Violence prevention program to aid S.F.’s Asian community
San Francisco will increase community patrols in Chinatown, the Richmond and Visitacion Valley over the next few months, amid a rise in hate crimes and violence against Asian Americans in the city and around the country.
Mayor London Breed announced Wednesday that the city will expand its Street Violence Intervention Program, which normally aims to reduce gun violence in neighborhoods like the Bayview and Fillmore. Now, the program will also be in neighborhoods with large Asian American populations.
A few members of the program have been patrolling some Asian American communities, but the official expansion won’t happen immediately. The city, which just se
cured $2.2 million in funding to expand the program, will now begin hiring. While the first batch of the new patrol teams will be on the ground by late
spring, the city doesn’t expect to fully ramp up the program until this summer.
“Those of you who think that
you’re going to come to San Francisco and victimize anyone in our communities, you have another thing coming,” Breed said at Portsmouth Square on Wednesday. “We will stand up and stand strong against the hatefulness, against the violence that’s inflicted on people who don’t deserve it.”
Breed’s announcement came as the Asian American community reels from a recent string of attacks in the city. Two Asian women were beaten and robbed on Bush Street last weekend, and an elderly woman of Asian descent was attacked on Market Street last week. An elderly Chinese Filipino man was attacked in the Financial District this month.
Additionally, six people of Asian descent were among those killed in a series of shootings in Atlanta — horrific acts that have reverberated across the country, and prompted protests, vigils and rallies in San Francisco.
Such brazen attacks have highlighted the fear that people like Amanda Ho, 60, have increasingly felt during the pandemic. Ho said that she doesn’t carry purses or bags anymore because she doesn’t want to be an easy target for muggers.
She said she regularly receives alerts about new crimes against Asian Americans on WeChat, a messaging app popular in the Chinese community.
“Everybody’s scared,” Ho, who has lived in San Francisco for 40 years, said while arranging flowers in the window of a Chinatown Buddhist center. “Everybody just wants to protect themselves.”
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said last week that his department has increased patrols in primarily Asian American neighborhoods. But reactions to the increased police presence were mixed in Chinatown, which has been the scene of unprovoked attacks and an economic downturn during the pandemic.
While some Asian Americans appreciate the increased patrols, activists have also cautioned against heightened police presence.
“Right now there are some communities that want more police, but there are longstanding grievances between police and the community, too,” said Lai Wa Wu, the policy and alliance director of San Francisco’s Chinese Progressive Association. “There are people who are not trusting of the
police, people with mental health issues, people who do not speak English, recent immigrants who need culturally responsive services.”
The point of the Street Violence Intervention Program, Breed said, is to have community members rather than police officers patrol highrisk neighborhoods. She said members of the program should be a comforting presence for people, as they walk down merchant corridors and get to know people in the neighborhood.
She said the city is creating uniforms for the new patrols, so they’re easily identifiable.
Once the city ramps up the program, the teams of four to five people will be stationed at Leland Avenue in Visitacion Valley; Grant and Stockton Streets in Chinatown; Clement Street in the Richmond; San Bruno Avenue in the Portola; and Larkin, Eddy, Turk and Ellis streets and Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin.
The Mayor also announced an investment in continuing a program that escorts seniors in Chinatown to appointments, such as going to the bank, grocery store or doctor’s office.
“They have to go get cash from the bank, go to the post office to get a money order, and
then pay the landlord, and in that journey, they could get attacked, almost anytime, anywhere,” said Anni Chung, president and CEO of SelfHelp for the Elderly. “I hope that we all learn from this terrible violence that is attacking our most vulnerable seniors in the community, and each one of us has to stop it.”