[music] good morning. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm joined today with our police chief bill scott. our sdreshth tournament jenkins and our member of district 6 board of supervisors matt dorsey. today we are here to talk about hahas been really frustrating for all of us. especially the people who live

in the tenderloin and so many community. the open air drug dealing that destroying our city. i have been out a lot and talked to so many people especially a lot of people who live in the tenderloin and people who i grew up with. people are angry with when they see and experience. the brazen drug use and sales during broad daylight. we know what is at stake. the sale of drugs on our streets they are killing people. and open air drug markets disrupting neighborhoods and residents. in fact we had moreover dose deaths since the start of a global pandemic then and there covid deaths. kids are wuk by things they should not see on the way to school. no one should see or experience that. this does not include the violence which we know has been extremely problematic. i know there are so many who are

struggling with addiction. and this is a city of compassion. of course, we want to help. we have been balancing our work around expansion of services and treatment for them. and we need to firm low establish what is acceptable conduct on our streets and in our public spaces. san francisco has to draw a firm line at behaviors that harm that injury and cost neighborhoods peace of mind every day safety and quality of life. and part of this means we must be more aggressive with arrests and prosecution for the organized criminal operations that are flooding our streets with drugs and violence. that in some cases have lead to people losing their lives. >> the driving of drugs especially fentanyl in our city is going to require all levels of government work together

including enforce am against those dealing drugs. tell require police working with the da and board of supervisors working with the city agencies. us soliciting support and help from the federal governments, which we are doing this is a hard issue. i want to be clear, that the leaders of the city are final low working together the way they should in order to address it. police chief scott will provide details on the data and the department strategies. da jenkins will talk about haher office has been working on and supervisor dorsey a strong advocate for public safety not just in the district he represents but other neighborhoods in the city. he has been supportive of law enforcement and addressing the issue. and this does require a public

health approach as well. over the last year we connected 4500 people to services for substance use in stan san francisco across our health system. we are 2 thirds of the way toddaing 400 treatment beds adding make it 2,000 and adding that to 2, 200 that already exist. the health department is setting goals to increase people medically assisted treatment. help them get off opioids. housing and other places we are createingly for people struggling on our streets. the investments are designed to create solutions that can get people off the streets in safe settings and ultimate low stability. we will snot stop until we get

to the goal where no neighborhood should be responsible for living in the conditions like the ones we see sad low in the tenderloin. residentses and merchants deserve a clean and safe neighborhood. be clear using drugs in the open is unacceptable. we have to move together and that's why it is important we have our police chief and district attorney. board of supervisors here working together. police department making arrests and seeding the fentanyl. interrupting the open air drug deal and confiindicating deadly

substance as we build strong case against criminals profiting from drug sales and they have a partner in our district attorney. who is sending a strong message around accountability and who is working with our offices to build strong case. that is not about them it is about what they are doing together to help the people who are struggling in our city especially again the folks in the tenderloin. when our police officers make an arrest there needs to be consequence for the seniors, immigrants, kids who are trying to live their lives. and do the basic things we take for granted. we are working on every option to get people the help they need and hold those who bring warm to our streets account act. for what they are causing the significant damage.

standing with everyone today i'm confident our public safety agencies will work more closely together will make a difference for residentses and workers and visitors and with that i want to take an opportunity to introduce police chief bill scott and everyone in the department to make sure our foot beats and patrols and officers are responding to calls we have a lot to work to do it is important that we support law enforcement in this city because ultimate low we have to make significant change and that means we have to make sure they are consequence when is people break law in san francisco. and that's what we will do to make our streets safer. with that police chief bill scott. thank you mayor and good morning.

first, thank you to the mayor our district attorney and matt dorsey this is a mall fraction of the city team working hard to address this issue. we want to make sure that everybody understandses unity and the commitment of city leaders to make situation better this . is about saving lives and protecting the people who work with and play in the city. and this is about producting our great city. i want to talk about -- the balance that we are trying to achieve here. the police department's role is enforcement and guess way beyond that. this city is known for compassion and known for reaching out and helping people who need help this city is known

for balance what needs to be done on the enforce am scale and to get people who want and need help to a better place. our role the san francisco police department and the officers out in the streets starts with had we are hear for this is enforce am. we are also here to treat people with dignity and he respect and make connections with all the resources in the city family to get people to a better place. and we are doing both. this is about working more effectively, working efficiently and always evaluating hawe are doing and can we do it better. this is something this mayor breed stresses on a daily basis. and we are responding to that direction to work efficient low and effectively. i want to talk about how we plan

