U.S. Hires State Police to Guard Soviet Consulate in S.F.

The Soviet consulate, the scene of almost daily protests, now has an armed guard during business hours, courtesy of the California State Police and the U.S. State Department.

The Soviet consul requested that the State Department provide the increased protection, evidently because of continued protests, including a daily vigil outside the building pointing up the plight of Soviet Jews.

And since the State Department must by law provide security for foreign missions here, the federal government turned to the state police agency for help.

“We’re pleased to be selected by the State Department because it is an indication of the confidence they have with our level of training,” state police spokeswoman Ann Garbeff said Thursday.

The state police agency is charging the State Department its standard rate: $45.25 an hour per officer. The officer will be on duty from 8:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., Monday through Friday.

San Francisco police take over with a periodic patrol during evening and early morning hours.

It could not be determined whether the State Department pays for guards at the West Coast consulates and embassies of other countries, although the state police provide no similar service at any other mission, Garbeff said. The Soviet consulate here is the only Soviet mission in the United States other than the Soviet Embassy in Washington and the delegation to the United Nations in New York.

The San Francisco Police Department, which periodically patrols near the consulate, declined to station an officer at the consulate exclusively because of “manpower considerations,” Police Chief Frank Jordan said.

The state guards will not be on duty on Sunday because the consulate will be closed, even though human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky and the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews will lead a demonstration there. San Francisco police predict that as many as 5,000 people will show up.

Shcharansky, 38, who now prefers the Hebrew name Natan and the spelling Sharansky, planned to shuttle between Los Angeles and San Francisco during the weekend. The former Soviet dissident was released in an East-West exchange of prisoners last year.