>> going and thank you for being here. before i start i wto introduce ■rmayor london breed, lieutenant tom guirthsp [indiscernible] assistant chief of operations, lazar our police officer association mccray. thank you all for being here and attending the press conference this morning. rst of all, we are here to talk about something very exciting to us that's the introduction of our drone program in the s lice department. before i go further, i like to give thanks to our mayor, lobreeand our da for being here, because it i her leadership that got us here and proposition e voters passed in march. excited to sfpd

successfully launched our drone program and this is all thanks to our mayor. drones have truly been a game changer for the police departm think of this, we have been without air support over 24 years since the early 2000 and the officers have tremendous at their finger tips other law enforcement ag regularly use. drones offer major benefits that the captain and lieuten want will discuss shortly. benefits include, faster response times, situational awareness, tactical tools, more precision, de-escalation, more information to formulate a plan, officer safety enhanced, avoiding in cessy police chases integration with technology such as cameras we are the city as we speak. this is truly force multiplayer and really in light of all our staffing orgenot have come at a better time. our first phase of the drone

program included the purchase of 6 drones with y. drones already assisted sfpd numerous cases including a sexual assault suspect, automobile burglary, 4th of july may hame to de-escalation and bring to successful anresolution very quickly, much quicker then years, and we also arrested violent and ] wanted fugitives with help of the drone tech nalg. have policies in place to insure drones are use said reasonably and responsibility with safeguards to all the drone opraerts have certification and we plan to incsóasof drones in the months to continue to drive down crime in san francisco. we integrating drones with

other techgysuthe alpr blic safety cameras to effective and efficiently respond ce. crime is down in san francisco. it is down lower past decade an we think we our officers are working very very hard to make sure that is the safest city in america and we will continue this trend with th help of drones. our violent crime is down 12 percent, prairpt crime is35 percent, and again, i have to give thanks to our leader our city, mayor breed for making this all happen. and now, without further ado, i will introduce mar london breed. >> thank you f thank you to our district attorney oke jenkins, the pla president lieutenant acey francisco police department

joining us today.is partnership didn't jus happen. it happened because we together. it all started when last year i had a opportunity to visit a number of our stations in our police stations and i had conver sations withrs directly. the feedback time and time again is, we anjobs, but we need more tools to do a better job fo of san francisco, and they would talk to me about technology and how other jurisdictions were using this technology and how effective it was. last year in together and we made an announcement ed, oposition e was born. and we were alamo square where we know is a notoplace for car break ins. we stood there to talk specifically about using technology, not just drone

technology, surveillance technology and giving offices the tool they reportings are cameras that can allow them to not only spend more team streets but effectively do the job of police work that as the chief has mentioned, leads to better and r and i couldn't be more happy that the technology that putting out there, whether it is the flock as license plate readers and the surveillance technology that will also be out there on the streets of sa to these drones. this is a game-changer an must say that, i didn't think it would be as impactful as has en. it has been a game-changeer for our city. lsan francisco saw the lowest crime rate we have seen in 10 ar not including the pandemic. this year we are even 34 en we were in 2023 and this

technology has a real game-changeer. we are excited about what this means. wet people who are committing crimes in our city, whare not arrested in days but arrested in hours, and havingthis technology has added additional value. but despite this tel appreciate the fact that this department has been working ly e bait retail theft operation, car operation and with this new technology we to combat issues plaguing our city and they are we will see more and more change result of this. but i want to be very clear, when you san francisco, there will be consequences.district attorney because she is ecthoscases rchlt but we have not abandon values of giving providing a robustamount of programs

that get people on the right path and working tions and communities in order to help people. once those lines are crossed, we have a job to do. to protect public safety in and now with these technology tools, it is a and more importantly, there is more to come. this is only the beginning, the lte alre impacts in our department, and i am we roll out, as i said earlier, mo surveillance technology, training more of our officers be certified and use drone technology and making sure that we are taking age of every opportunity to keep the entire city of an we are really excited about this and looking forward to come. >> thank you mayor. now we'll hear from captain

chris and lieutenant tom mcguire. before we starme thank them for their leadership. proposition e passed in have go this program together ■#actually procured a drone, it goes beyond the ic is really instrumental that these gentleman along with assistant chief lazar and many others in thde their leadership made this happen. before i turn it over to them, i also want ank the other city departments, including our contract n adfrom the mayor's and the mayor's office staff and many ■z th who have really did this with speed unheard of in our city, so the sense of urgency is the point i'm try ogmake here. we have a sense of urgency to make this ci and do the things in the city the people deserve and urgency is the reason we are here now, not even 6 months