to do that. we made 600 narcotic related rests and for sales. possession for sales met low. the police department and our officers have to give the district attorney the evidence she and her team need to prosecute cases. and if we do our jobs we can have the accountability that we are looking for. there has to be consequences. there has to be accountability we cannot be the city people think they come in san francisco or live in san francisco and do when they please and nobody will say anything or do anything. and i guarantee you we are not that city. we are committed to accountability and consequence. in addition to the 600 rests, a

part of readjustment we realize we had to do more to address the people who need help the people most addicted. i have been doing this for a long time and every wagz where we have groups of drug dealers on the streets, what closely follow this is are people who are addicted, have a substance abuse disorders and they are

operating in tandem. we have to address both sides we can't arrest the deal and then leave the people buying the drugs alone to do as they please and think this will get better. it is tough balance to do that. the same time, we respect harm reduction and make sure that people who are addicted are not using dirty needles and pipes and spreading hiv and things to make a public health issue even more complicated. however, that does not mean people addicted get a free pass. the criminal justice system as tools to get to that issue. this city leads with service. we lead with services. our officers and come in contact with people who need help they are directed to get them to help. not everybodiments help. not everybody is red for help. and when they are still addicted than i are going to buy drug and use drug and when we have seen and have to put a stop top is that is happen nothing broad daylight in the street. kids and families see it that harms our communities as much as violent and property crime and we have to do more that is our commitment to do more. our officers storied in june of addressing that issue. over 350 citations for people

using in open space in public spaces. many of those people have warrants and orders from the courts than i were not sfoezed to be there in the first place. the district attorney talk about policyos how to dlaesz when we need to do is do our jobs and make sure the people understand that is not okay. and i have talked to many people in the city i don't care what sifted e wagz you are on i have not heard anybody say it is okay to smoke fentanyl in the street with kids walking by and families. i have not heard anybody say that is okay. we should be in agreement to do something about it. and this is when we are committed to doing. the operations and this enforce am will condition and it has

increased. we know the affects of harms to our community that drug dealing the tenderloin is one community they have more deaths than any part of the city for drug over dose. our officers are saving lives. the reversals are a daily occasion. whoaness what the over dose would be if we were not doing that and the other per ins trying to stave lives. we have to dig deep are. we cannot allow this to continue and we will not allow this to continue on our streets. i will close with -- a person story. this past friday, myself and a couple officers and sergeant were at eighth and mission. it is known for drug sales and addicted people hanging out. supervisor dorsey was a half

block, way conducting a community clean up. officers makes arrests while i was there for drug sales. needles spread out on the sidewalk. it had been cleaned up a couple hours before public works had just cleand that corner up and you never would have known it. i saw a girl walking down the street with her mom, stepping over needle another girl and her mom wanted to get on the bus. the bus shelter was peculiared with litter with people using and people passed out at the bus shelter. that's not okay. folks. it is not okay. we gotta clone it up within an hour. officers came and cleaned it up. arrests were made as i was out there arrests were being made for sales. couple hours later. back to the same.

here is the point to this story. this mayor this da and board of supervisor and many others in this chief are committed to try to resolve this issue. the spitzes the mayor talked about are vital. and one way we plan to work it more efficiently is take away excuses. we had trouble with getting people transperked from street corners to accomplices where they get help we did not have transportation that is no longer an issue. working with public health is no longer an issue. our job is to take away the excuses of why people can't and will not seek help. and then when they don't, that's when enforce am come in to play and the criminal justice system leverages them to help to a better place.

so, expect more. expect more efficiency. expect the partnership to continue to grow. and expect our city to be the great city that it is and should be. and with that, i will turn it over to our district attorney. >> good morning, sxefrn thank you to mayor breed to chief scott and supervisor dorsey for their leadership on this issue and partnership with my office. we had over 1700 over dose death in san francisco since 2020. i promised the public the day i was sworn in i was committed to doing something in the open air drug architect and making sure we restored accountability in

