I’m not usually one to thank tech billionaires, but Chris Larsen is an exception. The chairman of Ripple, a San Francisco crypto and blockchain company, Larsen just started and seeded the pro-cop San Francisco Police Community Foundation with $1 million of his own money.
Each of San Francisco’s ten district stations will get $100,000 “and police officers will come up with ways to spend it to promote a better work experience for themselves or to better engage with their communities.” The idea is to “boost cops’ morale,” Larsen explains; a moderate Democrat who calls himself “an avid supporter of criminal justice reform”, Larsen—who is against the Chesa Boudin recall—“believes the pendulum has swung too far in the anti-police direction.” The Foundation has received the enthusiastic support of the San Francisco Police Officers Association as well as of SFPD Chief Bill Scott.
The money might be used for things like new gym equipment for cops, better technology at police stations, food for community events and “donating money to important neighborhood causes on behalf of police.” Larsen says he hopes other San Franciscans will contribute money to the Foundation, to “show support to police officers, many of whom feel the city has turned against them.”
What a great idea. It prompts me to wonder, Why can’t we do something similar in Oakland? In our city, too, officer morale has plunged to historic lows, and the number of cops leaving OPD is almost as great as the number of incoming graduates of Police Academies. Obviously, none of us is a billionaire, but collectively, we could raise a lot of money, and I’m willing to bet OPD or the Oakland Police Officers Association would be happy to figure out positive, legal, good things to do with it.
I am assuming that everyone who reads this blog regularly, and who checks out our Facebook and nextdoor.com pages, is a supporter of the police. It’s great that people recognize the importance of a strong, healthy police force, but supporting them with words is one thing; entirely different is supporting them with deeds. I don’t have any idea how we could organize a movement to raise money for cops, nor have I spoken with any cops about it. But I’d like to know from our readers (a) if you would donate what you can, and (b) how you think the money might be spent. We’ll run this post on Facebook and nextdoor.com, as well as here. Collectively, we have about 750 individuals on all three platforms who will read it.
If we can make this happen, the media—which delights in anti-cop stories and almost never has anything positive to say about cops—will have to cover it. Please give this matter a little thought and let us know what you think!
Steve Heimoff