to speak to you this morning. before i -- before the mayor takes the make phone, i want to say a few words and introduce our mayor, london breene. it's been an incredible year. 2020, first part of 2021 has been a very challenging year for all of us. i can't be more proud of being a part of a city under the leadership with our mayor. we saw what true leadership means. in the midst of a global pandemic, san francisco was the first to take action to really get in front of what was facing us. we saw the result. we led across the board in terms of big cities, the amount of

preventing death. the shelter in place order which our mayor's leadership started really a national movement on shelter in place. we got into june with the george floyd murder that followed that. we had had our mayor step up and respond to the challenge to get the resources that we needed to really put the rioted and the civil unrest and looting and fires down really quickly. we saw where a lot of cities continued to have problems for months. we saw really a peaceful summer here last summer given all that was going on in our country. leadership is important. people are important. staffing is important. we're going to talk a little bit

about all of that today. the other thing that i'd like to say that with our mayor and staffing and all the issues i just brought up. it didn't just start when she became mayor. she was the first supervisor that i met when i got here on the board of supervisors. she has been supportive from the day a riefed. riefed. arrived. i appreciate it, the san francisco police department appreciate it. without further adieu, i would like to introduce our mayor, london breene. >> : thank you, chief. it's definitely great to be here with all of you in person today. it's been a very very challenging 15 months. to be here in person is so significant. we appreciate it a lot more as a

result of what we had to do in terms of our actions during covid. here we are, san francisco with over 82 percent of our residents who have been vaccinated. we're doing great in comparison to other major cities. i'm grateful to the people of this city who stepped up and made that difference. we're seeing a whole other spot light being placed on san francisco. on the one hand with covid what we've seen is a lot of praise and support, san francisco has gotten a lot of great attention as it relate it covid. but sadly as it relate it crime, we've gotten a lot of negative attention. when you think about where we were last year during the holiday july 4th, we saw unprecedented shootings. the death of a young six year

old boy in the bay view hunter's point community. it was heart breaking. when i think about what happened last year with violent crime and where we were even this past forth of july weekend. we saw not one homicide over that weekend time period. just recently lory was here from chicago. i'm sure you have been hearing about the unprecedented amount of gun violence in chicago. over a hundred shootings over the week anne. weekend.here in san francisco we nowhere near that. we've gotten to a better place. not perfect. but a better place than what's being highlighted now. we've seen a lot of the attacks on our elderly particularly our asian seniors.

the videos are not just going viral in san francisco but all over the world. what's not going viral is every single instance our police department have arrested many of the people in these particular crimes. there have been arrested sadly in the death of jays young. the guy, we saw the video of him riding the bicycle into the walgreens. he has been arrested and is currently awaiting trial. the case of the man walking home from the post office who was stabbed and robbed. his perpetrator was arrested. the man in the franklin street market, i beloved member of the community, his perpetrator has been arrested. two people were stabbed, that

perpetrator has been arrested. what is not getting the attention is the fact that when you come to san francisco and commit a crime, you will be arrested by this police department. our investigators and the work that they do to bring people to justice has been extraordinary. when we talk about the burglar burglaries and car break ins perpetrated by ten groups of people. when those groups get arrested, we see those car break ins go down significantly. at the end of the day we have to make sure that accountability is a part of this. one of the big conversations that is happening around defunding the police is not taking into account all the incredible work san francisco has done to invest in program that's help to prevent crimes from happening in the first

place. an unprecedented investment of $65 million in my budget to help with street violence prevention and victim services. all the incredible work, thank you for the work that you do to reach out to the families who sadly are victims of violent crimes. a lot of investment preventing these crimes from happening. wellness teams out in the communities checking on those who are suffering from mental illness and addiction. a sobering center. a street crisis response team who are responding to the calls who don't know what to do when they see people screaming and unresponsive in the streets. mental health beds. an unprecedented investment. all of these things are a part of our network of trying to address public safety.

