Deputy Chief Derrick Lew has today been named chief of the San Francisco Police Department by Mayor Daniel Lurie, succeeding interim chief Paul Yep and former longtime chief Bill Scott.
Lew is a 22-year veteran of the department. He joined the SFPD in 2003 and served at Taraval Station covering the Westside. In 2006, he was nearly killed by a cousin of Mayor London Breed in Silver Terrace; Lew’s partner then shot and killed Charles Breed, who had earlier allegedly shot and killed two people.
Lew received a medal of valor for the incident.
Lew rose through the ranks of the police department quickly, becoming a lieutenant in 2017 and a captain at Ingleside Station in 2022. He was then put in charge of the city’s drug enforcement through the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center as a commander in 2023.
He rose to the rank of deputy chief earlier this year as Scott left the department and interim chief Paul Yep restocked the department’s entirely depleted command staff.
As the department’s highest-ranked Asian American and the head of drug enforcement in San Francisco, which is a particular city priority, Lew was long seen as the odds-on favorite to ascend to the top post.
He is a 52-year-old city native and, like fire chief Dean Crispen, is a graduate of St. Ignatius College Prep — meaning both the police and fire chief are St. Ignatius grads.
An officer who used to work under Lew described him as “extremely competent” and “very sharp” as a leader in the field. “He’s a genuinely nice and compassionate guy,” the officer said. “That’s pretty rare.”
At the same time, the officer continued, Lew knew when to push back and “tug on leashes” when he had to.
Lew has had a rocket-like trajectory after being promoted to commander in July 2024. Police sources said he was the right leader to reflect the department’s current priorities, which have shifted away from street patrols and toward larger, more coordinated investigations: “He is more about quality rather than quantity.”
The new chief’s quick ascent was seen by some of his colleagues as a sign of his competence. But not all: One veteran contemporary said “Lew is “a good guy, a nice guy — but he could’ve used more seasoning as commander.”
Lew’s colleague hoped he would make good use of the seasoned, high-ranking SFPD leaders who are now his subordinates.
Lew is helming a department when public safety is a major priority for Lurie: The mayor has promised to prioritize policing and, earlier this year, unveiled a package of policies designed to boost flagging police numbers.
The force is down hundreds of officers from recent highs in 2019, which has had the knock-on effect of vastly increasing the department’s overtime spending.
Police overtime surged to more than $108 million in recent years, and the city recently approved $61 million in additional overtime funds, despite city reports that showed widespread problems with pay abuse.
Even as drug enforcement has become a major priority, Lew, like Lurie and Scott before him, has acknowledged that anti-drug operations have pushed people to other neighborhoods like the Mission, where illegal street vending and drug peddling have become thorny, persistent problems.
Lurie and the police department often post videos touting late-night drug crackdowns that have resulted in jail numbers increasing over the past year, following a post-pandemic reduction.
They are not always effective: One of those publicized raids in May netted 40 arrests but zero charges because evidence of criminality was not strong enough.
Additional reporting by Joe Eskenazi.
Good to have city people running these departments. SI graduates although Lurie’s last SI appointment (Beya) didn’t work out to well. lol. Go Cats!
I don’t believe the Chief affects SFPD policy as much as the POA decides it.
Prove me wrong Derrick. Stand up to them when needed and win our respect.
Hello Chief Lew !!
I’m h. brown and I’m a nice guy too and we should meet as I’ve watched your department since you were in 1st grade.
I live in the Mission a couple of blocks from 16th and Mission am a retired Reform School teacher and lotta other things and my last gig was at Potrero Hill Middle School when you were just getting out of St. Ignatius.
I’ve lived here in District 9 for the past 11 years and for 12 years before that in a Tenderloin SRO from whence I ran for Mayor.
Such a town San Francisco.
What I wanted to do was to ask you if you’d do two favors for the Mission ?
First, we’d like back the female Captain before Yep gave us this Lieutenant on the Brady list who sub contracted his command to the Captain who was here before and conducted the entire ambush of the Internationally known and acclaimed SF Dolores Park Hill Bomb to bust a hundred Latino kids guilty of nothing because he knows he can yell:
“I am declaring this to be an illegal assembly and you are subject to arrest and we will use force !!!”
That’s what he yelled at both the Hill Bomb and this last July 4th.
The Station Captain before that told me when I asked him to get rid of the ugly crowd control barriers around the station that if he had his way they’d build a concrete wall there.
The next Captain cancelled a Community meet at Manny’s Community Meeting Space 2 blocks down the street because he …
“Cannot guarantee the Security.”
Returning our Captain would be a nice gesture.
As would planning a party to honor our World Famous Skate Board figures and toss in Unicycles too cause we have a World Champ in that too.
Have a couple of bands and some cops in civvies doing Bar b que and dump the illegal half ball road humps and put some straw bales along the way and have at it !!
What do you think of the People of SF electing our own Choice as Chief ?
You could run same as everyone else except you’d have the advantage of being in office already.
500,000 registered voters.
One registered mayor.
You pleased him.
Now, please work with us cause we’re eager for some sign from you.
Maybe, returning Feinstein’s Police Koban/Kiosk to 16th and Mission BART ?
go Niners !!
h.
I THINK Derrick and another Central police officer help me retrieve my rare Martin Concert Ukulele and my laptop. Such a sweet person and reminded me to watch out for strangers. Lucky they weren’t stranglers! I’m pretty sure it was him. Congrats.
Wow. He was in charge of the drug enforcement group?
Talk about failing up. That’s not exactly a group with a great track record.