The public probably expects a meeting of the San
Francisco Police Commission to be a pretty standard city department meeting, with agenda items covering issues like budgetary spending. A discussion of the exciting world of reality TV might be a little less expected, but will be happening nonetheless at this week’s meeting.
According to a copy of the Police
Commission agenda for tomorrow night’s meeting, Officer
Darwin Naval will seek approval for accepting housewarming gifts for appearing
on the HGTV reality television show My
First Place, which follows the ups and downs of everyday people trying to
buy their first home.
The gifts, which have an estimated value of
$2,000, consist of a couch, coffee table and rug and were presented to Naval in
April by Sarah Finley of High
Noon Entertainment, the reality TV production company that brings you the likes
of My First Place as well as shows such as Cake
Boss and House
Hunters.
This is coming before the Police Commission
as part of the Approval of Consent calendar because Officer Naval is complying
with Department
General Order 2.01 Rule 27, which says that members cannot accepts gifts or
rewards for their duties without permission from the Police Commission.
“He [Officer Naval] received approval to
appear on the show because the producer wanted to refer to him as a police
officer,” said Police Commission Secretary Lieutenant Joe Reilly. “If this
individual was doing this in his or her private capacity with no connection to
the police department, that would be between them and the producer. But the
fact that he or she is a police officer is playing into this and they’re being
offered a gift…he’s reporting it [to the Police Commission].”
Taping for the episode featuring Naval is
set to begin this month.
