San Rafael Police Chief: Homelessness is Our Number One Priority

San Rafael’s Police Chief Diana Bishop and other members of the San Rafael Police Department hosted an informal “Coffee with the Chief” session on Wednesday morning at Odalisque Café in downtown San Rafael.

The event, from 8:30 to 10 a.m., provided an opportunity for community members to meet the chief, ask questions, offer tips and share information.

We took advantage of the opportunity to catch up with Chief Bishop and find out about San Rafael Police Department’s current top priorities. See Bishop talk about her number one focus — homelessness and quality of life issues downtown — in the above video.

In the brief video, Bishop mentions the Downtown Streets Team, a program the San Rafael City Council approved earlier this year. The program, in which a group of roughly 12 homeless people work to clean up downtown in exchange for food or housing vouchers, just began its implementation downtown — have you seen the Downtown Streets Team group yet? 

Bishop said at the casual “Coffee with the Chief” meet and greet people were being supportive and friendly — she didn’t run into anyone with major issues to talk about.

Also:

• San Rafael to Put the Homeless to Work
• Police Use Tray Liners at Free Dining Room to Get Message Out to Transients
• Op-Ed: Quality of Life Problems in Downtown San Rafael
•  San Rafael Biz Owners: No Tolerance for Unruly Street Behavior
•  San Rafael Priorities: Less Homelessness and a Sales Tax Extension
• “Homeless Bill of Rights” Should be Adopted by State, Fairfax Council Says