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Letter to Editor on 311 Calls

Dear Sirs:
On page 3 of your Fall 2007 newsletter was an article (author unknown) titled, "Let's 311 them to Death." click here to read the article The article encourages drivers to call 311 every time that they see a limo violation. The article concluded with, " Let's flood the city with these calls. And then maybe, finally, we'll see the kind of action that's needed. It's spelled E-N-F-O-R-C-E-M-E-M-E-N-T."

The Police Taxi Unit, the Taxi Commission and the entire industry understand the problem and the frustration. The article encourages, "the squeaky wheel" approach to draw attention to the problem. The reality is that this approach is counterproductive. The 311 operators route these calls to the Police Taxi Unit. I can assure you that each and every member of the Taxi Unit is aware of the problem. A problem that we dedicate a significant amount of our meager staff resources to. The majority of the limo complaints we receive -- are just that complaints with little that can be done with the information we receive, particularly since we receive it in the morning after the fact.

The Taxi Unit has an enforcement staff consisting of (1) sergeant and (2) officers. However, each 311 complaint that is referred to them has to be addressed. The flood of complaints being received by the Taxi Unit is such that the entire enforcement staff is dedicated to the administrative review and clearing of these complaints -- complaints that typically are not substantive enough for an investigation. Consequently, I have had to instruct the enforcement team to cease any field enforcement during their normal tour of duty in order to address these complaints. In effect this plethora of, primarily frivolous, complaints has achieved the goal to "311 them to death."

The Police Taxi Unit is aware of the magnitude of the problem with illegal solicitation. We are also sympathetic to the impact that it has on the income to those in the industry. The Police Taxi Unit has been working diligently to put selective enforcement teams in the field on weekends and has had productive meetings with the District Attorney's Office to get prosecution for offenses that we can establish the criminal elements thereof. Flooding the Taxi Unit with 311 complaints is only sending a message to the people that are already most sympathetic to problem and further compromises the Taxi Unit's ability to conduct actual field enforcement.

Sincerely,
Thomas P. O'Neill, Captain
Support Services Division - Commanding
San Francisco Police Department