At a 9 a.m. press conference in Civic Center Plaza, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office announced the deployment of 130 deputies on foot and in marked cars to arrest people using drugs in public. At present, they will be assigned to this effort over the next six months, despite the department operating at 76 percent staffing.
Arrests for public drug use will begin this month and will be concentrated in the Tenderloin, Civic Center and parts of SOMA. Already, Mayor London Breed has told reporters that in recent weeks, the city has arrested 25 people using drugs. Breed said none of them had accepted services, and it’s unclear if any remain in jail.
Tara Moriarty, communications director for the Sheriff’s Office, said that, since May 30, there have been 58 “multi-agency arrests” for public intoxication which, in all instances but one, accompanied other crimes.
She said that 25 of the arrestees were Latinx, 23 white, nine Black and one American Indian, with more than half self-reporting that they were homeless, and nearly a quarter were from outside the county.
The new effort, said Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, is to “eradicate open-air drug use and assist those suffering from harmful behavior.” Miyamoto described the new protocol as crucial for intervening in the fentanyl epidemic.
Across the street, as the press conference went on, around six deputies surrounded a woman going through a mental health crisis outside the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. As several Urban Alchemy workers stood by, deputies occasionally asked questions, but most of their time was spent watching the woman’s episode.
In his remarks, the sheriff disparaged harm reduction — like needle exchange programs and safe consumption sites — as “doing more harm than good.”
However, he said, “we’re not advocating for harsher punishment,” and “jail can be a place for compassion and accountability.”
Present were District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, SFPD Chief Bill Scott, Supervisors Ahsha Safai and Matt Dorsey and members of the Department of Emergency Management, which is handling communications among departments as part of the city’s “multipronged” approach to drug addiction.
Breed’s Monday announcement of SFPD’s arrests for public intoxication marked the latest attempt by city agencies to crack down on the fentanyl epidemic, following previous crackdown announcements by Breed going back to 2021.
That has not yet stopped overdose deaths, however: Scott said that, in 2023, 268 people have died of drug overdoses, a majority involving fentanyl. Scott said that it is possible for arrests to “be empathetic and compassionate.”
“What this is about,” said Scott, “is the streets of San Francisco being safe; being the type of city where we can walk and enjoy this beautiful city without having to step over somebody passed out on fentanyl.”
Miyamoto said that they will likely extend the new system beyond the allotted six months into January, and it’s “built to sustain for longer periods.”
Speakers emphasized that officers will act in response to calls and complaints, and the added presence of deputies on the streets will mean more on-site arrests, but it remains unclear what exactly will lead to an arrest.
After the press conference, Sgt. Philip Judson of the Sheriff’s Office listed examples of behavior that might prompt him to book someone, including “wandering,” shooting up, smoking fentanyl, seeming high or drunk, or acting erratically.
Judson clarified that public intoxication has long been illegal under state codes, including 11550 and 647-f, but that deputies and police officers will now begin enforcing those codes.
When asked exactly what the process looks like, Miyamoto said simply, “it’s what you see right here in front of you,” gesturing to the ranks of deputies and several SUVs behind him.
“It’s not with the intention of keeping them in jail,” said the sheriff. “It’s with the intention of getting them help.”
Those out and about in the Tenderloin were mixed on the issue. A few blocks from City Hall, Yvonne, a worker with Urban Alchemy, said she’s happy about it. Yvonne grew up in Bayview and occasionally sees her brother on the streets in the throes of addiction.
As she spoke, her perspective shifted; “I want to start a nonprofit to help people. So they wouldn’t go to jail, but so there’s more people on the street helping them right here.”
Justin, a drug user who was walking out of an SRO, said he had been arrested for drug use before, and he was still using. “I don’t like the idea,” he said referring to the new crackdown.
A passerby yelled, “Sounds like a good idea to me!”
One worker at a community garden expressed skepticism, calling the new protocols a reaction to negative media for the city.
Moriarty said the county jail “has a whole team of nurses and clinicians,” and that officers “won’t just be picking people up for being high.” According to Moriarty, people have to have paraphernalia on them or be visibly using dangerous drugs to get booked.
At nearby Code Tenderloin, founder Del Seymour said it’s nearly impossible for jail to help someone struggling with addiction.
“That’s no way to treat a sick person,” he said. “Why doesn’t [Mayor Breed] send 130 clinicians out?” A former addict himself, Seymour recalled that his own addiction heightened while he was behind bars.
He pointed out that depriving an addict of drugs augments the odds of an overdose after they’re released from jail. “People who’ve been away for a while — that first hit might kill them.”