it's not just about funding or defunding the police. not just about funding one program over another. it's a comprehensive strategy to make sure the right investments are being made to deal with the challenges that exist. going back to covid, we use the data and the science. what we should do as a city. that's what we did in this year's budget. the chief today is going to talk a lot about the statistics because there's a lot of misinformation out there about what's happening in san francisco. we know that numbers don't matter when you're the victim of a crime, any crime in any capacity. at the end of the day we have to use this data to make a decision about our policies an our investments. in the coming months we're going to be making some significant changes. we are not prepared to reveal all of our plans to help address

some of these issues around these retail thefts and holding companies accountable like amazon to not do their due diligence to vet these stolen goods. we have to make sure there are tools to hold people accountable but more importantly, we have to look at the data and allow that to help guide us. finally as we move forward, we need police officers. we have a number of officers retiring, this work just doesn't happen. we have a number of officers retiring, we have others leaving the force for different reasons. we need to back fill those officers. i'm hopeful that the work we're doing to make those investments to bring those officers out on the streets to bring down crime as well are significant.

work withing our partners, ambassadors has everything to do with prevention and also accountability. we have to reability when a crime is committed but the best case scenario is to make sure that crime never happens in the first place. here in san francisco, yes, like any major city we have our challenges. at the end of the day we're going to work hard to step up and do everything we can to make the right investments, arrests, hold people accountable and do what we can to look at the data and make the appropriate changes to our system for the safety of our city. i want to thank all of you for being here today. i want to thank the men and women of the police department. if you take nothing from this event, this press conference today that you go down the laundry list of all of those crimes that have been committed

here in san francisco over the past year. you look especially at the violent crimes in particular and look at the arrests that have been made and start to highlight those in a way that they've been highlighted in terms of when the videos went viral. when you see the incredible work that goes into the investigation part of it an arrests and all the things this san francisco police department is doing to bring justice to those families that are victims, you would be proud of the work being done. i truly am. thank you for all being here today. thank you chief scott. he will go over the the statistics so you can see in comparison where we are with the crimes in san francisco. >> : thank you mayor. i know the mayor touched on public perceptions, i think it's

important to start by acknowledging people's fear about crime particularly when these videos go viral. these things get in our head. people start to believe that is our city. that is not our city. today's news conference i'm going to show you some comparative numbers. think of this as a mid year check in. computer statistics. it's a program police departments across the country use to perform statistics to understand where their cities are in terms of statistics. it allows us to reduce those crimes. let me be very clear about something, about two things. those numbers you're about to see represent human beings. they represent people, i don't

want to be dehumanizing when i talk about numbers an statistics. we understand because we see it day in and day out, these are people. our brothers, sisters, nephews, aunts, friends that are being victimized. it's important to take a step back and remember that statistics represent people. what we see on some of these videos are brazen crimes. there's no statistic on the outlook and how we perceive what's going on in our city. that's why police officers are so important. most of us feel more comfortable when thee see officers in their neighborhood. that's our justification for the

reality of our officers being on the beat and being on the street to make people feel safer. these crimes aren't as frequent as many people think but it's still unsettling. most of these crimes are solved and we'll continue to do that. i want to start by really lifting up what's going on here in our city. it starts with the members of the san francisco police department. i'm the chief of police, you see command staff members on the wall here. the mayor. the work is being done by the members, the patrol officers. day in day out solving crimes, working with the community and doing what we need to do to keep our city safe. still, even when we have everything to work right, it seems like it's not enough.

you've heard this cliche before. we can't arrest our way out of problems. we need to make arrests and hold people accountable. the other side of that equation is officers on the street. this mayor, from day one, has been very definitive about the need to have officers on the beat. she supported the budget and staffing. we need to have staffing to balance the other side of the equation. holding people accountable that will always be one half of the equation. the other side we struggle with is keeping enough officers on the street so you see them in your communities to prevent what is happening from happening. according to city beat, 75% of san franciscans want more sfpd

officers in high crime areas. seventy six percent want expanded community policing through their neighborhoods and sixty four percent want more sfpd office everies in busy areas where we have these brazen crimes that we've seen on video. china town included. that's why we're so appreciative of what's happening with the mayor's leadership and community members calling to staff this department adequately so we can do our jobs. that is not going to go away. we'll continue to advocate for what we need to keep this city safe. every number represents a human being, even someone has suffered a loss of injury sometimes the damage is irrevokable.