we launched the drone program. with that, i'll turn it over to captain dellgandio and lieutenant mcguire. >> thank good morning. i'm crist, the commanding officer of strategic investigation unit. self along lieutenant tom mcguire over see the drone bram. share success stories with you. this is from july 4, obviously. fireworks main our city. we are able for the first time dre up overhead and get a visual observation on the ground without putting officers in danger. while this footage was being streamed to us, we are able to come up with a strategic plan officers

in place and disrupt this activity. as yowill see you will see the officers move inand disrupt the fireworks set and--chases folks out of there to create a safe environment for folks ■; we are able to de-escalate the situation becae we had a visual observation what was going on from overhead. again, as you can see, the fire works stopped and the folks dispersed. >> [indiscernible]■ it is very difficult [indiscernible] with this tool

it enhanced our ability. [indiscernible]dre operators in there bay area and he is able to maintain the footage we were able to coordinate resources on the 7 and [indiscernible] embarcadero and we are able to do this in a safe efficient manner. without the drone it is nearly impossible [indiscernible] vey successful. the next day, that happened friday night, this was the saturday night and rnible] vehicle, stolen plates. [indiscernible] alerted us to and some of the officers spotted it out in the area with these

individuals [indiscernible] situational awareness are able to coordinat with resources on the ground. [indiscernible] prevengous pursuit and able to get all the luggage back. they were very pleasean tried to get everything back intact and we l of success. with this tool the officers are able to be safe and and successful early in the game. again, [indiscernible] >> thank you captain and now i like to introduce to our district attorney, ooke jenkins. >> thank you chief and i like to thank the police depart d our mayor london breed for working together to make this possible.■

what you just saw is the wave of the future anddlfrancisco had been far behind the curve in having the technology th edas a city to make sure that we can curb crime. anjuappreciate the two of them working together to make sure san francisco as a city hat it needs to not only react once a crime is committed, but hopefully have a system that ultimately begins to der future crime, because thats what we wa fewer victims of vime in our city and send a the beginning of able message that if you do things in our city that are illegal you be caught. a part why i'm here is to no th the two-second and third video ysaw resulted in a arrest, but resulted in charges filed by ofce against the individuals who participated in the auto-burglaries. we have to look at the steps of the ses we want to

arrest and also want to have the evidence we ee the individuals to hold them s accountable and as a result that arrest and footage we re able to file auto-burb burglary charges and tw are repeat offenders. as a lawyer, jurors in 2024 expect to see what happened. they dont just want to be by a police officer what they saw or what their persiey would prefer to have the ability to tethe evidence in a case, and as you just saw, this is going to key evidence that my prosecutors can use in the courtroom the jury that the correct person was arrested, identity wise convey and demonstrate to them the specific conduct that occurred and who is

that is why i have been supportive of the use of gy from the very beginning because as prosecutors we have to know we arright pers to prove that in court anthis technology will be essential in allowing us to do so. again, i commend the san francisco police department for not being a bureaucratic agency that took months to figure t onhoto get and acquire this technology but how to use it. thank you for being on and getting right to it and tother and i think that's also the message today, no longer we have divided leadership in the city, we are all on the same page want san francisco to go and that is to be a safer city for residents and for its visitors and business owners and we are on our way there. thank you. >> thank da jenkins. in closing to sum up what you d heretoday,b two of the three

incidents we showed you involved into cars, which plagued our city for decades. eak today, we are 56 percent down in car break-ins.5 about 5700 or so car break-ins this time last over 13,000. this technology is only as good aspeop who are willing to use it and effectively and fairly, ■ ■and thanks for the use of this technology goes to the people in front of you. the lieutenant and captain and sergeant and also the officers, because they have embraced this and as the mayor said, they for it, they embraced and are putting to goo. we believe, we believe with all our hearts this is the -chaeer we told you it and is and crime it is low we haven'tsethat we can continue to do crime and drive

it down further. director crime strategy ryan in the room. ryan please raise your hand. wh do and how we use the technology and and his team are part of strategy to make sure we are using this effective and in a way that meets your ap the people of san francisco and also make sure we can continue to drive i said earlier, we have a sense of urgency here and we are taking extremely serious and we believe this is a game-changeer of technology so thank you mayor, thank you da and everybody here and we'll up for quess. >> quick question, my understanding in had the history of san francisco aerial support unit [indiscernible] what are some of the risks using drones--it is obvious because some cirealize san francisco doesn't have a helicopter

support program. can you talk about the of aerial support from drones [indiscernible] are risks with any piece of equipment. drones can crash.e tenology is . some of our technology on avoidance technology where it is all most impossible to crash into an.comply with f a s.a there is flight patterns we have to be concerned with, but those thng■gzthe diligence of our team, we have done a lot of research and looked policies and counties and cities around us. done field trips to cities, so we believe we have taken the into account and policy reflect that. we two unit orders and we believe we have kethat into account. there is always risk with equipment but drones are fairly sa.w not unlike a helicopter, if a

