Is crime really down in San Francisco?
SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco Police Department is touting new data showing crime in the city is declining. The city's police chief says it's an indication that the department's strategies to fight crime are working.
After years of headlines highlighting crime in San Francisco, the city's police chief says the latest data are flipping the script. Crime is down by a third across the board compared to last year.
Homicides were down from 29 by this time last year to 18 so far this year. Robberies, all kinds of theft, including auto burglaries, rape and arson are all down.
Police Chief Bill Scott says a number of long-term strategies including increased focus on high crime areas, and adapting to crime patterns are paying off. "Significantly trending in the right direction.
Every major crime category, and I'm talking about part one crime, the serious crimes, we're down," said Chief Scott. "Double digits. Every category. Homicides, larceny, burglary."
The chief says it's impossible to say if crime is being under-reported, but he says under-reporting is common when crime rates are higher and lower. He says in the short term his department has used a lot of overtime, and he hopes hiring new officers will help in the longer term. "We have to be consistent,: said Chief Scott. "We have to let people know, we have to be transparent about what's happening crime-wise."
Around the city people are starting to notice the decline in crime. Denny Garbuio works at John Fluevog in the Haight. He says he sees the difference. "I'm not seeing the car break-ins that we were seeing so frequently before," said Garbuio. "So, that's a big thing, and I'm not hearing about the smash and grabs so much as we used to before."
Some residents agree, and say the pandemic changed crime patterns, but that things appear to be settling down. "Things got shuffled around," said Veronica Brown. "But never felt that bad, still feels good."
Others say the crime is still there, only now it's been confined to specific neighborhoods. "In the Tenderloin," said Tommy Anderson. "Certain areas it looks like it's starting to taper off a little bit, but it's still a lot. A lot of stuff going on."
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office also has new data showing an increase in conviction rates in felony narcotics cases. Her office says that the increase in convictions is part of the broader, city-wide effort to combat open air drug markets and drug trafficking in San Francisco. Like the chief, the district attorney says the key going forward is to maintain that momentum.
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