San Francisco police officer Andrew Cohen – whose quartet of offensive "comedy" videos about Bayview cops and residents got him and 23 colleagues briefly suspended last month – on Jan. 4 debuted his latest work, Inside the SFPD – The Bayview, which he billed as "a step toward rebuilding the community," although it seems more like a cross between an infomercial and an episode of Cops.

"This will show you what I'm about and what the officers in that comedy video are about," Cohen announced before the screening at Four Star Theatre, far from Bayview, which led to a mostly white audience.

If he's right, then this police force is equal parts self-aggrandizing, self-pitying, and out of touch. Cohen and the cops he interviews cast themselves as "street soldiers" walking a thankless beat in a film shot almost entirely while they were all on the clock. As one cop says, "The average person would not be able to handle this."

Police in the film criticize Bayview residents for not helping solve crimes even as they admit they can't adequately protect witnesses who cooperate. If the SFPD really wants to bridge its divide with communities of color, maybe it should spend the taxpayers' money on people who need it rather than apologias or aspiring filmmakers.

www.courtroomblog.com/SFPD_video www.cbs5.com/video/?id=%209130@kpix.dayport.com www.cbs5.com/video/?id=%209131@kpix.dayport.com

Fall into the income gap

Rob Reiner's latest effort to tax the rich to school the kids – dubbed "Preschool for All" – is expected to be certified for the June ballot any day now. It would bump the top state income tax bracket up a couple of ticks, back to where it was before Republicans and "pro-business Democrats" decided to pauperize state government. And already, San Francisco's multibillionaire Fisher family – who turned sweatshop labor and the business-casual craze into an empire of Gap stores – are leading the charge to save the poor superwealthy. Patriarch Don Fisher has been speaking out while prodigal son John Fisher and some family business partners kicked in $25,000 each to an opposition group called Californians to Stop Higher Taxes. Stay tuned.

www.cal-access.ss.ca.gov/campaign/committees/detail.aspx?id=1273845

Giving us the business

As expected, the San Francisco Small Business Commission on Jan. 9 bristled at Sup. Tom Ammiano's plan to require businesses in the city with at least 20 employees to provide them with health insurance, asking for more detailed fiscal studies and more time to develop an alternative plan. Ammiano accused the business community of using stall tactics and noted that he already has the six votes lined up on the Board of Supervisors to approve the measure later this month – and overwhelming public support if he can't overcome a mayoral veto and has to go to voters. Even commission member Scott Hauge admitted that businesses will have to help solve the growing problem of uninsured San Franciscans, telling us, "There seems to be a sense that, yeah, this is a problem, and the business community has to come up with a solution." His sentiment isn't exactly shared by Chamber of Commerce bigwigs, which are reportedly slipping into jihad mode.

www.sfchamber.com/temp/index_mhc.htm Steven T. Jones steve@sfbg.com