homicides, we have people in this room that have lost members of their family both in uniform and out of uniform. people in this family who have had their houses and cars broken into. we all know how that feels when it happens to you. you don't care about statistics. it happened to me and turned my life upside down. we understand that. that's why it is so important to work with our community. through the mayor's leadership and urging we established a community liaison unit to help people get through the turmoil of being victimizeled. to pre vied a better service. we want to prevent it in the first place but when it happens people need help to navigate the system and need help. that's what the system does.

let's go to our statistics. this is our mid year statistics and how we're going to frame the conversation to show you year to date and mid year statistics we're going to take a look back so can you compare where we were 2018 and 2017 same time of year. one of the things that make this time of year challenging and unique. last year we had people inside their homes, we didn't have the tourist that's we normally have. it's hard to get a gauge on where we are in crime when you only look at last year. we're going look at the last three years to get a perspective of where we are an where we've been. homicides last year. we are up somewhat from where we were this time last year. if you look at 2019, 2018, 2017

you see pretty consistent numbers. we're up four this year. if you go back to 2017 we're down pretty significantly from 2017, even 2016 and up slightly from 2015. next slide, let me say a few things about that. some of our strategies that we've introduced this year include a partnership with an entity called california partnership for safe communities. one of the things among the many we want to do with homicides and this speaks to what the mayor said earlier is investigate the root causes. our investigators do a magnificent job of clearing homicide cases. the other side of that is what can we do for the individuals

most at risk for being involved in a shooting or homicide either as a victim or as a perpetrator. what can we do for those individuals and families to provent it. our strategy moving forward is to get to that issue. that's what the mayor spoke to with the partnerships. identify the people most at risk who are people of color. black and brown men. that's not necessarily policing. we're a conduit to get services to the families most at risk. our job is to prevent and solve crime and get other people involved to address those issues to make the situation better. let's go to gun violence. since 2016 this is where we're having some challenges.

2021 we're almost double where we were last year in terms of gun violence. this includes fatal and non fatal shootings. 2019, 2020 we were in the mid fifties. you can see that we're not terribly higher than we were in 2016, 17, and 18. we're almost double where we were in the last two years. part of the strategies i just mentioned will help address that. it building relationships with the community members that are necessary to get a handle on this issue. we have commander pete who are a big part of this along with our investigations bureau, this brings all this together. our strategies on gun violence are holistic. we have to get a handle on this.

illegal legal ghost guns. the number of illegal ghost guns that we con fist kateed over the last four years have increased exponentially. these are guns that materialize in people's homes. they are dangerous, unregulated and in our city. we're addressing that with our partners from atf and our federal partners. we have an increase in con -- next we'll go to sexual assaults. here is an area that i'm pleased

to say is far below where it was the last few years. when you look at 2019 to 2020. this was a significant drop. 2021 we continue to go down in that area. still that's 88 victims that have been sexually assaulted, far too many. we're working with the district attorney and advocacy groups. including treatment and services to the victims. that's a par of our plan, if you will, to get better in all of those areas. we do okay. we can always get better. we dropped sexual assaults from eleven cases to nineteen case nz june. that's a huge increase from a month to month perspective.

it's something we want to keep an eye on because that's concerned. we want to make sure we keep control of that. next we'll go to robberies. again, videos drive perception. when you see people getting robbed. when you see elderly victims get getting robbed and they go viral. here is the reality. our robberies from 2018 to year to date have gone down each year. we hope to continue that by year's end. if we continue the trend, we hope to keep this going. robberies are one of the categories where cops in the street matter. police officers in the street really matter when it comes to driving down robberies.

