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presence in the city's neighborhoods" and "encouraged [police
officers] to engage in responsible, creative ways to make the
community safer and more attractive."
After attending a course on the Patrol Program at the police
academy, petitioner purchased a ventriloquist dummy/puppet.
Petitioner named the puppet Officer Brendan O'Smarty
(Officer O'Smarty) and outfitted him in a San Francisco
Police Department uniform complete with badge2 and water pistol.
Petitioner began to patrol his beat with Officer O'Smarty in
1991.
Petitioner patrolled the North Beach District of San
Francisco, an area with a multicultural mix of people speaking
several different languages. Petitioner felt that a
ventriloquist puppet such as Officer O'Smarty helped petitioner
improve his working relationship with residents of North Beach by
making petitioner more approachable and less forbidding.
Though petitioner's supervisors at the police department
initially permitted petitioner and Officer O'Smarty to patrol
together "for a year or so", they later ordered petitioner to
stop taking Officer O'Smarty on patrol. Petitioner met with
police officials in an attempt to get the order rescinded but was
only partially successful. The Chief of Police of the San
Francisco Police Department modified the order, but petitioner
2 Petitioner issued Officer O'Smarty badge No. �.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011