SFPD’s top cop is supposed to be temporary. He’s not acting like it

When Mayor Daniel Lurie named Paul Yep as interim chief of the San Francisco Police Department in June, both said the appointment was temporary. 

But in less than two months, Yep has made dramatic moves to reshape the department in his own image, appointing a command staff, reshuffling station captains, cutting civilian reform leaders, promoting a raft of officers to the rank of sergeant and lieutenant, and this week announcing a department reorganization that reduced its bloated leadership. 

The boldness of Yep’s moves suggest to former SFPD command staffers that the chief, who served as an officer for nearly three decades, is interim in name only. 

“He came in, and he changed basically the whole upper management of the police department. That doesn’t strike me as the actions of an interim,” former SFPD Commander Rich Corriea said. “Wouldn’t you leave [the] status quo for the next person to set up their command staff? So it suggests to me he will be the next chief.”

Yep maintains that he is only a caretaker, saying the changes he is making will continue reform efforts while setting up the next chief for success. 

“As I’ve said numerous times, I’m not a candidate for the permanent position,” he said in a press release. “There is a process for the search for the new chief, and I am confident that the best candidate will be selected.”

Regardless, his actions represent a shift around policing in San Francisco, reversing course on some of the reform efforts that in many ways shaped the career of his predecessor, Bill Scott, according to several former officers. These people, some of whom held high-ranking positions, told The Standard that Yep’s actions indicate that he is auditioning to be the next chief and will return the department to the tough-on-crime model that predated Scott.

At an all-hands meeting soon after taking charge of the department, Yep repeated that he had no interest in taking the job and would not make any major changes to the department, said one person present at the meeting. 

“Well, one of those isn’t true,” the witness said, “so I’m not buying the other one either.”

As soon as he was appointed, Yep moved to replenish a command staff that had been emptied by retirements, elevating four people to deputy chief and eight to commander. Two new deputy chiefs, Derrick Jackson and Derrick Lew, have been rumored to be potential chief candidates.

Yep also elevated outgoing police union boss Tracy McCray to commander, paving the way for the election of a popular longtime cop, Louis Wong, as the new leader of the Police Officers Association.

Yep said the reorganization of his command staff couldn’t wait, and will help to modernize the department. As part of the ongoing reorganization, Yep has reduced the number of bureaus from six to five. He added that his moves will put more cops on the street, but declined to say how many.

“The San Francisco Police Department is more streamlined and efficient than ever,” Yep said early last week in a press release. “These necessary changes will give our officers the support they need to keep our city safe.”

Over the last two weeks, Yep’s dismantling of the Strategic Management Bureau has raised eyebrows among current and former officers. The civilians who led the bureau had been elevated by Scott and led much of the department’s reforms, including increasing transparency and reducing and tracking things such as use of force incidents. 

Catherine McGuire, who headed the Strategic Management Bureau, had been with the department for almost 10 years; Scott had put her in charge of department finances and reform efforts. Yep divided the defunct bureau’s responsibilities among the remaining bureaus.

In an interview, McGuire said gutting her unit will harm the department in the long run. “This reorganization removes the resources that would allow the department to monitor reforms,” she said. “If you have the internal checks and balances you are able to prevent the external scrutiny, and public scandal, which distracts the department from doing mission-critical work.”

Several of McGuire’s former underlings have been demoted or dismissed from the SFPD, including Kara Lacy, who headed constitutional policing, and Diana Oliva-Aroche, who liaised with city politicians and headed the department’s transparency and equity initiatives. Neither responded to a request for comment. 

Another former officer said disbanding the reform unit will set the SFPD back after years of progress and millions of dollars meant to transform the department. 

Further down the ranks, Yep has promoted 13 officers to captain, reshuffled all 10 of the station captains, and replaced the head of the police academy. These moves came in addition to a raft of promotions of officers to sergeant and lieutenant, effectively creating a bench of future department leaders hand-picked by Yep. 

Even in smaller ways, Yep’s moves have affected the city. He recently assigned additional lieutenants to stationhouses to stabilize leadership, due to the SFPD’s  practice of shuffling captains every couple of years. 

Not all of Yep’s efforts to shape the department have been successful. In mid-July, his attempt to revert the name of the Community Violence Reduction Team to the Gang Task Force failed after community pressure.

As interim chief, Yep’s moves are akin to creating a sports team and farm system, then saying he plans to hand the team to another coach. Few insiders buy that he doesn’t want the job of full-time chief.

The last interim chief, Toney Chaplin, who was appointed in 2016 by Mayor Ed Lee, kept much of the department structure in place despite saying he planned a top-to-bottom assessment. 

Like Yep, Chaplin initially said he did not want the chief position, only to backtrack and put his name in the running. 

After Scott was appointed as chief later in 2016, he expanded the command staff, creating two assistant chief positions, a chief of staff, and a civilian director who was essentially at the same rank and received $350,000 in compensation, equal to a deputy chief. Scott also hired a civilian communications director, Matt Dorsey, who was later elected supervisor for one of the city’s most crime-plagued districts. 

Scott’s efforts were focused on shepherding the department through reforms that were only recently completed. The former chief announced his departure in early May, and much of his command staff followed suit. His second in command, Assistant Chief David Lazar, retired that same month. 

Yep’s changes appear to be popular with the rank and file, who admire his choice of cops with street experience as leaders, according to current and former officers who spoke on condition of anonymity. Many are pleased that Yep has not insulated himself behind a huge command staff, as they believe Scott did. But some former officers worry the department is backsliding on reforms and contemporary policing practices. 

One former cop said the promotions were popular among officers, as they involved “real cops,” who are not afraid to get their hands dirty. 

A former department leader said Yep’s actions are meant to “right the ship” by getting rid of dead weight and putting into leadership officers who are popular among beat cops. Consolidating responsibilities and getting rid of some civilian leadership is “actually a good thing,” said the former officer. 

But others worry Yep’s actions are a step backward, or simply cosmetic. A former department leader said none of the moves made by Yep are fundamentally changing the department: “This is smoke and mirrors.” 

Supervisor Jackie Fielder said she is concerned about where the department stands on reforms, how to handle detentions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and protests against them, and how to address overtime abuse. 

“There’s a change-up of leadership in SFPD right now — a cross between [Police Officers Association] and anti-reform people,” Fielder said. “I am confused. Why are changes being made before a real chief is being found?”

As Yep continues to transform the department, the city’s Police Commission is searching for a new chief. It has hired a search firm, Ralph Andersen & Associates, that has released material on the kind of chief the city is looking for, with an emphasis on reform and transparency initiatives and quality-of-life issues like homelessness, the mental health crisis, and open-air drug dealing. 

The commission will choose three finalists to put in front of the mayor, who will ultimately decide on the hire. One of those names could very likely be Yep’s.