San Francisco Police Chief, Mayor Refute Narrative of Crime-Infested Metropolis – CBS San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Mayor London Breed and SFPD boss Bill Scott released crime statistics for San Francisco so far on Monday morning this year, admitting an increase in some violent crimes and break-ins while certain types of crime have actually declined.

Both Mayor Breed and Chief Scott spoke at the first CompStat crime report of the year, saying the department can make improvements on serious assaults and break-ins, but highlighted the arrests made in connection with violent crime in the city .

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Breed gave a brief introduction before Scott went into the details of the crime stats for San Francisco in 2021. She announced the number of arrests the department has made related to high profile crimes, including the fatal shooting of Jace Young and a series of attacks on elderly Asian residents. She also argued that viral videos of crime in San Francisco are fueling the perception that crime is on the rise.

“Unfortunately, we have received a lot of negative attention when it comes to crime,” said Breed. “What is not drawing attention is the fact that you come to San Francisco and commit a crime, you are being arrested by this police department. Our investigators and the work they are doing to bring people to justice has been exceptional. “

The mayor and chief discussed what police call a “worrying increase” in break-ins of more than 3,700 – the highest number since 2015 and a 50% increase since 2019. Breed noted that many of the crimes have increased significantly had such as break-ins and car break-ins were committed by a small group of people, some of whom had already been arrested.

“In fact, when we talk about break-ins and car break-ins, at least a thousand car break-ins are committed by 10 groups of people every month. So when these people get arrested, we’ll see these car break-ins decrease significantly, ”Breed said. “Ultimately, we need to make sure that accountability is part of it. And one of the big discussions going on about defusing the police doesn’t take into account the incredible work San Francisco has done investing in programs that help prevent crime in the first place. ”

Breed also noted that their budget for the city was aimed at increasing the number of police officers on the streets to tackle the areas where crime had increased, as well as crime prevention and services to crime victims.

“An unprecedented investment of $ 65 million in my budget to help street violence prevention and victim services,” said Breed. “A lot is being invested in preventing these crimes.”

The mayor compared her office’s approach to crime to what San Francisco has been doing regarding the pandemic, stressing the need to have the money to get officials on the streets to both investigate as well as crime deterrence.

“To get back to COVID, we used the data and the science when it came to talking about how to invest. what we should do as a city, ”said Breed. “And that’s what we did in this year’s budget.”

“There is a lot of misinformation about what is going on in San Francisco. We know numbers don’t matter if you are a victim of a crime. any crime in whatever capacity, ”Breed continued. “But at the end of the day, we need to use this data to make a decision about our policies and investments. We will be making some significant changes in the coming months. We’re not ready to reveal all of our plans to address some of these issues related to these retail thefts and hold companies like Amazon and other places accountable for failing to exercise due diligence to investigate these stolen goods. Or the topics related to the prosecution of offenses or other things. We definitely need to make sure that there are tools in place to hold people accountable. We need policemen on the way forward. We have a number of officials who are retiring. This work just doesn’t happen. “

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Scott said that some of the viral videos seen on social media of courageous crimes in action affect people in some ways, and he doesn’t want the perceptions of lawlessness you see here to affect the city as a whole reflects.

“There are no statistics for audacity. What we see in some of these videos of brazen, heinous crimes, there are no statistics on what that has to do with our attitudes and how we perceive what is happening in our city, “he said. “And that’s why cops are so important; they offset this fear of crime. “

Scott pointed out that the last year, as he described it, was “a deviation” in terms of the pandemic, forcing people to stay in their homes during the lockdown and curbing crime in some categories.

Gun violence incidents had nearly doubled in the past two years, with 26 murders this year in San Francisco, though Scott said the increase came from a 58-year low just two years ago. Still, the boss pointed out that San Francisco police investigators are currently solving murder cases at a rate of around 90%.

There were also up to almost 1,100 serious bodily injuries. Scott recognized the importance of cutting the numbers in these categories.

“We have to get this under control,” said Scott.

Scott said part of the problem with the increasing number of gun violence incidents is the problem with ghost weapons and unregistered weapons in the city. He also noted that the total number of sexual assaults had decreased, although the number of cases increased between May and June. According to the new statistics, robberies also fell from year to year.

Scott highlighted the increased use of civil servants and more overtime for civil servants to reduce crime in problem areas of San Francisco, but noted that the department is still about 400 officers below recommended staffing levels.

While Scott would not criticize San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, he did emphasize the importance of detaining repeat offenders in order to reduce the number of crimes committed.

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“We need some of these people who are being arrested. If a person was arrested five times, when did we arrest them? ”Asked Scott. “You mustn’t commit more crimes while waiting for your day in court.”