Supes drop demand on police break-in units
After failing to win support from the Police Department for an ordinance to divert more officers to property crime cases, two San Francisco supervisors are backing down — but not without a bit of political theater.
Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Norman Yee interrupted a meeting of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee Wednesday to hold a news conference and make their announcement. Addressing a throng of reporters and TV cameras, they said they will now change the ordinance to a nonbinding resolution.
Similar in spirit to the ordinance that Yee and Ronen introduced in September, the resolution will urge the San Francisco Police Department to devote more resources to fighting car break-ins, bike theft and other forms of burglary.
The ordinance would have required each of the city’s 10 district police stations to devote a special unit to preventing and solving property crimes.
Yee said that when he and Ronen approached Police Chief Bill Scott for feedback, the chief gently suggested that their law might not be necessary.
“It became clear that the legislation was compatible with what the chief was trying to do,” Yee said. He added: “One of the things we don’t want to do is have this legislation become a political battle.”
Scott said he shares the supervisors’ anguish about property crimes, which are escalating in the city. Police data show that over the past year, auto burglaries went up 25 percent — from 15,934 reported incidents last year to 19,975 this year.
Scott is revamping the department to better address the issue. He disbanded the Patrol Bureau Task Force created two years ago to stop car break-ins and said he’s reassigning those officers to neighborhood foot patrols. He’s hoping to collaborate with the district attorney to investigate and prosecute more property crimes.
Ronen and Yee applauded those efforts. But so far, they haven’t committed any city funding to help. Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, who sits on the Public Safety Committee and also spoke at the news conference, noted that he was the only city lawmaker to call for additional police academy funding during budget hearings in June.
“I think this is all great and I appreciate what the chief is doing,” Sheehy said. “But let’s be honest — what’s missing are additional resources.”
Yee has a history of voting against measures to fund the Police Department. Two years ago he infuriated constituents by opposing a board resolution to expand the city’s police force to match its population growth.
Ronen said Wednesday that she is “100 percent committed” to pulling supplemental funding from the city budget to hire more police officers, if more are warranted. Barring that, she said, there’s always next year’s budget. — Rachel Swan Stopping hep A in its tracks: Terrified by reports of hepatitis A outbreaks in San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz, San Francisco health officials are rushing to vaccinate the homeless people and drug users on the city’s streets.
Those people are most at risk for contracting the virus, which spreads when people ingest or touch material contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Hepatitis A causes liver inflammation and can lead to death.
San Francisco’s Department of Public Health will partner with various homeless organizations to offer pop-up vaccination clinics this month, including one from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 11 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
To date, the health department has provided 2,500 free doses of the vaccine in San Francisco.
Separately, Supervisor Jeff Sheehy requested a hearing — expected to happen later this month — on the city’s efforts to prevent a hepatits A outbreak. — Rachel Swan