By Maria Verissimo

As Capt. Clayton Harmston is in his first year leading the Taraval Station police force, his aim is to return to the fundamentals.

“We need to focus on getting back to the basics, and that is fighting crime,” Harmston said. “We need to get back to actually tackling the problem of crime, both violent crimes and property crimes. Basically, old fashioned police work, and that is centered on community-based policing.”

In July of last year, Harmston was appointed as the new leader of the Taraval Station, the largest police district in San Francisco. His placement followed the departure of Capt. Brian Hoo, who was promoted to commander and transferred to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Airport Bureau.

Harmston has been a part of the SFPD for 25 years. He was awarded with the department’s highest honor, the Gold Medal of Valor and a Purple Heart, after he was shot while arresting an armed driver fleeing parole.

At the Taraval Station, Harmston said he wants to concentrate on lining up with the direction of the SFPD.

“My focus here at the station is pretty basic, and it is aligned with the goals of the department as a whole,” Harmston said. “That is to promote public safety and the feeling of public safety. So, we want citizens and visitors to our City to have that feeling of safety.

“That’s what we’ve been doing since I started with the department in 2000,” Harmston said. “That has always been ingrained in everything that I do. Everything that I was taught as a police officer, is you start with the pillars of policing, and that goes all the way back to Sir Robert Peel.”

Robert Peel (1788-1850), former prime minister of the United Kingdom, is considered to be the father of modern policing, emphasizing public consent and legitimacy, minimal use of force and the idea that, “the police are the public, and the public are the police.”

On the idea of public consent, Harmston said, “We can’t do our job unless we have the consent of the people that grant us the authority to do our job. And in doing that, we have to build and maintain relationships with the people that we serve, because without their cooperation, there is only so much we can do.”

Harmston said that the station mostly deals with property crimes.

“The Taraval district is the biggest police district in the department, and we have our staffing levels lower than other district stations,” Harmston said. “But I think we’ve been really successful in managing our staffing levels.”

As of the latest available SFPD staffing data, released in January 2024, the Taraval Station was understaffed by more than 40 officers. It is recommended that the station have 120 officers.

A large focus of Harmston’s time as captain has been that of protecting commercial corridors and aiming to prevent retail thefts.

“We need to maintain the attention to Stonestown and local businesses in different parts of Taraval,” Harmston said. “I don’t want to see Stonestown go the way of other malls that just can’t make it. It’s a vital economic engine for us in the neighborhood.

“We need to keep our commercial corridors vibrant and thriving because they employ people that live in the district,” he said.

“I have been able to work with the organized retail theft task force that is out of police headquarters to help combat organized retail theft,” Harmston said. “We also put together a blitz operation where we use plain clothes officers and uniformed officers, and we partner with the sheriff’s department and the California Highway Patrol to help us.”

Additionally, Harmston noted the department’s use of technology helps to combat crime.

“We leveraged our technology, our drones and our crime cameras,” he said. “It was a very successful operation. We made a lot of misdemeanor arrests, some felony arrests, and it sent a message that you can’t just walk in and just take whatever you want without any consequences.”

Harmston also said he is focusing on supporting SFPD’s Vision Zero, the City’s road safety policy.

“We need to keep the pressure on enforcement so that we can reduce the number of vehicle pedestrian accidents,” Harmston said. “We are concentrating on the five big violations.”

The Vision Zero’s five big violations are: speeding, violating pedestrian right-of-way in a crosswalk, running red lights, running stop signs and failing to yield while turning.

“I am a big proponent of enforcing the laws,” Harmston said. “However, education is also a component there. We have to educate people. So, I don’t want my officers out citing everybody 100%. I trust in their good judgment and their discretion to advise them.”

Harmston said that violent crime has not been a large issue in the Taraval District.

Certain violent crimes, however, while still on a lower scale compared to other parts of the City, have increased since 2023. There was one homicide in the Taraval District in both 2023 and 2024. In 2025, there were three reported homicides, according to SFPD’s Crime Dashboard. Reports of rape have also increased, from 11 instances in 2024 to 16 in 2025.

Citywide, homicide rates are down 20% in the last year, and rape rates are down by 18.2%.

“Luckily, (in) Taraval traditionally, violent crime hasn’t been a huge issue,” Harmston said. “Of course, there are times when we’ll get a cluster of incidents that are not related in any way, but they just happen within like a two-to-three-month time period. It gives the appearance that there’s a huge problem, and that’s not necessarily the case. It’s just a matter of unfortunate incidents.”

In Harmston’s time with SFPD, he has worked in multiple stations, including Taraval, Southern, Bayview and Airport Bureau. Harmston also worked with investigations at the Northern Station.

These nearly 26 years of service are not without legal disputes.

In 2019, Harmston and around a dozen other white SFPD employees filed a lawsuit against the City, alleging racial discrimination against white officers in the department’s promotion process, according to Mission Local’s reporting.

Harmston had filed a similar lawsuit in 2007, along with 17 other “non-Asian” officers, alleging they suffered a pattern and practice of racial discrimination, as well as other misconduct, under then-Police Chief Heather Fong.

Harmston and the other plaintiffs alleged they were passed over for promotions in favor of lower-scoring African American and female candidates, according to court filings.

The City settled the 2019 lawsuit in March 2023, paying $380,000 to the officers.

In response to the article and the lawsuit, Harmston said, “I am a staunch advocate and defender of the First Amendment. (Regarding) the Mission Local article, I would say that it speaks for itself. I am always available to talk anytime about issues of public safety that impact the community.”

The Taraval Station is located at 2345 24th Ave. Harmston can be reached via email at Clayton.A.Harmston@sfgov.org.