San Francisco Mayor London Breed Proposes New Police Expansion Ballot Measure

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced on Tuesday that she is proposing a March 2024 ballot initiative that would ease several police restrictions.

Since becoming Mayor in 2018, Mayor Breed has had a flip-flopping approach when it comes to police funding. Initially, she was opposed to more police expansion, even helping lead the charge in the police defunding movement post-George Floyd in 2020. However, as these policies only escalated the crime in the city, with crime, as well as drug use, skyrocketing in the first several years of her tenure, she soon began backing friendlier police measures more and more. This began in late 2021, with Breed being in favor of increased crackdowns in the Tenderloin District.

This trend continued into 2022, when Breed appointed a new DA who went against more recent progressive policies following the recall of Chesa Boudin. This year, Breed has focused on re-expanding the SFPD, increasing both the number of officers and the amount of funding they receive. While these new policy shifts have largely been put into place to stop the negative effects that her earlier policies draining police resources did to the city, they have nonetheless been welcomed by the majority of city residents who want more action done against crime and drug use.

In addition, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have also been wishy washy when it comes to police support. In the past few years they have ruled against the expansion of police robot use in dangerous situations, yet have also approved new city budgets with more money going to the SFPD.

On Tuesday, Mayor Breed threw the question of if several restrictions against the SFPD should be eased to the public, rather than the Board of Supervisors, in her proposed new ballot initiative. Under her proposed measure, San Francisco citizens would vote on if police would be allowed to use and install surveillance cameras, AI, drones, and other similar technology. The Police Commission would also reform how the time of officers is spent, reducing paperwork to only being 20% of the job and giving them more time on the streets. Finally, the Police Commission itself would be reformed, increasing accountability.

Speaking from Alamo Square on Tuesday, Breed said that these proposed reforms, known as “Safer San Francisco”, would be on the ballot in March 2024.

Residents, workers, and businesses both small and large from across the City have been asking for more help on public safety. Today we are a launching a new measure to give the police the ability to be more effective and efficient to keep our communities safe. pic.twitter.com/NUDAVcElwc

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) October 17, 2023

“We need to give our officers the tools necessary to keep our communities safe and not leave them stuck behind a desk when they can be out on the street helping people,” said Mayor Breed. “There has been too much focus on adding bureaucracy to the work our officers do and putting up barriers to new technologies that can help improve policing in San Francisco.

“No more ‘No you can’t, no you can’t, no you can’t.’ Let’s get to a place of yes, so we can make our city safer. Can you imagine going to a city, a beautiful iconic city like San Francisco, and all of a sudden your entire trip is ruined because your passport is stolen? This has been going on for far too long?

“Some of the changes to policies have limited our officers’ ability to be as effective as we know we they can. People are always wondering why didn’t the police do this? Why didn’t the police do that? And it all goes back to many of these new, consistently changing, conflicting policies that have not helped with reforms. They have only made San Francisco less safe. The ballot measure will rein in the Police Commission, which is controlled by people who govern by ideology and personal interest, not by public safety or policing best practices.”

Support for, opposition against Breed’s ballot measure

Breed’s ballot proposal received a mixed reception on Tuesday. Law enforcement advocates immediately supported the new measure, with some city Supervisors, most notably Catherine Stefani, Matt Dorsey and Joel Engardio, being in favor of it.

“This is a smart-on-crime approach,” added Dorsey at the Alamo Square press conference. “The city’s restrictions on surveillance cameras amount to nothing less than a fentanyl dealer full employment act.”

However, her proposal also immediately received opposition. Many progressive lawmakers and civil rights supporters immediately blasted the plan, saying that it simply passed the buck from Breed to the voters themselves, and that it would expand police powers and surveilence technology during a time when it is needed less. Leading the opposition on Tuesday were two of Breed’s Mayoral challengers in the 2024 Mayoral race: Supervisor Ahsha Safai and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie.

“It’s not necessary to go to the ballot,” said Safai in a press release. “This just feels like rather than doing the hard work now today to get concrete results, to see many of these things play out and happen immediately, she’s proposing to put them on the ballot. It feels like a political ploy.”

Lurie added that “We need to support our police. We need a police chief that can do their job. We should use technology. My push is on the timing of this announcement. Why now? Why not years ago?

“After spending more than five years as mayor blaming everyone but herself for the city’s public safety crisis, the mayor is pointing fingers at a commission and police department that she already controls. Breed could have appointed civilian police commissioners who would have pursued these expanded police-power policies five years ago when she was elected mayor. She alienated her own appointee and lost control of the Police Commission. The body has since become her latest target of blame for the city’s woes, joining her passing the buck to the Board of Supervisors, the District Attorney, and judges, among others.”

Experts, however, said that the success of the ballot is too early to call now, and that Breed’s re-election success could be harmed if it doesn’t pass.

“This is an interesting play by Breed,” said Hannah Ryder a San Francisco-based election analyst. “She obviously needs some political goodwill now, some more positives for the election to spin away from everything wrong in the city, and something positive on the police. This covers that and gives the liability to the voters.

“However, if it fails, her opponents will quickly jump on it. Breed already is facing major backlash for the state the city is in now. Crime for sure, but homelessness, businesses pulling out, people leaving, drug issues. And those are just the ones most readily seen. This is a gamble, but it is one that would help the city, so it’s more like a calculated risk. Breed is trying, but as much as it is for public safety, it is also for political use.”

More on the proposed ballot initiative is to be released soon.