San Francisco Police Officers

Editor's Note: One of the authors ia a former servicemember.

October 26, 2007 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists nearly 800 state and local police officers who have written books. The Website added three San Francisco Police Department police officers.

Sergeant Peter Thoshinsky graduated from San Jose State University in 1982 with a degree in Criminal Justice. In June of 1982, he joined the San Francisco Police Department. He was promoted to sergeant in 1990. He worked the Poterero, Central, Southern and Ingleside Stations as well as the Narcotics Bureau. A 20 year veteran of law enforcement he also served as a member and supervisor on the San Francisco Police Department’s SWAT team. A photograph for almost 30 years, he is the author of Blue in Black & White, a collection of photographs relating to law enforcement.

Inspector Mark Hawthorne is a 28 year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department. He has been assigned patrol, field operations and investigations. His current assignment is Crime Scene Investigations. As a POST instructor he specializes in Instructor Development, Preliminary Investigations and Crime Scenes. As a an adjunct faculty member of the City College of San Francisco Administration of Justice and Fire Science Department he acts as an advisor to the Forensic Science Club. Inspector Mark Hawthorne is the author of First Unit Responder: A Guide for Physical Evidence Collection for Patrol Officers and Fingerprints: Analysis and Understanding.

According to the book description of First Unit Responder: A Guide for Physical Evidence Collection for Patrol Officers, “Physical evidence cannot be wrong; it cannot perjure itself; it cannot be wholly absent. Only its interpretation can err. Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value." -Presiding Judge, Harris v U.S., 331 U.S. 145 (1947) HOW TO MAINTAIN THE INTEGRITY OF THE CRIME SCENE WHILE CONDUCTING AN INVESTIGATION. First Unit Responder: A Guide to Physical Evidence Collection for Patrol Officers is a training guide and reference for patrol officers and criminal investigators, who conduct preliminary investigations of crime scene, to aid in identification, collection, and booking of physical evidence. Written by a veteran of 24 years of law enforcement, the book stresses the importance of understanding the critical nature of physical evidence and preservation of the crime scene as part of the case against a criminal defendant. This book is an important tool for police academies that train recruits and veteran patrol officers, as well as for students of criminal justice who seek guidelines for proper collection and handling of physical evidence”

According to Corporal Andreas K. Mendel, NCO in Charge, Forensic Identification Section, West Vancouver Police, in Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal, “Mark Hawthorne's easy writing style and use of personal anecdotes make this book a relaxed read. First Unit Responder is a good resource for recruit training or criminal justice/criminology students, or as review material for seasoned investigators.”

Prentice E. Sanders was the Chief of Police of the San Francisco Police Department for fourteen months in 2002 and 2003. He was born in Texas and moved to San Francisco's Laurel Heights at the age of fourteen. After serving in the Army, he then received Bachelor's and Masters Degrees from Golden Gate University. Prentice Earl Sanders joined the San Francisco Police Department in 1964, becoming the San Francisco Police Department's first African American chief of police. In 2006, Prentice Earl Sanders and co- authored The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights.

According to Publisher’s Weekly, The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights is a “look at a largely forgotten reign of terror in San Francisco in 1973 and 1974 is an interesting if superficial true police procedural. Sanders, the SFPD's first African-American chief of police, was one of the lead detectives on the case code-named the Zebra Murders, involving a group of African-American men who, apparently racially motivated, were targeting whites in vicious random acts of violence that claimed 15 lives. The book reads less like an objective assessment of these events than a memoir of Sanders's experiences with the investigation and his role in a civil lawsuit against the SFPD to combat rampant racial discrimination. Oddly, about halfway in, the authors break the linear narrative with information derived only at the case's end, rather than lay out the police work and discoveries as they happened. The efforts to compare the police tactics with post-9/11 targeting of Muslims will strike most readers as labored despite Sanders's insistence that the killings were acts of political terror, not mere serial killings. Nonetheless, this serves as a useful introduction to the case.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 786 police officers (representing 352 police departments) and their 1674 law enforcement books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Mullen Pledges Best Effort 'To Prevent Forces From Breaking'

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 26, 2007 - U.S. ground forces are not broken, but they are capable of breaking, the military's highest-ranking officer said last night, while vowing to make relieving strains on troops a top priority. In his first public speech as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen said he aims to "reset, reconstitute, and revitalize our forces," by overseeing a reduction of deployment length, an increase in the overall force size and improvements to incentives the military offers potential recruits.

