San Francisco Mayor Beefs Up Public Safety Measures
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced initiatives aimed at curbing open drug use, brazen home break-ins and other criminal behavior. But critics argue that crime in San Francisco is actually down and that the city should open a supervised drug consumption site and act to treat addiction rather than punishing it.
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced initiatives aimed at curbing open drug use, brazen home break-ins and other criminal behavior, reports the Associated Press. She will introduce legislation to allow law enforcement real-time access to surveillance video in certain situations and to make it harder for people to sell stolen goods and announced emergency intervention to improve safety in the Tenderloin, one of the poorest and most drug-infested neighborhoods in San Francisco.
Criminal justice advocates in favor of less incarceration say the media has been drumming up fear in a city where overall crime rates have declined in recent years. John Hamasaki, a San Francisco police commissioner and defense lawyer who is highly critical of extra policing and surveillance, said that taxpayer money is better spent on services, treatment and housing. He said the city should open a supervised drug consumption site and act to treat addiction rather than using methods that will shove dealing into other neighborhoods. Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which provides legal services and housing to low-income people, said more police patrols would deter dealers and make the neighborhood safer for residents. Breed said she would ask the Board of Supervisors for more money to pay for police overtime and to increase the department’s budget and has directed the city’s Department of Emergency Management to lead the response in the Tenderloin.
