By Louis Wong, SFPOA President
It is the honor of a lifetime to step into the role of President of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. I am humbled by the trust you have placed in me. I want to begin by thanking Tracy McCray for her dedicated service and leadership, and I wish her the very best in her new role as Commander. I also want to thank Kevin Martin for his candidacy and his continued service as our Vice President. We are a stronger union when we stand together, and I look forward to working with the entire board to serve you.
My focus as your President is simple and clear: fighting for the membership. There is no shortage of challenges ahead, but I am ready to get to work on the priorities you and I have discussed over the last few weeks.
My commitment is to:
Advocate for and make the case for wage increases and a contract that reflects the immense value you bring to this City every single day.
Push to lower the retirement age, to promote officer wellness and provide more opportunities for the younger officers coming up through the ranks.
Fight to improve our working conditions, from boosting recruitment and retention to end the staffing crisis, to making the discipline process fairer for all members, and addressing outdated and unsafe equipment and station conditions.
This is the work ahead of us, and you have my word that I will work tirelessly to ensure your rights are protected and your voices are heard at City Hall, within the Department, and in the community.
To achieve these critical goals, however, we need to be unified. Our greatest strength, especially as we prepare for contract negotiations this fall, is our solidarity. Everything we hope to win—better wages, better benefits, a better retirement—depends on our ability to stand together as one strong, professional, and united front.
That is why I must address something deeply troubling I’ve seen recently, something that threatens the very solidarity we need to succeed: the recent activity on social media targeting our members with vicious, personal, and anonymous attacks.
What may have started as inside humor has crossed a line into malicious and destructive behavior that has no place in our profession or our union. To be clear, attempting to destroy a fellow officer’s reputation, career, and family life is unacceptable. This is not a joke. It’s an act that harms our members and weakens all of us. Before anyone posts, shares, or even “likes” this content, I am asking you to stop and think. Think about the officer on the other end of that post, their family, and the devastating impact it has on a colleague you may have to rely on to back you up on a call tomorrow.
We are San Francisco Police Officers. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. This anonymous behavior is beneath that standard.
If treating your fellow officers with respect does not move you, let me be blunt about the strategic damage this causes all of us. In October, we will be at the negotiating table. How do you think city leaders view this behavior? They will see us as divided and unprofessional. They will use it as ammunition against us. They will use it to argue that we are not worth the contract we deserve.
Make no mistake: this behavior directly threatens our ability to win the contract you have earned. It has to stop now. Do not participate. Do not share it. Do not give it an audience.
We are facing enough attacks from the outside; we cannot afford to destroy ourselves from within. The choice is clear: We can allow anonymous voices to divide us, or we can stand together to fight for our shared priorities.
We are better than this. Let’s prove it. Let’s get to work.
In Solidarity,
Louis Wong
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