The salaries of the full-time police officers assigned to protect Mayor Gavin Newsom — from the Haight to City Hall, from Hawaii to Rhode Island — is somewhere between $1 and $72.9 million, the SF Appeal has learned.
Why the range? The hand-picked cops who act as Newsom’s bodyguard are part of the SFPD’s Investigations Detail, according to a police spokesperson. A quick look at the Department’s budget breakdown reveals Investigation’s budget to be $72.9 million (up 9 percent, or $6.2 million, from last years tally of $66.7 million).
Also part of the Investigations Bureau: the homicide detail, the burglary detail, the arson unit.
The financial impact of guarding Newsom’s body was a sticking point for Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi when the police department’s budget was scrutinized in committee hearings two weeks ago. Mirkarimi asked Chief Heather Fong and Fong’s second-in-command, Deputy Chief Kevin Cashman, to provide details in public. The two top cops promised to return to the committee, but then a backroom budget deal was brokered and there was never a second appearance.
Newsom some time ago derided Mirkarimi’s efforts to reveal to the public how much the city pays to protect its chief executive; Mirkarimi on Tuesday stood firm.
“If Sacramento can be transparent… if the Secret Service can be transparent, why not [San Francisco]?” he asked.