people are less likely to rob people when they see officers nearby. that's a fact, it's proven. it's tried and true. i can't say it enough, we need officers on the street to keep this going in the right direction. some of our high traffic corridors, our tourist areas. people enjoying themselves. we have to see police officers out there. the mayor did market vibrancy plan. we have seen robberies cut by 3. it matters when police officers are on their beat and able to stay on their beat. we want to continue that trend an make sure we keep that going in the right direction.

aggravated assault is our next category. if you look at the five year period, again, this is some of the videos that we see happening that go viral. when you look at where we are now compared to where we were just three years ago, we're actually doing okay. i want to say this. we know that not all crime rz ce reported. there's always a degree of under reporting of crime. we encourage people to report if they are victimized. that's how we know what going on and how we deploy. if you look at 2018, 2019, 2020. you see a significant drop. we are below where we were in

2019 our precovid year. can we do better? yes. we're not doing terribly and we want to keep that trend going as well. again, research. the university of california, they started the foot beat deployment to see how that effected aggravated assault. it's proven, cops matter. when we put them in those areas, high corridor areas, assaults went down. we know that matters. that's been proven by research. next topic is burglaries. as we talk about property crime, the narrative in san francisco has been car break ins. it's been that way for a long time. here is an area we're struggling somewhat in terms of increases.

we saw this trend start even before covid. last year we started to see burglaries go up. we started to see other types of crime go down. could there have been some type of displacement? maybe. a lot of those were garage type burglaries. tools, bicycles. the good news is we started the year off really in a hole and over the last three and a half four months, we've seen burglaries decrease. at a about four percent increase year to date. it's still an increase. some of the things we've done is made some drastic change nzs in

deproiment. deployment. a lot of these crimes happen overnight and we had to make that adjustment. continue to keep these people off balance to let these people know that you'll see officers overnight. burglaries are up. we are going in the right direction compared to the way we started the year off. 2020, particularly last summer we had a spike because of the civil unrest. we had a lot of looting but we were able to get that under control. we have to compare it. next we'll go to larceny theft. retail theft is in that category. as you can see from 2017 and

these are mid year numbers to now, it's been a steady decrease in this category. i will give you not every crime reported. we can only go by what we know. it's counter to the narrative. not to say that these things that are happening, they are brazen and heinous. they need to stop and people held accountable. the statistics are in front of you. much work needs to be done in retail theft. a lot of the things the mayor said are coming into play. it's very challenging. what we can control is what we can control. that's our strategies an tactics. give the da the best cases we

can give them. when these crimes do have them particularly when they are crews that were mentioned earlier, we identify who they are an bring them to account for these crimes. we do a pretty good job at that. we have to get better. this is something that people -- it's personal to me when people think what they see on the video is what we represent. we all work and live here, it's a good city and safe city. that's not what you think when you see a guy ate local pharmacy and having at it with someone. they're in jail. we will catch you. make no mistakes about that. we're good at what we do.

we'll keep going until we catch the people responsible for these crimes. we hope to keep that going in the right direction and listen the frequency of these viral videos that we keep seeing on news and social media. next category is car break ins. here is another thing that tends to go viral. if you look at where we were in 2017, it was the worst year we had ever had. we ended that year with over 30,000 car break inns. ins. we shifted our focus.

car break ins that continued in 2019 and 2020. we're starting to go back up. we'll get a handle on that. put together a plan that we believe will make a difference. more officers on beat. particularly in the corridors that people visit our cities. that's where our problems are concentrated and that's where we will be. we have to be there. we have to be consistent about our deployment. we'll be consistent in our arrests and we also have to continue to drive some of these things down. we are up seven hundred crimes

from where we were last year. we need the officers to do the work. we're going to make due with what we have until we start to get academy classes through. we'll make it happen. this is is the image of our city that we're talking about. you can come to san francisco. it's a safe city. sfpd, the mayor, elected officials. we got your back. next category, auto theft. auto thefts are up. that's a two year trend. we started to see that also in 2020 before covid. that trend continued not as significantly. less of an increase this year but it's still up. that is also an issue that we need to get a handle on. if you look at where we were

