SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Police Commission took its first serious look at a controversial new report that suggests streamlining the SFPD by eliminating five out of ten district police stations to make the department operate more efficiently.

An outside consulting firm is recommending the closures for the police department. The idea is to free more officers from desk jobs and get them out onto the streets.

This meeting at city hall started early in the evening and continued well into the night. The police commission and the Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee dug into the controversial proposal for the first time.

The Central District Police Station is near Chinatown, North Beach and the Pier 39 area so popular among tourists. Sgt. Carl Tennenbaum has worked at the station a total of 14 years. He says although the station is one of the oldest in the city and has infrastructure challenges, the location allows officers to develop a rapport with neighbors and business owners.

"We're part of this community and they feel they have a connection with us," explains Sgt. Tennennbaum. "A lot of them don't speak English and we have officers who are bilingual. If we weren't here, these people would have to do it on a telephone or travel across town."

The new report by a consulting company recommends that the city eliminate central police station and four others. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi authored the legislation that led to the comprehensive review of the police department completed just this month.

“They made some intriguing and excellent points about how to make our police department more efficient," says Supervisor Mirkarimi."The elements of the report are intriguing, It's something that I think the city should do a decent job in at least allowing people to read and understand and discuss amongst themselves."

The report recommends consolidating the 10 current neighborhood police stations into five larger stations to improve efficiency and free up more officers for street patrols.

The consultants displayed a number of charts and photographs depicting the current conditions at some stations. The report says both Central Station and Southern Station at the Hall of Justice need to be replaced. There's not enough room for officers to do their jobs and the buildings are in poor condition.

But some residents are concerned about losing neighborhood stations.

"It's just the police presence. I think that's the most important thing,” says local resident Stephanie Cheney. “To even just to see the station and the cars out on the streets I think it deters people from crime."

Other people who work in the city are also worried.

"I think the reaction time is really what is more important. And if we have all these individual stations, the reaction time is much quicker. So that's my concern," says Pacifica resident Brenda Cheney.

Police Chief Heather Fong wasn't quite willing to embrace the report, but said it's something the department and the community should study.

After Monday night's meeting, if the police commission decides to move forward with any recommendations, there will likely be public hearings to get the community's input. The report author says to delay implementation simply means that they could be back in ten years with another study that will have many of the same recommendations.