Capt. Sandra Tong: Police Beat

The Men and Women of the Richmond Station
The following are examples of the high-caliber work our officers perform daily.

Officer Kevin Lee took an assignment to handle a driveway tow while his partner was preparing an unrelated report. While waiting for the tow truck, he conducted a "passing call" at Rossi Playground, where there have been problems of late. He came into contact with a man in the park and engaged him in a conversation, knowing something was not right.

He noticed a lady's blazer abandoned right next to the man and an abandoned bra nearby. During his query of the man, Lee determined the man was an unregistered sex offender. He quickly detained the man in handcuffs pending further investigation.

"I don't have to register, never, ever," the man told Lee.

He showed Lee some kind of court document showing a court release. Knowing that this did not sound right, Lee contacted his field officer for approval to transport the man back to the station for further questioning. At Richmond Station Lee contacted the on-call inspector at the police department's Sexual Offender Unit.

The inspector said the suspect should never have been released. He was taken into custody and removed from public contact.

Narcotics Arrest
Having worked their sector car for six years, officers Alvaro Schor and Charles Tanaka developed a knack for sensing when something is amiss.

The officers spotted a car they did not recognize in a public housing area that did not have a front license plate and waited for it to leave the lot. When the car exited the lot, the officers noticed the car did not have a rear plate either. The officers also recognized the front passenger to be someone with an active search condition.

They conducted a traffic stop with valid probable cause, verified the search condition was active and had the two occupants exit the vehicle. The passenger was discovered to have two "eight balls" of suspected crack cocaine on the floorboard and a baggie of suspected marijuana in the glovebox.

The two suspects were transported back to the Richmond Station pending further investigation. Thanks to the officers sense of duty, a significant amount of contraband was removed from the streets of the district.

Capt. Sandra Tong is the commanding officer at the Richmond Police Station.