back in 2015, we're down pretty significantly but it's after a good year in 2018 and it went up a little bit, we're starting to go back up. it's pretty significant from 2019 to 202 #. 2021. these are hard crimes to solve. we're going to do everything we can to keep this under wraps and under control as well. the auto thefts are middle of the night type of crimes as well. that's where nighttime deployment can can impact some. it's a difficult case. most of all the thefts we recover a lot of cars that get recovered in other

jurisdictions. when your car gets stolen, you don't care what is stealing it, you just want your car back. that is our mid year statistic. you can see when you look at these over time, it paints a much different picture than watching a video that goes viral. i don't want to be dismissive of the videos because they are brazen and heinous and awful. we need to prevent those things from happening and arrest the people doing it. we want to keep perspective on the reality of what's really happening in terms of crime activity in our city. i hope this provided some perspective for you. that concludes our presentation.

we'll be available for some questions.

>> the bicycle coalition was giving away 33 bicycles so i applied. i was happy to receive one of them. >> the community bike build program is the san francisco coalition's way of spreading the joy of biking and freedom of biking to residents who may not have access to affordable transportation. the city has an ordinance that we worked with them on back in 2014 that requires city agency

goes to give organizations like the san francisco bicycle organization a chance to take bicycles abandoned and put them to good use or find new homes for them. the partnerships with organizations generally with organizations that are working with low income individuals or families or people who are transportation dependent. we ask them to identify individuals who would greatly benefit from a bicycle. we make a list of people and their heights to match them to a bicycle that would suit their lifestyle and age and height. >> bicycle i received has impacted my life so greatly. it is not only a form of recreation. it is also a means of getting connected with the community through bike rides and it is also just a feeling of freedom. i really appreciate it. i am very thankful.

>> we teach a class. they have to attend a one hour class. things like how to change lanes, how to make a left turn, right turn, how to ride around cars. after that class, then we would give everyone a test chance -- chance to test ride. >> we are giving them as a way to get around the city. >> just the joy of like seeing people test drive the bicycles in the small area, there is no real word. i guess enjoyable is a word i could use. that doesn't describe the kind of warm feelings you feel in your heart giving someone that sense of freedom and maybe they haven't ridden a bike in years.

these folks are older than the normal crowd of people we give bicycles away to. take my picture on my bike. that was a great experience. there were smiles all around. the recipients, myself, supervisor, everyone was happy to be a part of this joyous occasion. at the end we normally do a group ride to see people ride off with these huge smiles on their faces is a great experience. >> if someone is interested in volunteering, we have a special section on the website sf bike.org/volunteer you can sign up for both events. we have given away 855 bicycles, 376 last year. we are growing each and every year. i hope to top that 376 this

year. we frequently do events in bayview. the spaces are for people to come and work on their own bikes or learn skills and give them access to something that they may not have had access to. >> for me this is a fun way to get outside and be active. most of the time the kids will be in the house. this is a fun way to do something. >> you get fresh air and you don't just stay in the house all day. it is a good way to exercise. >> the bicycle coalition has a bicycle program for every community in san francisco. it is connecting the young, older community. it is a wonderful outlet for the community to come together to have some good clean fun. it has opened to many doors to the young people that will usually might not have a

bicycle. i have seen them and they are thankful and i am thankful for thankful and i am thankful for >> we are right now in outer richmond in the last business area of this city. this area of merchants is in the most western part of san francisco, continue blocks down the street they're going to fall into the pacific ocean. two blocks over you're going to have golden gate park. there is japanese, chinese,

hamburgers, italian, you don't have to cook. you can just walk up and down the street and you can get your cheese. i love it. but the a very multicultural place with people from everywhere. it's just a wonderful environment. i love the richmond district. >> and my wife and i own a café we have specialty coffee drinks, your typical lattes and mochas and cappuccinos, and for lunches, sandwiches and soup and salad. made fresh to order. we have something for everybody >> my shop is in a very cool part of the city but that's one of the reasons why we provide such warm and generous treats, both physically and emotionally (♪♪) >> it's an old-fashioned general store.

