SF DA Chesa Boudin Announces Opposition to Mayor London Breed’s Tenderloin Crime Crackdown Plan

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Monday that he was opposed to Mayor London Breed’s crime crackdown plan in the Tenderloin neighborhood, saying that the city should focus efforts elsewhere to keep residents safe and give help to those that need it.

In response to the worsening situation, Mayor Breed announced a police crackdown on the crime surge there, including more police in the neighborhood, getting more police funding for the area, amending the surveillance ordinance to bring back police cameras to high-crime areas, and disrupting the sale of stolen goods, especially those from retail stores. In addition, non-criminals would also be receiving additional help, with more social workers and public toilets being brought there.

“It’s time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it come to an end,” said Mayor Breed last week. “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to more aggressive with law enforcement. More aggressive with the changes in our policies and less tolerate of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city.”

While criticized the plan, such as those saying that she was only solving a problem that she had helped create and that criminals would only move over to other areas of the city as a result, the plan was generally received positively.

“A lot of people here see it as Breed trying to fix her own mistake,” said Frank Ma, a former law enforcement official who now works as a security advisor for businesses in San Francisco, to the Globe on Monday. “But she is doing something about it at least. And with police and law and order rather than those alternatives that have been all but useless in the city for the past few years.”

Opposition to the Mayor’s Plan

However, DA Boudin, who faces a recall election next year, as well as Board of Supervisors President  Shamann Walton and Public Defender Mano Raju gave a press conference on Monday in opposition to the Mayor’s crackdown.

All three noted that arrests and prosecutions would not get rid of the problems in the district and that evidence based alternatives, such as those focusing on things like housing, treatment, and general help, would work far more effectively.

“I’m outraged at the human suffering, flagrant violations of laws and safety concerns for families in the Tenderloin,” Boudin said on Monday. “We can’t arrest and prosecute our way out of problems that are afflicting the Tenderloin. Arresting people who are addicted to drugs, jailing people who have mental health struggles, putting folks who are vending hot dogs or other food on the streets in cages will not solve these problems, and they are certainly not the only tools available.”