This is so screwed cannot believe it. Why the people of SF are no RIOTING RIGHT NOW over this I have no idea.

Because they are actually obeying the law and being good citizens

than a lawman getting a way with breaking the law. That has to be the principle being demonstrated here, as wrong as it is. This stinks on a bunch of levels.

but of course there isn't anything political about this whole thing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1040528

As San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi heads to court today to end to his legal troubles, he's facing another potential challenge. For the past week, Mayor Ed Lee has been in consultation with City Attorney Dennis Herrera on what would be needed to make the case that Mirkarimi should be removed from office....

Lee had been prepared to suspend Mirkarimi on the spot if the sheriff had been found guilty of domestic violence for a New Year's Eve incident involving his wife, and thus been barred from carrying a gun.

Ed Lee doesn't like that kind of hardball. And even if he did, it requires a 2/3 vote of the Board of Supervisors.

The bruise was there for all to see. Now, it may not have been the most severe incident, but he and his wife made it worse for themselves by jumping in front of the camera and screaming "conspiracy". By the way, am I the only one who thinks False Imprisonment sounds worse for a Sheriff than anything else he was charged with?

No-one with a domestic violence charge could hold a law enforcement job.

I mean, if she was hospitalized, that would be one thing. I certainly don't want to minimize DV, because it is so much more than physical abuse. But the amount of public attention this case it getting is both good and bad for cases of Domestic Violence. Good because this might have been a small incident that could have led to more physical violence and now the perp is being watch. Good because it show that the DA is taking DV cases so seriously. Bad because it is going make people think that such a small thing is getting blown out of proportion. Bad because it is taking valuable resources away from more violent cases of DV. The thing is that, again, the focus is on the physical violence that took place, not the whole picture of what DV is. Considering that that the wife is an immigrant also means that there are issues of residency and citizenship. She may be a citizen now, but it may have been held over her head through out the marriage. I really hope that she consults with a lawyer about these issues. Though she is in a position of prominence, there still remains a lot ignorance about issues of DV and immigration law.

I find that the expectation of perfection from people in positions of power to be inhumane because the truth is that we are all flawed beings. There is an expectation that if you mess up once your are ruined. There is no ability to learn from our mistakes. It is possible that Mirkarimi can learn from this and apply what he has learned to his job. We just don't believe it of people. Ever. It might be good for a person in power to know what it feels like to incarcerated and have to eat the food that prisoners eat. While I understand that being incarcerated is a punishment, I have to wonder where our inhumanity and humanity begin and end. When does a person cease to be a human being? When does a person forfeit their human rights? These are all profound questions that I would hope someone, such as a sheriff, would be concerned with. The "Throw them to the wolves" mentality is fine, until it is you that is mistakenly arrested. Because being arrested is not being charged as guilty. It is merely the suspicion of wrong doing or criminal activity. I think it would be wonderful for a person in power to understand that from first hand experience.

They sum to whatever is less liability for the department.

So, if you factor that in with the fact that the machine wants Ross gone yesterday, you get this mess. It has little or nothing to do with actual DV.