The State : Police Guard Street Crews

For the first time in San Francisco history, street sweepers who work areas inhabited by encampments of homeless people are being accompanied by police. “You’ve got to think, what’s this city coming to when you’ve got to come down and guard the street sweepers,” said San Francisco police Officer Dennis Quinn. The sweepers asked for police escorts after several city public works employees were attacked, one with a metal chair while she was sweeping near City Hall and another by a knife when he came to the aid of a co-worker who had been pushed down a flight of stairs. “If the cops aren’t here, we don’t work,” said Ernie Easterday, a Department of Public Works supervisor.