# The Badge — SF police confront gangs by setting up drug 'buy-busts'



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By John Koopman

SAN FRANCISCO - It's early evening, and dark. A San Francisco police officer, dressed like a street person, walks into Hallidie Plaza looking to score some weed. Another undercover cop shadows the first one, and delivers a play-by-play description into a microphone hidden in his lapel.









Sgt. Mike Browne (with clipboard) and other members of the Gang Task Force arrest a suspect."

OK, they're talking, they're talking," the voice crackles over the radio in an unmarked police car idling nearby. "They're moving to the side. OK, he's showing product. Got it. Deal is done."
The undercover cops keep walking, as four teams of cops swoop in to make the arrest.
"He's running," an officer says calmly over the radio. "West on Market."
Inspector Kevin Labanowski drives down Cyril Magnin and tries to make a quick right on Market. He threads the unmarked car through three people in the crosswalk in what would be an illegal maneuver if done by a civilian.
"What the f- are you doing, -hole?" a man yells at the officer, who waves and says, "Sorry about that."
Half a block away, members of the SFPD Gang Task Force have a man on his knees in front of an office building. The cuffs are on. One cop takes cash from the man's pocket and finds a mark that had been placed on it before the operation.
It's still early in the evening. The bust goes down on the edge of a prime tourist area. Dozens of people pass by.
"Welcome to San Francisco," one officer says to no one in particular.

Full Article:http://www.policeone.com/media-relations/articles/1357355/


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