Cops told to sweep homeless people as "aggressive" crackdown begins

Good afternoon!

The police have been instructed to clear encampments and cite and arrest homeless people as Mayor Breed begins her “very aggressive” sweeps. Officers are “encouraged,” but not required, to give cards describing city services, including shelter, to the people they displace—though it’s not clear enough shelter beds will be available.

The city is also also required to “bag and tag” personal property it confiscates, but that’s not always happening. Yesterday most of the tents on 13th Street under the freeway were cleared. Homeless people told Mission Local that officials simply took away their belongings and moved them out.

See how they run follows all the mayoral candidates. We’ve got Aaron Peskin explaining to tipsy night-lifers how landlords use algorithms to increase rents, and what he remembers about Kamala Harris from kindergarten. (“My mother says we were friends at the tadpole pond.”)

Mark Farrell, not to be outdone, is now calling himself a “White dude for Harris,” and adding coconut tree emojis to his bio on X. The tough-on-crime Democrat may be doing damage control after his campaign echoed Republican talking points about San Francisco’s lawlessness and chaos.

More soon,

Sara