the xhinl justice system. when we know is that the san pran da's office the last 2-1/2 years decriminalized the sale of drugs and we seat result of that out on the streets every day. a part of my commitment in demonstrating my commitment to solve thanksgiving issue -- was to immediately come in and to survey the situation with respect what offers extended to those dealing drugs in our office and immediately revoke 30 plea offers i believed were lenient for those selling fentanyl. my approach to dealing with the drug market has been we have to have consequences. we have to make sure our rehab courts are not abused and misused bide those dealers and not those who have substance abuse problems. i announced the last 2-1/2

monthses, many policies with respect to the kay we handle drug cases going forward. we are now prohibiting those who have more than 5 grams of a controlled substance from entering in our rehad been courts. should be reserved for those who need treatment. i put enhancement on the table for those who sell drugs untiling a thousand feet of schools. i made sure that we are no longer giving lenient plea and dismissals to those selling the most loathal drug on the market. we filing pretrial detention motions for those who have sales case. those who have picked up numerous fentanyl sales cases and in possessions of kwuntss that could kill neighborhoods in san francisco. in one shot. i have announced a new policy we move forward with admonishing

fentanyl sellers at time of arraignment about the lethality of fent until and helping them understandship they be connected to someone's death through the sale of that deadly drug they could be charged with murder. >> we are now in a crisis. as we know. and that crisis does not stop with the adults. i have a 6 year old daughter i had to give a lesson to about candy fentanyl on the markets. we are seeing over doses in the school systems in california. this crisis has reached a point as heard this morning, we enough as leaders do something and that's why i have taken this aggressive approach. since july first, we have filed 183 narcotic's sale case in my office. which is almost double what the previous administration filed in

the same period of time. arraigned 157 individuals from july first to september 25th. representing 100% increase in the initial arain ams for dug dealers in san francisco during that time last year. the charges don't tell the story we know that. they do hymn illustrate the fact we are taking an aggressive prop and taking this issue seriously. and what the public will see is this on the back ends of these cases you will see accountability. written to the motion to detain filed 9 of those motions. 2 being filed yesterday. and we are continuing to advance new legal tloeries and arguments to make surety judges understands the dangers the fentanyl dealers present to the public. as i said, in every single

arraignment with respect to the safely fent until we are giving that admonishment regarding the potential for filing of murder charges should somebody sale connected to a death. i have also gone on or abouted to many of the police stations to speak with the rank and file officers. those out on foot patrol making these arrests. i met with the foot patrol officer in thes tenderloin at southern station in soma. to let them know that when they do their jobs at the highest level. when they make rests the da's office is willing to make sure well is accountability. their work is value in the the criminal system and essential and what the public wants i was out yesterday on market street and had a gentlemen tell me that just a few months ago his wife died of a fentanyl over dose she

was in roefsh trying to stay clone with the amount drug dealers it was impossible for this to continue. that is what ultmitt low lead to her death. he implored mow to do something about that is going on and yes, based on haeveryone is saying around this industry, as chief scott pointed out we have a job to do and we are willing to do it. with respect to the open air drug use. as i said over and over again we can't be a city that accepts people public low using drugs on our street. as a driveway down 've around with my children how i do explain that is going on and they should not engage in drug use when it appears to something that happens normly and regular low in the open create a policy regarding bundling. at the time someone reaches a

fifth citation we will file a complaint and forward to the justice centers designed to require them and help them engage in treatment. as chief scott city we are a city of compassion but this is not leaving people on the streets potential to die. it is using the tools we have to propel people to change their lives. what i know is that for all the people i met in recovery many said of the criminal justice system that got them on the road to staying clean and i'm committed to using this system to help those do so. the reckless decisions made by the previous administration have cost san francisco far too many lives. and those are not 3 away lives they are people's family members. it is impacted both families and

the business community here in san francisco and continues to impact families who live in the neighborhoods most plagued by this behavior. i pledge as i have before, that i will do everything in my power to help this city move forward to e readicate this problem and make sure that all communities can live in peace and safety. and at this point i will pass it over to supervisor dorsey. thank you. thank you mayor breed for leadership and thank you chief scott for your leadership and friendship and mentorship during the 2 years i worked in this building. it was an experience for me i started as a civilian command staff member a couple weeks before the covid emergency.

