Petition: Cutting Officers Won’t Make SFPD Better
San Francisco Police cadets with Chief Bill Scott in 2019.
A call to arbitrarily cut beat officers will not make San Francisco’s police department better or residents safer. We still need police to protect the public and we can’t forget about victims of crime.
Crimes like burglaries and homicide are up in San Francisco, while our police staffing is declining — due to a record number of retirements and resignations. Yet the “Defund the Police” movement continues to call for even fewer officers in San Francisco, despite the fact the New York Times recently featured SFPD as a model of reform.
We can embrace more reforms. We can shift police calls away from situations best suited for social workers. We can value a diverse police force while ensuring they serve the community at the highest standard. This requires investment.
The budget committee will discuss cutting officers at a series of meetings from August 20 to 24.
Keep reading for more background information and details on how to provide public comment to the supervisors. You also click here to sign the petition or sign it at the end of this blog post.
Thanks for your support,
Joel Engardio
Vice President
Stop Crime SF
BACKGROUND INFO
San Francisco’s mayor and police chief already both agreed to redirect $120 million from the police budget over the next two years to fund programs that will support and invest in the city’s underserved Black community.
Yet Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who serves on the Budget and Appropriations committee, announced that she wants to make much deeper cuts to SFPD and lay off officers. This will be discussed at budget committee meetings from August 20 to 24.
Further reducing our police force is a bad idea for the following reasons:
Burglaries, car thefts and homicides are up. Some crime categories have continued to rise during the pandemic when things were supposed to be quieter with sheltering at home and social distancing. We still need police to protect the public and we can’t forget about victims.
SFPD is already stretched thin. City Hall commissioned a study on police staffing earlier this year. It said a city our size should have at least 200 more police officers than we currently have. The Chronicle recently reported that a record number of officers are retiring this year or leaving the force for jobs in other cities.
Laying off police officers will affect the newest and most diverse members of the force who come from the communities they serve — the kind of officers we need more of.
Fewer police officers will negatively impact neighborhoods that have been long-ignored, especially where immigrant communities are often vulnerable to crime. Residents are asking for more police officers who are bi-lingual and culturally sensitive, which requires investment not defunding.
The New York Times featured San Francisco as a city “where police reform has worked.” The Chronicle cited how SFPD recently went one year without an officer-involved shooting — the longest such span in nearly two decades. Today’s SFPD has strict police conduct policies that contributed to a 47 percent decline in use of force since 2016. San Francisco is also one of only a few cities to have embraced a swath of police reform policies that activists are pushing every city to adopt to reduce police violence. SFPD is still working on implementing critical reforms recommended by the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice. Why should SFPD face drastic defunding when it has been making progress on reforms in recent years?
PUBLIC COMMENT INFO
The easiest way to provide public comment to the Board of Supervisors is by email. All comments received will be made a part of the official record.
Send your message to: linda.wong@sfgov.org
Put “Police Department Budget” in the subject line and address the message to the members of the Budget and Appropriations Committee: Supervisors Sandra Lee Fewer, Shamann Walton, Rafael Mandelman, Norman Yee, and Hillary Ronen.
Send your email before Monday August 24.
SUGGESTED EMAIL MESSAGE
Dear Supervisors:
Please do not further reduce the number of police officers in San Francisco.
Crimes like burglaries and homicide are up while our police staffing is low due to a record number of retirements and resignations. Yet the movement to defund the police continues to call for even fewer police in San Francisco.
The New York Times recently featured SFPD as a model of reform. We can embrace more reforms. We can shift police calls away from situations best suited for social workers. We can value a diverse police force while ensuring they serve the community at the highest standard. This requires investment.
Arbitrarily cutting beat officers will not make SFPD better or residents safer. We still need police to protect the public and we can’t forget about victims of crime.
Sincerely,
Name
Neighborhood
CALLING IN PUBLIC COMMENT
If you want to call-in your comment during the live meeting, it is likely that public comment for the SFPD budget will not be heard until Monday August 24 at 10am.
Many department budgets, including SFPD, will be discussed in a series of budget meetings from August 20 to 24. It is expected to take multiple days to get through everything, which is why the agendas mention each meeting being “recessed” to the next day.
Please click here to check the agendas for updates and instructions on how to call in.
SIGN THE PETITION
To the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee:
Please do not further reduce the number of police officers in San Francisco.
Crimes like burglaries and homicide are up while our police staffing is low due to a record number of retirements and resignations. Yet the movement to defund the police continues to call for even fewer police in San Francisco.
The New York Times recently featured SFPD as a model of reform. We can embrace more reforms. We can shift police calls away from situations best suited for social workers. We can value a diverse police force while ensuring they serve the community at the highest standard. This requires investment.
Arbitrarily cutting beat officers will not make SFPD better or residents safer. We still need police to protect the public and we can’t forget about victims of crime.