San Francisco’s Committee on Information Technology last month quietly reviewed a new policy that seeks to relax restrictions on the city’s growing drone fleet.
Category: Public Safety
Posted inCity Hall, Community, Economy & Business, Elections, Government & Politics, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Immigration, Neighborhoods, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services, Transportation
San Franciscans Speak Out on the Top Issues Facing Their Neighborhoods
In this street interview series taken during the “No Kings” protest in March, people across the city spoke candidly about what matters most where they live, and what they want local leaders to pay attention to.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Health, Law & Justice, Public Safety
Trauma Inside San Francisco’s Women’s Jail
Women held in San Francisco’s county jail said they were forced to strip naked while deputies filmed them and male officers watched and laughed — allegations that have triggered lawsuits, multiple investigations and renewed scrutiny of how the jail system treats women with histories of trauma, mental illness and abuse.
Posted inElections, Government & Politics, Public Safety
Proposition A Would Fix Decades of Deferred Maintenance in Earthquake Safety System
Proposition A, the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond, would raise $535 million over 30 years.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Immigration, Law & Justice, Public Safety
SFPD Training for Responding to ICE Activity Is Sparse, Records Show
As federal agents detain more immigrants in San Francisco, and activists protest and sometimes intervene in arrests, records shed light on the limited training that local police receive to address at times volatile confrontations.
Posted inCity Hall, Law & Justice, Public Safety
Union Left in the Dark Over Possible SF Police Accountability Attorney Layoffs
As San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie signed a $15.9 billion budget Thursday, two attorneys tasked with investigating and reporting police misconduct still don’t know whether they will keep their jobs.
Cutting these positions raises concerns that the city is initiating a material reduction in police oversight while simultaneously increasing the San Francisco Police Department’s budget.
Posted inCity Hall, Public Safety
Mayor’s Budget Proposal Sparks Outcry Over Cuts to Police Oversight Amid Law Enforcement Spending Boost
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is facing backlash over his $16 billion, 2025-27 budget for significantly cutting police oversight while boosting funding for the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office by $22 million each.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to adopt the budget by July 31.
Lurie’s proposal would eliminate key roles in the city Department of Police Accountability, which is responsible for investigating civilian complaints against police officers and sheriff’s deputies — such as those alleging excessive force, racial bias or unprofessional behavior — and ensuring transparency and accountability in officers’ and deputies’ conduct. The department’s Office of Inspector General will also see crippling cuts.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Homelessness, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Services
Visible Progress or Political Theater? Factions Disagree on How to Clean Up Street Conditions
In February, the San Francisco Police Department converted a Sixth Street parking lot in South of Market to what it called a triage center — a fenced-off area where police could connect people to social services or put them in a van bound for jail.
According to a city staff report, in the first month of the triage center’s operation, police made 350 arrests, three-quarters of them drug related. Triage personnel connected 275 people to shelter and 408 people to health care.
Advocates for people struggling with homelessness or substance use disorder say the city’s approach is unnecessarily punitive, but some business owners and community members say they approve of what the mayor and Police Department are doing.
Posted inCalifornia, Economy & Business, Public Safety, Transportation
Uber Submitted False Information to Regulators, Used Substandard Limousines, Agency Rules
Uber must pay a $50,000 fine for submitting false information to state regulators about numerous substandard rides it provided on its Uber Black luxury limousine service, violating a fundamental rule that officials said caused “harm to the regulatory process.”
In the previously unreported final decision, the California Public Utilities Commission found that San Francisco-based Uber had lax review procedures and failed to detect obviously falsified limousine licenses presented to it by independent limousine companies that Uber had subcontracted to give rides on Uber Black.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Law & Justice, Public Safety
Trial Courts Sued, Accused of Hampering Domestic Violence Survivors’ Ability to Appeal Rulings
Groups that advocate for survivors of domestic violence have sued California trial courts to force them to address the statewide court reporter shortage, which they say is impairing “equal access to justice.”