Heather Fong

Infobox police officer
name = Heather J. Fong


caption = Heather Fong (left), with Theresa Sparks (center) and Sgt. Stephan Thorne commemorate the Compton's Cafeteria riot.
born = 1956
died =
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placeofbirth = San Francisco, California
placeofdeath =
nickname =
department = San Francisco Police Department
college= University of San Francisco
service = United States
serviceyears = 1977 - present
rank = Sworn in as a Police Officer - 1977
Commander - August 1998
Deputy Chief - June 2000
Assistant Chief of Police - May 2003
Acting Chief of Police - January 22 2004
Chief of Police - April 14 2004
awards = Infobox Person
name =
birth_date =
birth_place =
death_date =
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education = B.A., University of San Francisco; M.S.W., San Francisco State University
occupation = Chief, San Francisco Police Department
spouse =
parents =
children =

Heather Jeanne Fong (born 1956) is chief of police for San Francisco, California, United States. She is the first woman to lead the San Francisco Police Department, and the first Asian American woman to head a major metropolitan city police force. She is also the second Asian-American police chief in SFPD history, the other being Fred Lau.

Fong became the San Francisco Police Chief after Alex Fagan, Sr. resigned amidst the Fajitagate scandal. She became the permanent police chief in 2004 for the first time since the resignation of Prentice E. Sanders, who was also involved in the Fajitagate scandal.

Education and Career

Fong grew up in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Social Work degree from San Francisco State University. She served as a Police Activities League Cadet and Civil Service Police Cadet prior to entering the Department. She was sworn in as a Police Officer in 1977, and worked through the ranks of inspector, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, commander, deputy chief, assistant chief, acting chief and, now permanent chief. During her career, she has been assigned to patrol, served as an Academy training officer and instructor, child abuse investigator, youth programs coordinator, drug education instructor, grant writer, strategic planner, district station watch commander and commanding officer.

Chief Fong was assigned to the Special Operations Division in August 1998 when she was promoted to commander. While there, she was responsible for the Traffic, Tactical and MUNI Transit companies. In June 2000, upon promotion to deputy chief, she was assigned to the Field Operations Bureau, where she managed the uniformed patrol personnel of the San Francisco Police Department. In August 2002, she was assigned to oversee the Administration Bureau. In May 2003, she was appointed Assistant Chief of Police. Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed her Acting Chief of Police on January 22, 2004 and Chief of Police on April 14, 2004.

As of, June 06th 2008, Chief Fong is under fire for failing to re-certify, for the past 5 years, with her sidearm per San Francisco PD requirements. Chief Fong is quoted to say she is too busy to re-certify. [http://cbs5.com/local/heather.fong.firearms.2.740722.html] She was re-certified a week later. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/11/BABU117L5K.DTL&tsp=1]

Heather Fong has been widely criticized by police officers for being a politically motivated leader rather than a leader drawn from the ranks. This has led to a series of confrontations such as one heard on September 22, 2008 when police Inspectors (and prospective Inspectors) challenged her choice to assign major case investigations to patrol Sergeants rather than trained investigators. Fong has also been criticized for supporting Mayor Gavin Newsom in his conflict with police officer Andrew Cohen and 21 other officers who made a controversial "comedy" videotape for a police Christmas party. This tape was deemed racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Asian by the Mayor but the officers pointed out that they were making fun of themselves and that the tape was meant only for their own private Christmas party. Fong has been criticized for supporting the Mayor in this dispute rather than the men and women under her command.

External links

* [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/02/MNGM26EHUI1.DTL A low-profile chief Heather Fong may serve behind the scenes, but she's tough and reform minded] Biography of Heather Fong. Article. SFGate.com. May 2005.
* [http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=24103 Official San Francisco government biography]