More Stories Surface of Alleged SFPD Inaction on Crimes, Chief Claims 'Serious Morale Issues'
After a Chronicle report about police inaction toward a suspect trashing a downtown parklet, crime victims are coming out of the woodwork saying they were blown off too, but Chief Scott blames “serious morale issues.”
The SFPD appeared to do yeoman's work in apprehending the Union Square smash-and-grab suspects last November, but sentiment quickly turned when officers seemingly just sat and watched as a cannabis dispensary was burglarized in a story that surfaced the following week. Fast forward to February, when the Chronicle ran a story about the San Francisco Wine Society’s “best parklet in the city” being trashed by a vandal, with police reportedly questioning the suspect for a moment, but then leaving him and allowing him to proceed.
After the Chronicle published that parklet story, interviewing San Francisco Wine Society owner Danielle Kuzinich, several people contacted the Chronicle with more stories of police seemingly doing nothing over criminal complaints. Each of these stories is anecdotal, but the article also notes that arrest rates over reported crimes are lower than they’ve been years.
Link to tweet
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Supervisor Hillary Ronen seems determined to make an issue of this. Ronen wrote in a February 15 letter to SFPD Chief Bill Scott, “I am concerned that the political rift between the Police Department and District Attorney’s Office is causing a deliberate work stoppage by your Department.”
“Unfortunately, the facts show that the problem is getting worse,” Ronen’s letter continues. “According to San Francisco Police Department’s own published arrest data, only 8.1 percent of reported crimes in 2021 led to an arrest. This is the San Francisco Police Department’s lowest arrest rate in 10 years. Further, only 3.5 percent of property crimes in 2021 led to an arrest.”
And this may indeed be a political rift. Sure, there is plenty of angst against DA Chesa Boudin. But that has nothing to do with the SFPD’s laundry list of recent scandals, which include using a rape victim’s DNA to link to accuse her of other crimes. A minority of SFPD officers' tantrums over vaccination mandates did not help them in the court of public opinion.
https://sfist.com/2022/02/22/more-stories-surface-of-alleged-sfpd-inaction-on-crimes-chief-claims-serious-morale-issues/
Please tell us more how this is on the DA.
= new reply since forum marked as read