"Are the ground forces broken? Absolutely not," Mullen told the audience at the Center for a New American Security here. "Are they breakable? They are. And I will do everything I can to prevent them from breaking."

Now approaching the sixth year of war, the Army and Marine Corps have been stretched, Mullen said. The Army is on a 15 month-deployment, 12 months-home rotation cycle, and the Marines are on a seven month-deployment, seven months-home cycle.

"Many of them have done two, three, and four deployments," he added, "and that's tough."

The chairman praised Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for his decision in January to limit deployments to 15 months in theater with 12 months home. He added that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., Army chief of staff, said he needs to move soldiers toward 12 month deployments and 15 months of "dwell time" as rapidly as possible.

Operational requirements are driving the need for such lengthy deployments, Mullen said. "We are still very much in the mission-accomplishment mode," he said. "We have a mission to accomplish, and we have to take all of this into consideration in balancing the risks that are associated with the mission as well as with the force."

Mullen spent two days this week meeting with soldiers at Fort Riley, Kan.; Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; and Fort Sill, Okla. "A common theme during my visits was that the Army was stretched," he said. "Our troops' desires to take care of their families was also prominent in the questions they raised routinely."

During recent trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, Mullen said, he was struck by the high morale of soldiers on the ground. "(Morale) is good, but they are tired, and in particular, one of the groups I spoke with had been there 14 months," he recalled. "They were ready to come home, and their families were ready to have them come home."

Mullen said that while troops and their families make sacrifices to support the pace of operations, their resilience has limits.

To alleviate troop strains, Mullen said, the Army will increase in size by more than 60,000 soldiers, and the Marine Corps by nearly 30,000 Marines. Such additions will allow the U.S. military to "preserve our ability to respond to other crises and contingencies around the world well into the future," he added.

"I know the increase in end strength won't relieve the pressure on our ground forces right away, but over time, it will certainly help," he said. "And in this era of persistent engagement and conflict, I don't see our global responsibilities diminishing any time soon."

During a recent meeting with some 30 Army majors at Fort Leavenworth, one officer asked Mullen how the U.S. military would compete against employers in the private sector or elsewhere.

"I gave an answer about how important it was, one, for the leadership to recognize we are in a competition," he said. "And we do need to incentivize this."

Mullen acknowledged that the current landscape for recruiting is harsh. Nevertheless, he said, the all-volunteer force is exceptionally capable.

"I know we are recruiting at a time that is a very, very tough time to recruit. The propensity to serve is going down," he said. "The influencers -- parents and coaches and teachers -- are not as inclined to recommend the military, and yet, when I go out and see them, they are the best military, the most professional, capable group of young people that I have ever served with in almost 40 years.

"What we have over anybody else is a noble calling where you, when you join, make a difference not just for yourself, but for those around you and for people throughout the world," he added.

Defense Personnel Continue Assault on California Blazes

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 26, 2007 - Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard C-130s fitted with modular air firefighting systems hit the California wildfires hard yesterday, flying 18 sorties, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. The six aircraft took advantage of dying Santa Ana winds to drop fire retardant and allow California firefighters to make progress against the widespread blazes that destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and forced hundreds of thousands of Californians to evacuate their homes.

The aviation assault on the fires was only one part of the total Defense Department effort in aid of California firefighters.

There are now 13 active fires in southern California, U.S. Northern Command officials said. NORTHCOM is the Defense Department's lead agency in the effort.

More than 461,000 acres have burned so far. At the Marines' Camp Pendleton, more than 17,000 acres have burned, but officials say the fire is now 40 to 50 percent contained, Whitman said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the Defense Logistics Agency to deliver more than 42,000 field-ration meals from the depot in San Joaquin, Calif.

"On the personnel side, we have 287 active duty, 84 Defense civilians and 2,562 National Guardsmen fighting the fires," Whitman said. This leaves 17,000 California Guardsmen still available for duty if needed.

"We still have a Marine force of approximately 520 (Marines) and 18 helicopters available if needed," Whitman said. A total of 35 helicopters and 14 fixed-wing aircraft are committed to the firefighting operations.

The Air Force is providing imagery for firefighters. Yesterday, a U-2 reconnaissance plane and a Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle flew over the affected portions of the state and sent imagery to the ground.

