Scott Martin,
	CNS News
	The San Francisco Police Department has taken a get-tough policy on domestic violence perpetrators, cleaning house of scofflaws in the department making arrests and prosecutions a priority. But don't ask them to talk about it. They're not.
	The department was a different scene three years ago at a police party in the Sunset District when Officer William Taylor got drunk and Officer Kimberly Scafire offered him a safe ride home. On the way home, he forced her to pull over to the side of the road where he attempted to rape her by climbing on her over the center console and pinning her down.
	Taylor says he was too drunk to remember.
	In those days, the police department cut a smoky back room deal and Taylor was free. He was suspended for only 90 days and ordered to get alcohol abuse treatment. But, Taylor remained a liability.
	Now the District Attorney's Office has held Taylor accountable for his actions. Over three years later, they decided to bring Scafire to testify in a new case against Taylor, seeking four felony counts from the previous incident and seven felony counts in new crimes against his ex-wife whom he sexually assaulted.
	Officer William Taylor has been taken into custody and now faces prison, behind bars with those he sent up. It's as much a sign of changing times as changing policy in San Francisco
	There's an epidemic of domestic violence in the San Francisco Police Department. Besides Taylor, two other officers face charges.
	Officer Egnacio Balinton pleaded no contest in municipal court to charges of false imprisonment of his former girlfriend. Balinton got a plea bargain deal negotiating a six-year probation. The domestic violence charges were dropped. He is waiting for disciplinary action from the Police Commission .
	Officer Ivan Chavez is waiting for a preliminary hearing for assault with a firearm and false imprisonment against his ex-girlfriend.
	Last year, President Clinton signed an amendment to the Gun Control Act that prohibits gun possession by those found guilty of misdemeanor domestic violence. As a result, both officers could lose their guns and stars.
	But the police department doesn't want you to know just how many San Francisco Police Officers actually face domestic violence charges. When asked, the department's brass balked. Sergeant Richard Corria says they have the information but they can't give it out. "If I gave it to you, I'd have to give it to everybody," he says. "You'll have to write a request."
	A California Public Records Act request for information was made which they chose to ignore well past the 10 days required respond back time limitation, violating state law. When the department finally responded to the CPRA request, they were in contradiction with what Sgt. Corria had stated.
	Lieutenant Henry Hunter who takes the requests responded, "The San Francisco Police Department maintains no documents which record the information you seek."
	San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance attorney and victim's advocate, Ken Theisen, says there's a problem here, that officers have to watch their own.
	"I know a heck of a lot of officers that have been found guilty that are still on the force, and then I also know some who were fired. I think what the department has to do is come up with a written policy particularly dealing with domestic violence perpetrators, and that (domestic violence) is the number one call they get," Theisen says. "You certainly shouldn't be guilty of the crime you are trying to enforce."