By Jonathan Farrell

The Taraval Station has a new leader, and the members of the Sunset Heights

Association of Responsible People (SHARP) were eager to have Capt. Robert

Yick speak to local residents at a special meeting on Nov. 7.

Cant. Robert Yick

With more than 25 years of experience and training, Yick comes to Taraval Station with a

background in field training, special investigations, domestic violence investigations and

working with Internal Affairs, among other duties and assignments.

Yick took command of Taraval Station from Capt. Denise Flaherty, who was transferred

to an administrative position at the SF Police Academy.

The change in staff that officially began on Oct. 21 is part of a detailed plan implemented

by the chain of command within the SF Police Department to ensure more effective and

efficient policing. San Francisco Police Chief William Scott announced to the media in

October that 20 newly appointed and veteran captains were reassigned as part of the

department’s “commitment to effective, data-driven crime-fighting initiatives.”

Charles Head, president of SHARP, invited Yick to the meeting. Afterward, he said the

new captain made “a favorable impression.”

“Although newly appointed to our Taraval Station command, Capt. Yick has an extensive

background,” Head said. Yick has spent most of his career in the City, serving at the

Richmond and Central stations, among other posts.

“Captain Yick has pledged to be open and transparent, giving us his e-mail address to write

him anytime,” Head said.

Head and others were very happy to hear Yick is reinstating what used to be

known as the Police-Community Relations Meeting, a monthly interaction with residents

on the third Tuesday of every month, at 6 p.m., at the community meeting room at

the Taraval Station.

Yick is also inaugurating a “coffee-with-a-cop” session. He hopes it is a regularly scheduled

event, allowing the community and police officers to get better acquainted. A recent surge

in burglaries in the Sunset District, some of which were brazen and captured on home

security cameras, was also discussed at the meeting.

Head said the open discussion and change of some police policies were appreciated.

“Auto break-in incidents that were handled centrally by one large unit, for example, now

have been transferred back to the district stations,” Head said.“And I can see the captain is

as frustrated by traffic congestion as we all are.”

At the meeting Yick shared his own experience of a frustrating car break-in and said the

community and police were linked together in the effort to stop crime.