Mayor Lurie launches sweeping police staffing overhaul
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The San Francisco Police Department headquarters in Mission Bay. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
In an effort to boost the number of police officers on San Francisco's streets, Mayor Daniel Lurie signed an executive order Tuesday outlining a plan to resolve the city's staffing shortage.
Why it matters: The San Francisco Police Department is about 500 short of the recommended minimum of 2,074 full-time officers, a shortfall that Lurie says has strained the department's ability to adequately "fulfill their core responsibilities."
- Staffing shortages have led to slower response times, reduced neighborhood presence and resulted in an "over-reliance" on overtime — issues that have been exacerbated by a slow hiring process and difficulties attracting qualified recruits, among other structural problems, the mayor's office said.
What they're saying: "These reforms will literally put more officers on our streets. They will help keep our communities safe — and make sure our officers and deputies have the support they need to do their jobs efficiently and effectively," Lurie said in a statement.
The big picture: The plan outlines short and long term strategies — marked under 100-day, six month and one year actions — to create a pipeline of more police personnel while easing the burden on the city's budget with less expensive staffing practices.
- The plan entails creating new programs allowing recently retired police officers and sheriff deputies to return to specific roles, streamlining the hiring process, reforming the policy academy program to expedite graduations and using more law enforcement technology like drones for patrols.
- Longer term solutions include reviewing retirement policies and assigning some administrative tasks to "qualified civilians" instead of officers.
The other side: Yoel Haile, director of the Criminal Law and Immigration project at the ACLU of Northern California, said that adding more police is "neither cost effective nor an appropriate use of resources" at a time when the city is staring down a severe budget deficit.
- Instead of hiring more officers, Haile said the city should focus on investing in community solutions such as housing affordability, mental health and substance use treatment, violence prevention and civilian response to some nonemergency calls.
Between the lines: Lurie's plan also calls for evaluating the department's excessive use of overtime, which was heavily criticized by some supervisors at a recent meeting after a December audit found that officers had lacked accountability and routinely violated sick leave policies.
- Some had also been working side gigs in private security while receiving overtime pay. Even before the audit, the practice of allowing public employees to work in the private sector — defined under the city's 10B program — had come under scrutiny for diverting public resources to private companies.
Stunning stat: The department's overtime spending more than doubled from $52.9 million in the 2018-2019 fiscal year to $108.4 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to the audit.
- District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, a vocal critic of the department's spending, expressed cautious optimism over the plan, saying that she's "glad the mayor is taking the concerns" she raised weeks ago into account.
- "We will be closely watching to ensure that this report will lead to actionable change," Fielder said in a statement.