Kin Lee serves as Community Lieutenant at Central Station/Chinatown under the newly-created pilot program in SFPD

SAN FRANCISCO — As part of Interim Police Chief Paul Yep's reorganization of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to enhance public safety, a pilot program has been launched to add one more Lieutenant position to busy police stations for better coordination with communities in the districts, including Central Station covering Chinatown.

The newly-created Lieutenant position at busy police stations is also called "Community Lieutenant" serving as a liaison with the communities in the police districts.

The program was first launched in the beginning of September by Yep at two police stations, Central and Mission stations which also extend over the social and cultural hubs of two largest immigrant communities, Chinese and Hispanic, in San Francisco.

Kin Lee was assigned to serve at the Central Station as its Community Lieutenant and 6th Lieutenant to assist Captain Christopher Del Gandio. Christina Serrano was assigned as Mission Station's Community Lieutenant. Both Lieutenants are bilingual police officers. Kin Lee speaks Cantonese and Serrano speaks Spanish.

In their new capabilities, Kin Lee assists Del Gandio to work with a significant Chinese community in Chinatown which is the oldest Chinatown in the nation and the largest Chinese social and cultural center for the entire Chinese community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Serrano becomes a liaison between the Hispanic community and the Police Department in the Mission District, which is the core neighborhood representing the Hispanic community in the region.

For the past decades, all 10 police stations in San Francisco have been deployed with four Lieutenants in charge of investigation and patrol.

During the 8-year tenure of former Police Chief William Scott who resigned in May this year, he significantly expanded the structure of Command Staff in SFPD with a total of 25 members including 2 Assistant Chiefs, 5 Deputy Chiefs, 9 Commanders and 9 civilian Directors.

In addition to a bigger Command Staff structure, a large number of bilingual officers were assigned to administrative duties under Scott, although the SFPD has been facing the challenges of understaffing with a shortage of 500 police officers for patrolling on streets. Immigrant communities have been demanding more bilingual officers assigned to serve in the field.

Kin Lee was one of those bilingual officers in administrative duties to serve in Scott's Office of the Chief of Police for over 5 years until Scott resigned. Serrano served in the Recruitment Unit for years.

Since Yep became the Interim Chief in June, he has reorganized the leadership structure of SFPD and reduced his Command Staff to 18 members, 5 Deputy Chiefs, 8 Commanders and 5 civilian Directors. Instead Yep transferred more officers out in the field to partner with the communities and provide police services.

Yep announced that his administration consists of the Office of the Chief of Police and five bureaus, Airport, Administration, Field Operations, Investigations, and Special Operations, each of which is overseen by a Deputy Chief. The five bureaus will be overseen by an Assistant Chief position, which is currently vacant.

Seven leadership positions which were created by Scott including Chief of Staff, Assistant Chief of Operations, Commander of Mid-City, Commander of Community Engagement, Director of Strategic Management Bureau, Director of Policy and Public Affairs Unit, and Director of Constitutional Policing, were eliminated by Yep.

The new leadership structure in SFPD focuses on efficiency, accountability, and basic public safety services, including patrol, as the department continues to hire more officers, according to Yep. "The new command framework prioritizes sustaining the department’s 21st-century police reforms and enhances collaboration with city partners."

In Yep's reorganization of the SFPD, his office of the Chief of Police also oversees vital responsibilities like sustaining the department’s reform commitments and government affairs in addition to the traditional police services.

The changes to the command and leadership structure in SFPD was made by Yep after a thorough analysis that focused on maximizing efficiency and ensuring staff have adequate support and resources.

Yep said he created a position of Community Lieutenant at two police stations as part of his plans to make police services more efficient and meet the needs of local communities, especially the districts with large immigrant communities requiring enhanced language and cultural services.

Lieutenant Kin Lee of Central Station grew up in Chinatown

"It is a pilot program," said Yep. "Lieutenant Kin Lee who speaks Chinese was growing up in Chinatown and serves as a community liaison in the Central Station to assist Captain Del Gandio. Lieutenant Christina Serrano who had served in the Recruitment Unit for many years has connected with communities very well. She speaks Spanish and has been reassigned as the Community Lieutenant in the Mission Station."

Yep planned to expand the Community Lieutenant program to Southern and Northern Stations, which cover downtown and City Hall respectively, in the future due to both police districts traditionally being the venues for public events, celebrations, protests and parades.

"All Station Captains' responsibility includes attending many community meetings and events in their districts," Yep said his idea of creating the Community Lieutenant was also to reduce the workload of Station Captains and to provide them with resources. As a result, the SFPD would establish better relationships with local communities.

While most of the 10 police stations are staffed with four Lieutenants, five lieutenants have served at the Central Station prior to Lee joining as a Community Lieutenant. The 5th Lieutenant position was added to Central Station in recent years to oversee the crime and patrol in Union Square.

Central Station Captain Del Gandio was glad to see Lee joining the station to work with local communities, in particular Lee grew up in Chinatown and speaks the language.

Del Gandio, who began serving as the commanding officer at Central Station on July 19, said he looked forward to attending events in Chinatown alongside Lee and welcomed community members to get connected with them.

Kin Lee was born in San Francisco General Hospital and lived in Tenderloin in his childhood. His family later moved to the Richmond District where he grew up.

In fact, Kin Lee spent a lot of time in Chinatown growing as a child to a young adult. His father and two brothers co-owned a BBQ restaurant on Stockton Street in Chinatown for decades.

