San Francisco offers some of the highest crime tip rewards in the nation, giving up to a quarter of a million dollars to anyone who comes forward with information leading to a homicide conviction. But because of a lack of tips and restrictive conditions covering which ones qualify, the San Francisco Police Department hasn’t paid out a reward in more than a decade.
The Police Commission hopes to change that. In early December, the body passed a resolution asking the Board of Supervisors to reform city law to make more people eligible for rewards, following SF Standard reporting about the issue.
As of the SFPD’s last report to the Police Commission, there are rewards available for 176 open cases, and tipsters are eligible to receive up to $250,000. The last crime tip reward payout was in 2013, to a tipster who gave information about a 2006 Hayes Valley killing.
Under the current rules, tipsters who are anonymous or were allegedly involved in the crime cannot receive rewards. Paulette Brown has advocated for years to change these rules. She stands before the Police Commission at almost every weekly meeting holding a poster with a photograph of her dead son. Seventeen-year-old Aubrey Abrakasa Jr. was killed in 2006. Despite witnesses telling the SFPD they know who the killers are, the department has not been able to close the case.
“There’s been zero dollars paid out to anyone in a decade,” Brown told the commission in December, urging them to pass the resolution. “There’s no one coming forth now.”
The killing of Brown’s son is just one of at least two dozen unsolved homicides going back decades.
‘This resolution is really about Mrs. Brown on behalf of her son.’
Police Commissioner Max Carter-Oberston
The commission’s hope is that fewer restrictions on rewards will lead to more and better tips and fewer unsolved murders. If enacted, the proposal would require a tip to lead to criminal charges, not necessarily a conviction, in order for a reward to be paid. It would also allow anonymous tipsters to receive rewards. And the proposal explicitly states that anyone with a criminal record or who is suspected of committing a crime should be equally eligible for payment.
Currently, the police chief makes the final decision over who qualifies for rewards. The new rules would significantly narrow the chief’s discretion.
Chief Bill Scott said at the Dec. 4 Police Commission meeting that he supports the proposal in “spirit” and will work with the Board of Supervisors and the district attorney’s office to change the rules. An SFPD spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Both Scott and the head of the department’s homicide unit said granting anonymity to tipsters could help to close cold cases.
It “would be a big help … to solve some of these cases and bring closure,” said Lt. Kelvin Sanders at a hearing on the topic in May. Fear of retaliation, Scott said at the hearing, often discourages tipsters from coming forward to help police solve murders.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a former head of communications for the SFPD, said he agrees in principle with the proposal.
“This resolution is something that’s worth considering and taking a look at where we can improve the law,” he said, adding that he has long admired Brown’s advocacy on behalf of her son and others whose murders have not been solved.
The resolution was motivated by longstanding problems with the system of tips and rewards, said its author, Commissioner Max Carter-Oberston, who added that he was inspired by Brown’s unrelenting presence.
“This resolution is really about Mrs. Brown on behalf of her son,” Carter-Oberston said. “She has managed really all by herself to hold an entire city accountable.”