Refunding the San Francisco Police

Mayor London Breed undergoes a law-and-order conversion

WSJ editorial.

"As crime has risen, the defund-the-police movement has become a political liability even for Democrats in progressive cities. Exhibit A is San Francisco, where Mayor London Breed appears to have had a law-and-order conversion for the ages.

“It’s time that the reign of criminals who are destroying our city—it is time for it to come to an end,” Ms. Breed said Wednesday in a fiery speech that defied her previous tolerance for growing public disorder in her once charming city. “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies, and less tolerant of all the bull— that has destroyed our city.”

That’s a welcome statement, but it’s a reversal for Ms. Breed, who championed sizeable cuts to the police budget in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. The mayor now says she’ll introduce a supplement to the current budget to pay for more policing. She also wants more funding in the next budget for officer overtime and police-academy classes. 

Ms. Breed added that one immediate priority is “fixing the lights, adding additional lighting in very dark areas, dealing with broken trash cans and trash all over the neighborhood.” She wants to target open-air drug dealing, and she’s also coordinating with police and the sheriff’s office on a felony warrant sweep. That sounds suspiciously like broken-windows policing.  

What prompted this change of heart? Ms. Breed acknowledged Wednesday that “the fact is things have gotten worse over time.” 

No kidding. By Dec. 12, San Francisco had 53 homicides this year, up from 48 in all of 2020 and 41 in 2019. Smash-and-grab robbery gangs and shoplifting in the city have become global viral videos, and police data show an 18% increase in larcenies since last year. Homeless camps on the street, drug use, and public disorder are rampant.

Residents are fed up with the lawlessness, and tourists are afraid to visit. San Francisco’s radical district attorney, Chesa Boudin, faces a recall election in June. There’s a lot of ruin in a city, but apparently even the progressives in San Francisco may have had enough."