Among three children, Kin Lee was the one who liked most hanging out and helping out his father and uncles in the BBQ restaurant after school everyday. He also served as a translator for them if they needed to speak to anyone in English.

Kin Lee went to San Francisco State University for college with a business major. But he already made up his mind to pursue his career at the SFPD before he graduated from college. He submitted his job application during his senior year and successfully joined the SFPD on January 7, 2007.

"I am home!" said Kin Lee who was so excited to see his new assignment to be transferred to Central Station. It is also the first time ever for Kin Lee to serve at Central Station since he became a police officer in SFPD in 2007.

Kin Lee speaks very native and fluent Chinese language. "I always like to help others beyond my father and uncles in their BBQ restaurant," said Kin Lee who was very impressed with police officers coming by their restaurant and helping them when he was growing up in Chinatown.

Kin Lee looked forward to many future participation in community events and conversations with community members in Chinese language about public safety.

Lieutenant Kirk Yin of Richmond Station was born and raised in Richmond District

Yep also transferred Mandarin-speaking Lieutenant Kirk Yin to serve in Richmond Police Station working with Cantonese-speaking Captain Kevin Lee. Kevin Lee was newly-promoted to the rank of Captain in July and started serving at Richmond Station as its commanding officer.

Kevin Lee is the first Chinese American immigrant serving as a Station Captain in the history of SFPD. He immigrated to San Francisco from a rural village in Guangdong Province, China, near the City of Guangzhou at age 7. He grew up in Chinatown and North Beach neighborhoods.

"The Richmond District is home to one of the largest Chinese communities in San Francisco, and we recognize the importance of building trust and understanding through language and culture. It is always an asset to have bilingual officers who can communicate effectively with residents and who understand the cultural values of our community," said Kevin Lee who thanked Yep for his support to the Chinese community in need of police services.

"Having Lieutenant Kirk Yin, who is bilingual in Mandarin, working alongside me is definitely a plus for the District," Kevin Lee said. "With my ability to speak Cantonese, together we are able to ensure that both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers in the Richmond District feel heard, respected, and supported."

"This represents our ongoing commitment to strengthening relationships with the community, improving accessibility, and delivering the highest standard of service to all who live, visit, and work here," Kevin Lee added.

The latest transfer was also a joyful homecoming for Yin who joined the SFPD in September 2000.

Yin was born and raised in the Richmond District where his parents, who are immigrants from Taiwan, owned a restaurant. Very similar to Kin Lee, Yin grew up in his parents' restaurant in the Richmond District on a daily basis and speaks the language, Mandarin, fluently. However, Yin had never served as a police officer at the Richmond Station in his 25-year career at the SFPD.

Yin is one of the longest serving Lieutenants in the SFPD. During Scott's administration, Yin was assigned to the Airport Bureau as a Lieutenant for 5 years and the Administrative Services Bureau - Technology Division in the SFPD's headquarters for 2 years immediately prior to his current assignment at the Richmond Station.

Yin's Mandarin bilingual skill has been underutilized in SFPD to serve the Chinese community during his 13-year Lieutenant job assignments, while San Francisco has the highest per capita share of any major U.S. City for its Chinese population, estimated at around 21.4% as of 2022. The U.S. Census Bureau data released in 2023 indicated that 43.9% residents in San Francisco spoke a language other than English at home.

As a Lieutenant, Yin was a leader of the SFPD's Hostage Negotiation Team for 7 years and Airport Incident Response Team for 3 years. He had served at five police stations, Ingleside, Bayview, Mission, Taraval and Central.

Yin was a graduate of Lowell High School and University of California at Berkeley. "I have always wanted to be a police officer. I remember how noble the uniform was and how kind the Officers were at my parent's restaurant. They would leave their meals unfinished and run out for emergencies to help strangers," said Yin.

"I also wanted to help those in need. And because I speak Chinese, I felt I could be of extra service in understanding and interacting with the Chinese community," Yin added.

It was the first time for Yin to serve at Richmond station where he was growing up. "This is a dream homecoming for me," Yin said with great enthusiasm.

"I am a bilingual Chinese American; son of Chinese immigrants and was born and raised in the Richmond District. I still live in this District as do many of my relatives and friends. I attended public school in Richmond while my parents were merchants. I know what it's like to live, study, work, and raise a family in this District," Yin continued.

"I have a unique insight as a resident of this District and I pledge to work tirelessly to collaborate with the community and city agencies to make this a safe and vibrant neighborhood for us all to enjoy and prosper."

"Thank you very much for this opportunity to be your neighbor and safety partner," said Yin.

Community leaders applaud

Robert Chiang, Chinatown leader at both the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) and Chinese Chamber of commerce, applauded the outstanding and skillful leadership of Yep to let all communities benefit from police services including two largest immigrant communities, Chinese and Hispanic, in the city.

"The newly-created Community Lieutenant program also represents a very significant police service created by Chief Yep from his thoughtful and inclusive planning based on his extensive experience in the police department," said Chiang. "Both the communities and police officers will benefit from this program that makes the police department more efficiently serve the communities. I was very impressed."

Pius Lee, former Police Commissioner and founder of the Chinatown Neighborhood Association, praised Yep's commitments to serving the immigrant communities with better coordination and communication.

"Although Paul [Yep] has served as the interim Police Chief for only a little over three months, he has already demonstrated his well-qualified leadership as a Police Chief for entire residents of San Francisco. We like to see him continue leading the Police Department," Plus Lee said.