San Francisco’s district attorney and police chief spoke out at a community town hall Tuesday, covering a wide range of topics dealing with crime around the city.
DA Brooke Jenkins and police Chief Bill Scott presented a progress report of what they’re doing to reduce crime in the city. And it comes at a time when some residents say they’re feeling hopeless.
The majority of the people in attendance at the San Francisco County Fair Building have been on the receiving end of crime in the city.
“I was mugged on the street and I had my car stolen,” said Julie Whelly.
She was in attendance to see what Jenkins and Scott are doing to address these safety concerns.
“That is why we have filed, we are now at 288 motions to detain drug dealers, while their cases are open,” said Jenkins.
The DA said her office is focusing on holding drug dealers accountable for the fentanyl crisis in the city, while Chief Scott says more arrests are being made for car break-ins via bait cars, as well as inside of stores where retail theft is taking place.
Now, Mayor London Breed is backing a ballot proposal for next year, giving police more access to public security cameras, authorizing the use of drones, easing pursuit policies, and allowing the use of A.I. technologies for policing.
“Not everybody is going to agree on any proposal that major but let’s sit down and work together as a community and figure this out,” said Scott.
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The meeting gave people like Whelly hope, but she knows there’s still plenty of work to be done.
“I think they were really down to earth,” she said. “I didn’t hear a lot of platitudes.”
