By Rodney Yee (ALERT Member)
On September 25, 2013, our SFPD ALERT graduates were given the rare privilege of a2 hour plus tour of the Special Operation Unit Building located in the heart of the Potrero Hill district in San Francisco. The ALERT members are NERT trained volunteers for the SFPD who have under gone additional training and background screening.
We started the tour with an escorted visit to the DOC Operation Center. Duty Sgt. Padrones explained how they monitor SFPD officers responding to incidents throughout the city. Each incident is assigned a priority of either A, B, or C with A being the most serious. They also have the ability to see the active live reports from the field as dispatch is recording the exchange with the officer in the field. Like the EOC the DOC is staffed 24 hours a day in three shifts. While in the DOC we were also shown the area set aside for ICS (Incident Command Center) and a separate area for ALERT members during an emergency. We learned how both the DOC command center works with the EOC command center and how the DOC command center would pull in other police resources when needed.
As we were about to tour the Tactical area, Officer De Leon explained during a highprofile incident, that two command centers are setup; one for Tactical and one for Operations. The Tactical Command for the field team and the Operation Command is the command staff.
The Tactical area of the building is where the special purpose vehicles are kept. These very state of the art vehicles were funded by U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) program.
Officer Tommy Smith proudly showed us the SFPD Bomb Squad truck with a 4 inch thick walled spherical explosive containment unit that can contain up to 10lbs of high explosive.
Bomb Containment Unit that is very similar to the one used by the SFPD Bomb Squad
Officer Smith calmly pointed that I was leaning against special high tech special barrels of water and explosives used to disable certain kinds of bombs. Naturally, I became very cautious during the rest of the tour.
We had a chance to inspect the very large Bomb Squad Command Center vehicle used to deploy and control the 125lb tracked robot that is used to disarm bombs and
specialized surveillance.
Picture of the SFPD Bomb Squad truck previously taken and posted on the Web.
Parked alongside was everybody’s favorite rescue vehicle, the armored BearCat outfitted with a moveable elevated platform.
Picture of the SFPD BearCat previously taken and posted on the Web.
The tour proceeded with a visit to the gym where the officers work out. It was definitely not your typical commercial gym. It looked more like what you expect in a National Football League gym, with a special push sled on a Astroturf track.
Posted on the gym wall was a typical workout routine that stress endurance and strength training that seem more typical of Navy Seals. We all noted it was a very long work out list with no rest periods. Every 4 months the special unit officers have to requalify the grueling physical test. Many of the special unit officers are former or reserve military and one member recently returned from duty in Afghanistan. The physical training schedule was very impressive along with the equipment. Once piece of equipment that appeared to be completely out of place was several huge 5-6ft diameter monster truck tires, it was explained that was part of the work out equipment.
We were shown a door breaching training area along with several steel door structures with 4 inch oak blocks to simulate door locks. We could also see the results of a burning rod on a metal gate that just melted away the lock mechanism.
Officer Johnson escorted us along to the motocross unit bay and pointed out Officer De Leon SFPD issued Suzuki DRZ400 motocross bike. He described in detail how the motocross unit works in conjunction with the tactical field teams, patrolling city parks and handling crowd control. As part of their rigorous training they have to be able to go up and down stairs! Officer De Leon explained this radio hookup to his helmet.
Officer Noel De Leon of the SFPD Motocross Unit.
On the final leg of the tour, we got to see the much anticipated weapons room. Officer Tommy Smith pulled out his duty rig, an M4 equipped with EoTech Holographic sights, PEQ-15 Laser, and Surefire flashlight. With the rifle magazine removed, he confirmed it was unloaded several times before letting the group examine his M4. It was surprisingly very well balanced and relatively light and nimble. He also showed us his very heavy tactical armor vest consisting of Kevlar and Ceramic inserts that can stop rifle bullets. The vest weighted well over 30 pounds, more like 40 lbs as I struggled to lift it off the table.
Officer Smith answered a multitude of question such as why the SFPD switched over from the Sig MP5 to the Colt M4 carbine, how his special 5.56 ammunition is design to not over penetrate in an urban environment, the merits of the Sig P226 verses the Beretta 92, how flash bang grenades are deployed and so forth.
Tour group photo taken at the Special Operations Unit building.
We were all impressed with Officer Noel De Leon, Tommy Smith, Bart Johnson, and Sgt. Padrones wealth of knowledge and very calm demeanor. At the end of our 2 hour plus tour, we all came away with the sense of their devotion to duty and the professionalism that runs throughout the entire SFPD. What an amazing group of women and men that comprise the SFPD who serve and protect our beloved city of San
Francisco.
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Addendum by Carol Kunkle of the ALERT Advisory Board;
Picture taking was limited due to the sensitive nature of the specialized equipment located at the Special Operations Unit Building.
Our heartfelt thanks to the following SFPD personnel that made the tour possible;
Captain Ann Mannix, Commanding Officer/TAC
Sgt. Padrones, Dept Ops Center (DOC)
Officer Tommy Smith, Bomb Squad
Officer Bart Johnson, Honda Motocross Unit
Officer Noel De Leon, Honda Motocross Unit
Ret. Sgt Mark Hernandez, SFPD ALERT Program Coordinator
The idea of the tour of the Special Operation Unit Building was initiated during a meeting between ALERT member Carol Kunkle and Officer Noel De Leon. The request
for the tour was passed up the chain of command and was given the green light by Captain Ann Mannix. Now how do you beat that for support from the SFPD ALERT program!
Our tour leader. Officer Noel, A BIG Thank You from ALERT grads!