Less than a week in office, new San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is vowing to clean up the Tenderloin, one of the roughest parts of the city.
Jenkins is pledging to get drugs off the street and hold criminals accountable.
"The open-air drug markets are one of my top priorities," Jenkins said Tuesday.
Jenkins said drug crimes have gone without much accountability in recent years.
"I'm aware of the data that only three offenders were required to plea to drug sale charges in the year 2021," she said.
Jenkins is vowing to create pathways to recovery for users, hold dealers accountable and review current plea offers presented by her predecessor Chesa Boudin — deals some say he should have never made.
"I do see problems there," Jenkins said. "I want to know what type of offers are on the table on the cases that are currently in our office so that we can craft a policy that promotes more accountability."
The crackdown on the city's drug problems comes just months after Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin.
Some question if Jenkins' promises will make an impact.
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"I'm concerned about whether this is another political move that is going to keep us at ground zero," Tenderloin resident Dale Seymore said.
Seymore plans to meet with Jenkins and explain why he wants to see more medical services, recovery programs and workforce development instead of relying on arrest. He and others worry a heavy-handed crackdown will lead to prison for people who would be better off in treatment.
"Don’t nobody down here want to be on drugs, but it's a disease, it's an addiction," Seymore said. "You can't get out from this poison. You need help to get out from this poison."
San Francisco recovery advocate Tom Wolf, a former addict himself, believes Jenkins' efforts could turn things around.
"The first step to solving many of the problems in San Francisco is to break up the organized drug dealing," he said. "We have to send a message, put some deterrents in place."
