Paul Kozakiewicz: Homicide Arrests, Prosecution Rates Unacceptable

We have a big problem here.

About 75 percent of all those who commit murder in San Francisco are never brought to justice or serve any time in jail for killing one of our citizens.

The SF Police Department's homicide division, which has recently been upgraded to 13 officers, makes arrests about 40 percent of the time. Of those arrested, more than one-third escape prosecution at the D.A.'s office - leaving us with a conviction rate of just one in four.

That's a lot of suspects who have murdered someone walking our streets.

There's a lot of blame to go around. The police department's understaffed homicide division, a crime lab that was undependable and subject to legal challenge, the district attorney's office and its failure to get more convictions, a recalcitrant public that is afraid to come forward and get involved and the city for its inability to implement an adequate computer system and communicate with interested parties.

The city's budget has blossomed over the past decade, going from about $2.4 billion a year to some $4.4 billion a year. Since 1995 the SF Police Department's budget has gone up 27 percent and the district attorney's office has gone up 57 percent.

Yet we still have inadequate staffing at many levels of city government, including the homicide unit, despite the massive windfall to the city's financial ledger.

Having an adequately staffed force of police officers and other experts could have an impact on catching murderers.

When suspects aren't arrested within a short period of time, witnesses fear for their lives and refuse to testify. In the case where U.C. researcher David Sadler was murdered in a Sunset District bar, witnesses identified the shooters to Taraval police officers but no effort to arrest them was made until homicide inspectors showed up at the scene. The delay could have allowed the suspects to escape. They are now reported to be out of the country but their reputed fellow gang members are still doing business in the City, causing witnesses to refuse to speak to the media for fear of retaliation.

Fully staffing the new crime lab is also a must, so vital evidence can be collected and processed to help determine who a suspect is or for evidence to be used in court if a suspect is arrested.

There has to be a major commitment from all those at the highest levels of government if we are to solve this problem. There must be adequate resources to get the job done and a commitment from all parties involved to get the S.O.B.s that kill our neighbors. The mayor, Lau and Hallinan all refused to be interviewed for Carol Dimmick's fine article concerning homicides in the City on page 1, leading me to believe it would be hard to get the parties talking since they have their heads buried in the sand.

Major commitments must be undertaken for the City to put more murderers behind bars.

Mayor Willie Brown must finish allocating money for a computer system that will allow all parties with a stake in the outcome of a homicide to share information. He must provide enough funding for enough homicide officers to aggressively pursue homicide suspects and enough to fully staff the city's new state-of-the-art crime lab. Having homicide inspectors wait two to three months for vital DNA evidence is unacceptable.

District Attorney Terrance Hallinan needs to more vigorously prosecute cases that do not have convictions guaranteed and better use the resources at his disposal. When homicide detectives presented what appeared to be solid evidence in the Sadler murder, his office refused to pursue the suspects.

As Martha Blake, a senior criminologist at the crime lab, said, "It's frustrating. We work hard to put together good evidence and they often times don't take risks. The DA's office only wants to take cases they can win."

San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau must also take responsibility for the poor record proffered on his long watch over the department.

I am sure that all of the interested parties - cops, judges, prosecutors and the public - want to get the bad guys, put them in jail to serve justice for the families and loved ones who lost someone special. I would think no one wants to put murderers behind bars more badly than the elite team of police officers in the homicide division.

The problems are not unsurmountable. In the late 1950s the homicide division solved every murder in the City for two consecutive years. While that record will probably never be duplicated because of changing times (and often the lack of a clear motive), we must improve the city's pathetic 25 percent conviction rate.

Let's give the homicide division all the resources and cooperation possible to catch murderers and the district attorney's office the resources necessary to put them where they belong - in prison, away from law bidding citizens.

Rose Tsai for MUD board
In the upcoming election, Richmond District resident Rose Tsai is running for a spot on the Municipal Utility District's board of directors. She would be an excellent director and I urge you to support her.

Trained as a attorney and currently hosting a respected Chinese-language radio program, Tsai is an intelligent, hard-working woman who will tackle the job with the public's best interest in mind - working to bring the city's residents low electricity rates and a dependable transmission network for that electricity.

Last year, I co-endorsed Rose and Jake McGoldrick for the job of supervisor, representing the Richmond District. Jake won, leaving Rose an opportunity to serve the public on the MUD board. As a director representing Ward 1, she would not squander public monies or consider frivolously the rights of the public. Please vote for Rose Tsai for MUD board Nov. 6.