That Huge, Bulky SFPD Cop Bus Is No Longer Sitting at 16th and Mission Streets

"After six and a half months of sitting there and trying to look intimidating, the SFPD's giant, RV-style mobile command unit has been removed from the corner of 16th and Mission streets as the SFPD shifts gears on cleaning up that corner. It has been since March 12, some two months into the Daniel Lurie administration, that Lurie and the SFPD decided to place a gigantic RV-looking police vehicle called the mobile command unit at 16th and Mission streets."

"It was meant as some sort of visual deterrent to the illegal vending, drug use, and myriad forms of blight that had come to characterize the corner, though many argued that the Sixth Street crackdown had moved much of that blight there. And plenty of residents in the area argue the visible police presence just moved the illegal activity a block or two away."

The SFPD placed a giant RV-style mobile command unit at 16th and Mission on March 12 as a visual deterrent to illegal vending, drug use, and other blight. The vehicle remained on the plaza for six and a half months as a constant, visible police presence. Many residents and observers said the visible presence displaced illegal activity rather than eliminating it, moving problems a block or two away, and that a prior crackdown on Sixth Street had funneled activity to the corner. The unit was removed last Friday as the SFPD cited budget constraints and a decision to reallocate officers to alleyways and school fronts.

Read at sfist.com