they have coffee. other than that what we sell is fishing equipment. go out and have a good time. >> one of my customers that has been coming here for years has always said this is my favorite store. when i get married i'm coming in your store. and then he in his wedding outfit and she in a beautiful dress came in here in between getting married at lands end and to the reception, unbelievable. (♪♪) >> the new public health order that we're announcing will require san franciscans to remain at home with exceptions only for essential outings.

>> when the pandemic first hit we kind of saw the writing on the walls that potentially the city is going to shut all businesses down. >> it was scary because it was such an unknown of how things were going to pan out. i honestly thought that this might be the end of our business. we're just a small business and we still need daily customers. >> i think that everybody was on edge. nobody was untouched. it was very silent. >> as a business owner, you know, things don't just stop, right? you've still got your rent, and all of the overhead, it's still there. >> there's this underlying constant sense of dread and anxiety. it doesn't prevent you from

going to work and doing your job, it doesn't stop you from doing your normal routine. what it does is just make you feel extra exhausted. >> so we began to reopen one year later, and we will emerge stronger, we will emerge better as a city, because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> this place has definitely been an anchor for us, it's home for us, and, again, we are part of this community and the community is part of us. >> one of the things that we strived for is making everyone in the community feel welcome and we have a sign that says "you're welcome." no matter who you are, no matter what your political views are, you're welcome here. and it's sort of the classic san francisco thing is that you work with folks. >> it is your duty to help

>> he is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. brought this department together like never before. i am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the san francisco fire department, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome, jeanine nicholson. (applause). >> i grew up total tomboy, athlete. i loved a good crisis, a good

challenge. i grew up across the street from the fire station. my dad used to take me there to vote. i never saw any female firefighters because there weren't any in the 1970s. i didn't know i could be a fire fighter. when i moved to san francisco in 1990, some things opened up. i saw women doing things they hadn't been doing when i was growing up. one thing was firefighting. a woman recruited me at the gay-pride parade in 1991. it was a perfect fit. i liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. in terms of coming in after another female chief, i don't think anybody says that about men. you are coming in after another

man, chief, what is that like. i understand why it is asked. it is unusual to have a woman in this position. i think san francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. i worked my way up. i came in january of 1994. i built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. working out of firehouses. the fire department is a family. we live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together,

go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. when i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. i didn't want to talk to any of my civilian friends. they couldn't understand what i was going through. the firefighters knew, they understood. they had been there. it is a different relationship. we have to rely on one another. in terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. that hasn't been there for a while. part of the reason that i am

getting along well with the field now is because i was there. i worked there. people know me and because i know what we need. i know what they need to be successful. >> i have known jeanine nicholson since we worked together at station 15. i have always held her in the highest regard. since she is the chief she has infused the department with optimism. she is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. i appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the fire department today. >> there is a retired captain who started the cancer prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer.

he started looking into it. in 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the san francisco fire department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. it was a higher rate than the general population. we were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didn't have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. the turnout gear was covered with suit. it was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. the dirtier you were the harder you worked. that is a cancer causeser. it -- casser.

it is not -- cancer causer. there islassic everywhere. we had to reduce our exposure. we washed our gear more often, we didn't take gear where we were eating or sleeping. we started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. i have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. it is not if or when. it is who is the next person. it is like a cancer sniper out there. who is going to get it next. one of the things i love about the fire department. it is always a team effort. you are my family. i love the city and department and i love being of service.

i vow to work hard -- to work hard to carry out the vision of the san francisco fire department and to move us forward in a positive way. if i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. you never know what door is going to open next. you really don't. [cheers and

>> clerk: as noted on the agenda, members of the public may view this meeting via sfgovtv.org and channel 26 and may offer public comment via the main public comment number. the commission asked and thanks you