Less than four years after she slashed law-enforcement funding at the behest of the “Defund the Police” movement, San Francisco mayor London Breed wants to bump police funding to record levels despite the city’s looming $790 million budget deficit.
Ahead of a November election where public safety is expected to be a top issue, Breed is proposing to boost funding for public safety by over $100 million. The bulk of that increase, or $46.7 million, would go to the city’s police department, which would have a record high budget of $821.6 million next year, up from $774.9 million.
The fire department, sheriff’s office, district attorney’s office, and the city’s emergency management department would also see budget increases of between 2 percent and 11 percent each under Breed’s proposal, according to the mayor’s office.
As part of her plan, Breed is proposing four police academy classes with at least 50 recruits over the next year to help plug a massive officer shortage. One recent staffing analysis found that the department is about 500 officers short of recommended levels.
Breed is also proposing to spend $3.7 million on new policing technologies, including drones and surveillance cameras, which voters authorized in March. She is also calling for three new academies to add up to 45 new 911 dispatchers, and continued funding for a multi-agency center aimed at cracking down on open-air drug markets.
“We have made real progress on public safety in San Francisco, but this is a moment to double down, not to let up,” Breed said in a prepared statement on Thursday, noting that it is a core responsibility of city government to “keep our residents, businesses, workers, and visitors safe.”
The proposed budget increase for the police department and sheriff’s office is a marked turn from the summer of 2020, when Breed cut $120 million from those departments. In the wake of the George Floyd-inspired racial justice protests and riots, Breed redirected that money to addressing disparities in the black community, according to news accounts.
“With this budget, we are listening to the community and prioritizing investments in the African American community around housing, mental health and wellness, workforce development, economic justice, education, advocacy and accountability,” she said then.
Law-enforcement leaders warned that the cuts would impact their ability to respond to emergencies. Crime skyrocketed. Open-air drug markets and homeless camps proliferated. Businesses shuttered due to spiraling street conditions. Government workers were directed to work from home for their own safety.
By the end of 2021, Breed had started to rethink her soft-on-crime strategy, promising to end the “the reign of criminals who are destroying our city.”
In her statement on Thursday, Breed touted progress on combatting crime in the city, declaring that crime is at a ten-year low, and that gun violence has dropped considerably — though some business owners, residents, and law enforcement leaders question whether the statistics tell the whole story about crime in San Francisco.
San Francisco is facing down a projected $790 million shortfall over the next two years. Breed’s proposal to boost public-safety funding will likely face intense pushback from departments and nonprofits bracing for cuts and from far-left activists who haven’t given up on their goal of rolling back police power.
Breed, who is facing four serious challengers in November, is expected to release a complete budget proposal on Friday.