drone shesit could cause injury but you are not investing nearly as much in the few thousand dollars if that as opd or more for a helicopter and i believe in helicopters, but short that, this technology is really really what we need. >> can you give [indiscernible] deployment. are these officers staged obletic areas in the city and that is where you are deploying do you respond quickly? >> the investigation of crime. prop d calls for, if we can use in one of the cases you just saw, we we able to avoid a pursuit because officers were able to the spike strips down, so when the suspects tried to run, they couldn't. what it is all about. we want to prevent as much as we cae and pursue suited from

occurring, but in the event we can't evthm, it is effective and the bottom line is enthe people doing the crimes. we use for investigation of people doing crime and at the end some maybe during the pursuit. what the drone is capable of and that's proposition called for and how we have been deploying. >> [indiscernible] problematic areas around those zones? >> it is driven by the investigations. as lieutenant mcguire pointed out, one yo just saw started with the flock alpr alerting the stolen vehicle is driving around the the officer spotted the vehicle and the drone saw the vehicle and able to see committing more them. that is how effective the

drones can >> [indiscernible] this violates state surveillance technology? ion on >> we don't believe we areviting state we believe we are in compliance with state law. we submitted a ordinance board of supervisor june 3, the dinae is still pending. state law and city and county ordinances, we have basically to put this program in place and then that evaluated and approve so when the ■ will be in it because we report for the prus we believe we are in total compliance with state law. r those concerned about privacy issues, to verify these drones are not surveilling passively. that is my first question. question about how long the video is stored once that video is captured and where is it stored? ar if it is first amendment type

of thing that is up necessitating the deployment of drowns because of nagement and crowd control situations. unless there is crimes committed we don't store and save that. if it is a criminal atspoke abo until the crime and case and resolved. other is it--30 days. 30 days we purge information, unless we can tie it to a crime. >> the drones are not passively surveilling and not just launched to watch over, unless there is a [indiscernible] >> that's correct. we are not ones over the city just for unknown purpose. when we deploy these drones it is connected to a criminal investigation like you saw on the 4th of july with fireworks, that situation was getting out

of control very quiy. those type of situations we deploy. we dont just passel looking for something. there are specific missio focused on specific crime or critical incident. >> two more questions. [indiscernible] recent complaints that about the new foot pursuit policy? >> it will be helpful ■vr sure. we don't have the benefit or did not have the beneof having aerial support, and especially in a foot perimeter.en you are tr that is a game changer. i use that word but it because what happens when you don't have that type of support, you are much quicker to go into apprehension mode.rs till you catch them. when you have thluxury of aerial support you can slow things down, you can set up e these drones are very effective in

termsofg th. the operators know what they are log r,get the perimeter set, it is safer all around and effect ive and it is big deal. we believe it enhances our foot pursuit policy. >> how is this program overall cost the city? >>had that right now. i think we are-- let's see-- >> we'll get that for you. >> yeah. yeah, so total cost so far been $35 anthat--in our budget this

year, thanks to the board and mayor we plan to purchase more, so that cost will go up as wthe drone conversation, there is claims made that in regards to-all the encamps cleared right now that has been people arrested or jailed. is there-can you comment on that or is theretiars or anything like that? >> is drone question or separate? >> separate. >> okay. let me just this, even though it is not a drone question, our officers have been instructed to support the law. now the supreme court made their decision t out department notice what we can and can't do, what we can enforce, which law,so the officers have been instructed to do that. we want a clean safe ■:ty and

that's a part of it. >> thanks for coming out. [♪music♪] i'm jennifer and i am a producer and specialist with the city of san francisco. i have been here for almost 25 years. ended up in production at sf

■5. before this i attended junior college ind i had a teacher the was a in her field. a woman who started in the 60s. in the field creating andg stories and i wanted do this. >> being a woman in thedcast i challenges. gave me the motivation to work harder. to save myself and gave me purpose and mad to learn more. not take things for granted. i would seek out people who had certain skills like y. i don't know editting can you teach me. i don't know this cam areme? and then i would learn and i would become good and i would pass this o. and i think that they have it that way and it isin i enjoy.

unit at sfgov being part of a here for almost 25 years it is a family. support each other and want to see each other succeed and grow. that makes it fun to come to work every day and to tell shine a light on people departments. that feels good. i enjoy doing that work with colleagues. and yea, i love my job.eaclear a

>> okay. >> om b. >> here. >> commissioner fishing. >> here. >> a angeles. >> commissioner. >> sanchez. >> commissioner wiseman. >> is she here. >> okay. hi. >> um, vice president alderin and vice presidenthere. >> thank you very much. so the information and transcription certifies and information how t posted onlin and two commissioners operating by telling