Law enforcement officials get ready for Warriors celebration

Law enforcement officials get ready for Warriors celebration

San Francisco law enforcement has the most recent experience dealing with sports victory celebrations that turn violent.

Following the Giants’ World Series win in 2014, crowds poured into the streets in the Mission District and there were two shootings, graffiti, fires and other vandalism.

In 2012, after the Giants won the championship, rioters lit a Muni bus on fire and danced on taxis.

Officials in San Francisco are adding officers in “celebratory locations,” including the Mission, South of Market, Polk Street and the Marina, said Officer Carlos Manfredi, a police spokesman.

In the East Bay, Nelson said he’s been in ongoing conversations with Oakland law enforcement, lest the police force need mutual aid on Tuesday.

Oakland city officials have canceled days off for all police officers, according to police union President Barry Donelan.

In a press statement issued Monday aftenoon, Interim City Administrator John Flores said the city had geared up for “exuberant” celebrations.

“Based on the experiences of other large cities following sports championship games, we anticipate that there may be large crowds that could lead to the potential for disruption to traffic and pedestrian movement,” the statement read.

Yet city administrators remain tight-lipped about their plans to maintain security, and Mayor Libby Schaaf has not revealed whether her office will apply its stay-on-sidewalks policy to any street revelry.

“I’m actually very excited about the Warriors, but I’m not very excited about how operations have been done within the Police Department,” Donelan said, indicating that rank-and-file officers were also ordered to sacrifice a day off on June 5, for a scheduled antipolice protest that fizzled out quickly.

Oaklandish CEO Angela Tsay said her business had its windows broken on the night in 2013 when George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, but otherwise has been untouched by the riots that sometimes break out in Oakland’s downtown corridor.

Oakland City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney said she chose to postpone the council meeting as a courtesy to residents, so they wouldn’t have to choose between civic engagement and a historic basketball game.

The team, which had already relocated from San Francisco to Oakland, was forced to play at the Cow Palace in Daly City because of an ice skating show scheduled at the arena.

“I think Oakland is ready to turn the corner, not only with a basketball championship, but in terms of people’s behavior,” he said.