The organization Byard heads long predates Mello-Roos. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Patrol_Special_Police https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_F

The organization Byard heads long predates Mello-Roos. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Patrol_Special_Police https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Patrol_Special_P..., https://sfpatrolspecpolice.com/contact.html https://sfpatrolspecpolice.com/contact.html (lists Byard as President), and https://sfpatrolspecpolice.com/history.html https://sfpatrolspecpolice.com/history.html And AFAIU Mello-Roos isn't implicated at all; patrols are funded through private contracts with homeowners and neighborhood groups. TL;DR: The Special Patrol is a quasi-private police force organized years before creation of the public police department. SFPD has been trying to get rid of them for many, many years, but I'm guessing SF's old money keeps them around as a hedge. SFPD did successfully get their arrest powers stripped, though. (According to Wikipedia stripped in 1994, which is recent on a 150+ year timeline.) I don't see what the problem is, honestly. Sure, poorer neighborhoods can't afford their own private police force. But it does free up resources to be redirected to those neighborhoods. And it's not like SF's elite are miserly when it comes to funding the city--they're happy to pay for their private police force and a robust public police force, not instead of a public force. Anyhow, some of those poorer neighborhoods are now agitating for fewer public police. Go figure. EDIT: Special Patrol commissions seem to be transferable: "Patrol special police officers designated as the owners of a certain beat or territory or the legal heirs or representatives of the owners may dispose of their interest in the beat or territory to a person of good moral character, approved by the Police Commission and eligible for appointment as a patrol special police officer." https://sfpatrolspecpolice.com/charter.html https://sfpatrolspecpolice.com/charter.html That's cool.