Down the street, a man paused his bike to smoke heroin mixed with fentanyl off a piece of foil. The man, named Adam, said he’d been arrested years ago for drug use.
“Jail crushes you,” he said. “It crushes you, and you’re left with nothing.” Thinking for a moment, he said, “I’m worse off than I was before.”
I like Griffin Jones’ writing. I hope to read more of her reporting.
Using the word “compassion” in the same sentence as anything law enforcement related around here is hilarious. I’m a displaced (currently in a SIP hotel, but homeless) addict in the thick of this.I have limited exposure to SFSD but plenty with SFPD and CHP. They treat us like trash, and interactions with us as a waste of their time. I understand they’re human and are subject to complacency and such but what’s to guarantee that same attitude wont continue? This is all just a kneejerk reaction to the negative image beholden to city admin. I’m not just pessimistic about the efficacy of this new program, I’m scared of it. It’s one step closer to police state circumstances. This isn’t the answer.
Arrests for “wandering?” What’s the penal code section on that? Is this an Onion article?
SF needs to have system in place that is similar to Rhode Island.https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/25/rhode-island-opioids-inmates-219594/
Arrest them and treat them. Our current system does not work. The drug enabling centers are a joke. They are not helping them to get off the drugs. SF current system is fueling the drug and homeless problems. If this actually worked, it would be shrinking the problem.
More cops on the streets is definitely needed to put out what has become a runaway fire of property crime in San Francisco.
I’m sure ML doesn’t agree. It must be for to be tied over this.
The sheriff’s office can arrest people for “… seeming high or drunk or acting erratically.” Seriously? I don’t even know where to start. Who decides that someone is acting differently than what they think is “normal” behavior? Why aren’t officers patrolling such places as The Marina and Pacific Heights? And finally, has any organization, either local or national, published a study which shows that drug use is worse in San Francisco than in any other major city?
This is quite possibly the stupidest plan I ever had the embarrassment of being seen put into action.Just..So..Bad.
Time and time again, this country shows that incarceration is a failed policy. We are the most incarcerated country in the world by lightyears, yet are citizens aren’t safer, healthier, nor better off for it. Mayor Breed, Sheriff’s office, and all of us should be ashamed to pursue an approach that doesn’t work and leaves the lives of drug users and their families worse off.
I am curious if people who are arrested are offered medication to ease symptoms of detox. Hopefully no one has to go “cold turkey” in jail.
The other thing is – these 25 people who refused treatment. Does the city not know where they are?
That’s Wonderful News
I spy with my eye Supervisors Stefani, Engardio and Dorsey posing for copagandist photo ops. The millions that will be wasted on this misguided decision is SHAMEFUL…..and stupid. Shame on all the people in this photo.
What happens when an SF sportsball team wins the Superworldbowl and there’s a parade and there’s drinking etc. going on?
Yes! It’s long overdue. The city is full of drug-dealer-sympathizers like Del Seymour. Get rid of them!
Justin, another drug user who was walking out of an SRO, said he had been arrested for drug use before — and he was still using. “I don’t like the idea,” he said referring to the new crackdown.
A passerby yelled, “Sounds like a good idea to me!”
—- The commentariat of this publication aside, the passerby speaks for most of us.
A loud minority of San Franciscans will decry this effort since it doesn’t address the “root causes”. But as a recovered addict who has worked with 100s of other addicts, I can tell you that addicts typically don’t decide to get help out of the blue. They have to want to get help, and there is usually a precipitating event that serves as a wakeup call. And getting arrested and going to jail can be the push someone needs to finally get help. This “carrot and stick” approach is exactly what is needed. Our current coddling of addicts is not working. MediCal is available to anyone without an income, and it covers in-patient treatment. Homeless people addicted to drugs can access treatment.
I think everyone knows the current situation is completely unacceptable and new approaches must be tried.
There is never a perfect solution to any problem but too many people are now being hurt: drug addicts, local business, children and families, visitors who are appalled at what they see and tell others .
Hotels are closing, residents now hate their own city and want to leave -conventions and business headquarters are relocating to other cities.
All for what end did our tolerance and “services” do but perpetuate and magnify the problems.
Only now that the city finally sees the error in its ways after the complete downfall
of a once proud and great city do our leaders finally try to get troubled and criminal people off the streets.
Let us hope it’s not already too late to save the city we all once loved.
Fantastic. Keep it coming. Less 20
Something year olds Hondurans with ski masks and pockets full of drugs on the streets sounds like a win.
Was there any interviews of people who are trying to raise children in the Tenderloin.
Also, as a recovered drug addict, I will say getting arrested multiple times is what finally convinced me to stay sober for the last fourteen years. If I was getting high today, I’d be dead.