number and he'll call you."

Wary but afraid to lose the relationship, Alice complied and soon received a call from Ted. "Do you like sex and money?" he queried. "Everybody likes money, but I don't like sex," she retorted. Ted became upset on the phone and insisted that Alice meet him and "wear something revealing."

She did both and, after more harsh talk, agreed to accompany Ted to the Tenderloin. Enroute, he gave the young girl a supply of condoms and told her just how to stand and what to say. Services offered ranged from $40 to $150, he told her, and she proceeded to meet five customers and earn more than $400.

Finally, Ted took all the cash and drove Alice home. He left her with a promise to return the next night, taking her to the Mission - "where she could earn real money." Still afraid and still reluctant to upset her new friends, but fed up with the degradation, Alice told her tale to school and police officials.

While she will be all right, this should be an Internet wake-up call for parents. Do we really know what's being said to our youngsters or who is on the other side of the monitor screen?

Busy District Day

Tuesday, Oct. 23 was quite a day along the southern border of our district.

First, officer David Southern encountered a southbound speeder blowing the light on Lake Merced Boulevard at Brotherhood Way. He gave chase with light and siren, but the mini-import driver slammed on his brakes and then took off full tilt toward Daly City.

Dave avoided a collision, but was just behind the culprit as he purposefully forced the police car off the road, over a curb and onto a traffic island. The marked cruiser rolled twice before settling back on four wheels.

Officer Southern ended up at SF General, but will be fine. And we have some good clues to track down the one-man-drag-race. Neighbors have been complaining for some time about racing and speeding near Lake Merced. They are obviously right.

Then about 1 p.m., a bank robbery on Ocean Avenue came over the airwaves. The M.O. and description fit those from an earlier Richmond District heist - one with a known suspect who lived in our OMI neighborhood. So units responded to both the bank and home base.

Taraval officers Mike Rebollini and Kate Waaland tracked the bait money signal to the Beacon Gas Station near 19th Avenue and Junipero Serra Boulevard. There they found 44-year-old Alvin Draper calmly pumping gas into the tank of his getaway car. Draper had threatened to use a bomb in the bank, so officers drew weapons on him.

Raising his arms, the suspect replied, "I'm not going - you'll have to take me" and ran across busy Junipero Serra towards Parkmerced. He successfully dodged vehicles and jumped 15 feet down to the shopping center parking area, but officers took the plunge in pursuit and continued the chase.

Officers Waaland and Rebollini, along with Ingleside cops Curry and Dilag and our own plainclothes team of Reggie Scott and Jerry Lyons, surrounded the athlete on Font Boulevard.

Officers soon recovered the robbery note, bait money and $700 - some of which Draper had used to buy gas. It took some effort, but your Taraval officers successfully "made" Mr. Draper give up.

Hopefully, it's back to a state-owned cell for this robber. Maybe he'll remember to fill his gas tank before his next robbery ... and remember when gas prices were at a long-time low.