By Lorraine Meier

The Taraval Police Station covers the most populous district and has and largest geographic area in San Francisco. Currently there are 56 officers assigned to patrol, 12 sergeants and four lieutenants. According to a 2023 SFPD staffing analysis, it is recommended that they have 120 officers.

When former District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio was elected, in response to concerns about safety, he worked with the mayor’s office to secure funding for retired officers to walk the beat on commercial corridors. Then, he pushed to create a public safety liaison who could assist victims of crimes, both residents and business owners and free up the limited number of officers to focus on solving crime.

Enter Vindy Chan. She was hired in February 2024 and is the public safety liaison for District 4. She is part of the San Francisco Police Department’s community engagement division.

“It was important that the public safety liaison be a civilian and be fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin to ensure she could be the most approachable to everyone and be able to communicate with the most residents possible,” Engardio stated. “A key component of the position was crime prevention and education.”

“(Chan) works closely with the D-4 supervisor in addition to collaboration with SFPD community engagement division with tasks,” said Capt. Clayton Harmston, commanding officer at the Taraval Station. “(Chan) also works with D-11 on their district drive, looking for issues to report to 311.”

Harmston continued, “When a complaint is received by 311 regarding quality-of-life issues, it is routed to the specific agency that is responsible for that particular issue. An example happened recently on Irving Street. A merchant contacted 311 for an abandoned refrigerator and waited to no avail. The merchant contacted Chan when there was no response. She contacted a liaison at the Department of Public Works and was able to quickly resolve the issue for the merchant. This issue was brought to Chan’s attention because the abandoned property was creating a public safety issue.”

Chan is one of three public safety liaisons throughout the City. The other two are in Districts 8 and 11.

A key component of the position is crime prevention and education.

“We hosted a series of scam prevention workshops when we learned that an epidemic of scams plagued the Sunset,” Engardio said.

“There were more than 450 cases of computer and phone scams, investment scams, blessing scams and identity thefts reported to Taraval Police Station in 2024 which totaled more than $7 million in losses for Sunset and western neighborhood residents of all ages,” Engardio added.

The workshops were popular with attendees. Many reported that they avoided a scam in progress when they realized someone was targeting them based on what they learned in the workshop.

Sideshows disrupted residents at 42nd Avenue and Lawton Street in May. The events caused damage and instilled fear in the surrounding residents. The City responded to Engardio’s request and installed four rubberized speed bumps, to mark the intersection, designed to interfere with stunt driving.

Not long after they were installed, Chan walked the neighborhood knocking on doors, introducing herself while handing out business cards, and alerting residents that action was taken to stop the deadly sideshows and if they had concerns to contact her office.

“Chan conducts merchant walks and utilizes WeChat to maintain contact with the local community. She also attends the Taraval community meetings and events and conducts presentations on fraud scams,” Harmston said. “Additionally she reviews police reports to help her identify areas of concern.”

The position began through a “backlog of funds,” Engardio said. “I was able to fund Chan’s first year with a backlog of community benefit funds that were not paid by the Outside Lands concerts. Each year, they are supposed to offer community benefit funds to District 4, but when I came into office I learned the funds had not been dispersed for several years.

“Because public safety was the top concern of residents, it made sense to use the one-time backlog of community benefit funds to hire a public safety liaison who could provide a great community benefit to everyone,” Engardio added.

For Chan’s second year, the position became baselined into the police department budget.

Chan was unavailable for comment on this story.