"The aircraft have live-feed capability, and (the imagery) is being centralized for dissemination," Whitman said. Officials at NORTHCOM, the National Guard Bureau, the Joint Field Office, the state Emergency Operations Center and the Joint Task Force in California can directly download the information.

The imagery gives state authorities "situational awareness so they can prioritize where they send their firefighting assets," Whitman said.

The U-2 and Global Hawk will fly more missions today and will be joined by a Navy P-3C Orion. Eighteen Defense Department fire engines and 84 personnel are involved in battling the blazes, NORTHCOM officials said.

San Diego officials announced that most evacuees may go home today and that Qualcomm Stadium will close as an evacuation center. The stadium has been home to more than 12,000 fire refugees for the past few days. More than 2,600 Defense Department evacuees are taking shelter at five Navy bases: San Diego, Coronado, Point Lomo, North Island and El Centro.

Some military assets that California had requested, including a mobile aeromedical staging activity, are not needed, and can stand down, officials said. But other military groups continue to flow into California. This includes the Joint Task Force Civil Support Joint Planning Augmentation Cell, which will deploy to the headquarters in Sacramento.

The California National Guard is preparing to provide relief for law enforcement, linguistics support, shelter administration, and redistribution of commodities and personnel, officials said.

Chairman Identifies 'Tough Questions' Facing U.S.

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 26, 2007 - In his first public speech as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen last night identified pressing questions the United States faces as it attempts to counter emerging threats while maintaining a position of leadership. Speaking to an audience at the Center for a New American Security here, Mullen said the United States today is confronted by threats from transnational terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The country also must preserve the "freedom of action" to contend with regional instability, deter aggressive action by potentially hostile state actors, help manage the growing competition for natural resources, and mitigate the effects of natural disasters and pandemics, he said.

The nation will need to maintain a posture that takes advantage of all the opportunities for international cooperation and progress the globalized world has to offer, he added.

"So tonight, I invite you to consider some tough questions and help your military help me rigorously analyze the major strategic challenges we face as we develop a dynamic military strategy of cooperation for the 21st century," Mullen said. The questions the chairman posed are:

-- How can a violent extremist movement that increasingly targets the integrated nature of the largely globalized world be effectively eliminated in both the short and the long term?

-- How can the development of weapons of mass destruction by or the transfer of associated technologies to aggressive regimes and radical extremists like al Qaeda be prevented?

-- How can regional instability stemming from accelerating global integration, intense nationalist and religious movements, and the spread of technology throughout the world be mitigated and localized?

-- How can the United States military remain sufficiently capable to deter aggressive actions by nations like Iran, North Korea, and others who seek to expand their military capability?

-- How can countries like China and Russia be effectively engaged to ensure that their growing regional influence translates to cooperative participation in the global economic system?

-- How will global industrialization, world population expansion, and migration affect the consumption rates, the distribution, and the long term availability of vital resources such as water and energy?

-- How will competition for those resources affect global stability, and what role will the military play in managing these risks?

-- How can the local, regional, and potentially global effects of another tsunami like the one that hit in the Indian Ocean Basin almost three years ago or another earthquake like the one that devastated parts of Pakistan in 2005 or another Hurricane Katrina or even the California wildfires that dominate the news today be mitigated?

-- What impact will a massive natural disaster or a global pandemic have throughout the world, and how can militaries work together to alleviate the shock to the global system?

-- How can we do all that is required of us and still remain good stewards of our nation's resources?

Mullen described such queries as "tough questions with no easy answers." He encouraged Americans to consider the questions and use them to stimulate debate.

"I am eager to engage your diverse intellectual resources and thoughtful debate," he said, "and welcome your contributions in identifying potential answers to these and other critical questions."

COMANCHE - 1ST ARMY / 7TH CAVALRY

Comanche was tough, fearless, handsome and hardcore - as well as the most famous survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In truth ... Comanche was not the only horse that survived ... Accounts from warriors at the Little Bighorn say some 7th Cavalry horses also survived and were taken by tribal warriors after the battle. Comanche, was badly wounded and had been left at the battlefield, giving rise to the "Lone Survivor" myth.

The most celebrated survivor of the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn was a small bay horse with a very big military service record. Comanche, 925 Lbs. And a 15 hands tall gelding of Mustang and Morgan breeding, ran with a wild horse band that was rounded up and sold to the U.S. Cavalry in Saint Louis in April 1868.

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