Capt. Sandra Tong: Bicycle Safety, Delivering Smiles

During the month of June, Richmond Station, along with our community partners will be hosting a bicycle safety campaign.

The police will join with SF Safety Awareness for Everyone (SAFE), SF Bicycle Coalition, Municipal Transit Authority, AAA, Senior Action Network (SAN) and the SF Recreation and Park Department to educate the community about bicycle safety. The campaign outreaches to everyone in hopes that we can learn to share the roadways in a safe manner.

If you're a bicyclist, don't ride on the sidewalk, obey traffic laws and utilize bicycle lanes.

If you're a motorist, don't double park in bike lanes, look before you open your car door, obey the laws and be considerate of bicyclists.

Besides community education and awareness, officers will conduct enforcement related to bicycle safety. Police enforcement will include violations for riding a bicycle, coaster, skateboard or roller skates on the sidewalk, blocking a bike lane and other related offenses.

On May 30, the Senior Action Network hosted a public demonstration for pedestrian safety at Arguello and Geary boulevards.

SAN represents seniors in the City and neighborhood that don't feel safe walking due to bicycles or skateboards on the sidewalk and unsafe motorists. Their citywide campaign is "Sidewalks are for Pedestrians!"

On June 2, we hosted a kick-off event for our bicycle safety campaign at Cabrillo Playground. The kid's bike fair provided a wealth of safety information from our partnering agencies, a bike rodeo, helmet giveaway, kid's activities and a barbecue served up by officers from Richmond Station.

Our appreciation goes out to the San Francisco Police Officers Association, which sponsored the kid's bike fair, along with a generous donation from Avenue Cyclery. If you would like to come by Richmond Station at 461 Sixth Ave., safety information from the kid's bike fair will be available in the lobby.

Please remember, "Traffic Safety Begins With You!"

Serving Our Community
Two swing watch officers took a burglary report where a television was stolen.

After chatting with the children in the home, the officers went to a local store, bought a new television and delivered it to the family. The officer told me the smile on the daughter's face when she saw the new television was worth every penny spent.

In the early morning hours, officers responded to the 5700 block of Geary on a call of a person with a gun. The officers had a good clothing description of the involved individuals as they entered the premise.

They safely and quickly located and detained the suspect and found a semi-automatic handgun in the suspect's waistband.

Further investigation revealed that the incident could have escalated into violence due to a minor altercation between patrons. I commend the citizen that called the police and the midnight officers for their swift action.

For this month's meeting, the Police/Community Forum will be hosting its monthly meeting in the district at St. Thomas Apostle Church, Ryan Hall, 3835 Balboa St. (cross of 39th), at 7 p.m. Residents can bring their concerns to me and I will give a brief overview of safety issues in the neighborhood.

Capt. Sandra Tong is the commanding officer at the Richmond Police Station.