San Francisco asks for federal help to address high crime rate

Drug use and violence are on the rise throughout the city which tried to reduce its police budget.

San Francisco Police Department / Cordon Press.

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2 de abril, 2023

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San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) asked the federal government to help deal with the crime storm sweeping her city. In a letter to the new U.S. Attorney, Ismail J. Ramsey, Breed highlighted the lack of resources available to her police force to bring order to the streets of San Francisco.

According to Breed's letter, the city of San Francisco is facing a major challenge due to the fentanyl epidemic. Drug users and dealers are becoming increasingly violent. Criminals roam the streets and deal drugs in broad daylight. Violent crime is also reportedly on the rise in San Francisco. According to Breed, the city will also have to deal with a shortage of personnel in the police department in the coming years.

"Drug dealers have become increasingly violent, with both our public safety personnel and with members of the community," Breed stated in her letter. The increase in violence, including regular shootings and confrontations, causes the residents of San Francisco to live in constant danger. According to Breed, the growing violence is particularly concentrated in the Tenderloin neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. The New York Times reported that the historic neighborhood, with a rich heritage, is now one of the city's dirtiest and most crime-ridden areas.

Defunding the police gone wrong

San Francisco's problem with crime increased in 2020. London Breed’s local government came up with the idea of using the wave of protests following the death of George Floyd to gain popularity. Many progressive voices insisted the city defund the police. London Breed announced in July of that year that San Francisco would cut nearly $120 million from the police department’s budget, despite homicides going up by 20% from 2019 to 2020 in San Francisco.

The $120 million was redirected to programs for the African-American community in San Francisco, but it didn’t take the city much time to realize how necessary that money really was for the police department. In 2021 London Breed announced that defunding the police would not be possible and she reversed her 2020 decision by allocating emergency funding to local law enforcement.