SF supervisor says he no longer supports his plan to increase police staffing

SAN FRANCISCO - The often heated debate in San Francisco over how to improve public safety took another unexpected turn.

On Monday, Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he no longer supports his own plan to increase police staffing in the city.

Dorsey says he made that decision after another member of the board added an amendment that he calls a poison pill to his proposal.

"Where I have a problem with this is it feels to me like this amendment is holding hostage the city's ability and voters ability to make progress on a public safety crisis that they're facing," Dorsey said at a public hearing. 

The original charter amendment would have set a minimum police staffing level of just under 2,100 officers and allocated $30 million a year to recruit officers to fill the current vacant positions.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Dorsey’s colleagues criticized what they called Dorsey's "irresponsible" and "inappropriate" proposal to give more money to the police department while other city departments are facing budget cuts.

Supervisors Ahsha Safaí proposed an amendment that would make the funding reliant on new or modified taxes – a proposal Dorsey disagreed with.

Dorsey is now considering taking his proposal directly to voters as a ballot measure.