San Francisco Police Department - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They have their assigned bought beats at their stations, they check-in and go 10-8 on the normal channels, just have different callsigns. i.e. a patrol special in the richmond district would go 10-8 on the richmond dist. channel and so on. They only use the radio if they need help or cover since they are not actual police officers.
It's my understanding from a relative who is a training officer, that they have to meet POST standards, and have to go through the regular SFPD academy before being posted to their purchased beats.