and one of the meetings that i took part in, for many months was with the office of chief medical examiner and d. public health to prevow the month low report on how many died of drug over dose the previous mont. i'm a person who is in recovery. i have been open about this. i identify as an addict and alcoholic and spends most of my adult life in recovery and had set backs including recently. with one day at a time and good's grace friday i may celebrate 2 years. it is personal to me. and it was personal it me to watch a mont after mont a number of people in san francisco who died of drug over doses knowing that i'm also one bad decision away from being among that number. and knowing hawe are seeing a

public health crisis play out that was twoois twice as deadly as covid-19. that collective toll med me think about the importance of having a voice and perspective in city government from the substance use recovery community. if there was a moment that changed my thinking on why i wanted to ask for a job i never thought i wouldment or have when mayor breed took on the important work of the tenderloin emergency initiative and inspired me. it was a rankerous 10 hour debate the death of 1300 people in san francisco and whether that was emergency to give the purse the city needed to move expeditiously. who knew. when i shared with the chief i wanted say, want you to know and

hear from me i'm not looking for a job i like this one there is a personal reason i want to ask the mir to consider me i said, i'm honest, i put the ads at 5%. didn't think it would work out but it does d i'm grateful tell did. right after i was appointed a went to work with supervisor mandelman and stephanie and reached out to national experts in drug policy. keith humphrey. mike marshall from oregon recoveries bill kilner from the ram corporation did work with supervisor haney's street level drug task force and david ken doe from the national network for safe community known from the bottoma administration for strategies around drug narcotic interventions and identified cities doing successful jobs at addressing public health and

public safety challenges many of them are in europeful amsterdam and frankfurt and vienna. looked at what other cities do. including some in the united states. put it together in a resolution. it is san francisco recovers. any we identified all the city department this is would have a role to play if we were to implement the things we wanted to do. our think burglar this what we want to do is really flip the script a bit on how won't governor in san francisco. up to now i think too often and too much the board of sprierdzs can function as the board of complainers we will propose thing and see with we can codo to complain why this would not work the board of supervisors also charged with governing the city. and one of the lessons of every city that has done a good job is get past the political ranker

first. get to a place of consensus even photocopy it is not universal we will get rowing in the same direction. that's when i'm committed to do with stan san francisco recovers asking departments and commissions that have a role in making sure we solve this in the way we know we can. and it was interesting i'm encouraged by the feedback i got from department heads. i said this is something i have been spent most of my career on the other side of the board supervisors i hahn is is like when a member of the board who knowledge thinks they know how to run a department better and here is more responsibilities and in the funding for it and they will set you up for failure and make a production about blaming you for failing public low. i promised i will never be this supervisor . i'm going to ask for the resources you need. and i will fight for the resources you need. one of the things i asked for

wassor city control and criminalist to feel proust a report thap will give us a clear view of how much money we are spending on untreated drug addiction. when we go in budget next year i want to make an effective case for when we need to solve the problem, i want to know what the problem can have theses that will shift our thinking where we will put resource as a board of sproirzs the other thing i want to enabling use of is the opioid settlement litigation machine that he city attorney and formy city attorney successful at getting. once in a lifetime opportunity of 100 million dollars over the next severaliers we can spends the wessest way to spend it is have a strategy. all get on the same page on an approach. we will be working with commune organizations from across the political sprekt rum. we can do this.

i refuse to accept that san francisco that was known a generation ago for the work it did to work oft aids crisis. that heroic work was an prop that became known the san francisco model. it was so successful. i refouz to accept that a city that is national low recognized for leadership in how it handled covid-19. we can't do better on the drug deaths and over doses we are facing. butt one thing i want to close with, to understands what we are up against. the tenderloin police district keeps data on how much fence nal they take from drug dealers inform 2020 the first year tenderloin cops arrested 5 and a half kilos of drugs off the dealers. 2021 this went up to 25 kilos.

today by the end of thissier we close in 55 kilos of fentanyl to to give you a perspective on this. 2 milligrams is a fatal over dose for most people. it is enough to worst abraham lincoln's beard on a copper penny. 55 kilos off the street the ends of the year is enough to wipe out the san francisco bay area twice over. the scale of drug in this city is what the problem s. we have to take a strategy as we try to do with san fran recovers. it brings everything we got to bear on public health, criminal justice strategies. arrive to recovery problems sober new deal programs that keep them thereupon and give them purpose to stay in recovery

and get the long-term pornography and enhanced trans transparency we need ton where we are doing better and worse so we do better moving forward i'm grateful to be a partner with the mayor, da and chief of police and everybody -- we can do better exit am optimistic where we will go. thank you. thank you. supervisor dorsey. i'm really excite body when i know wing together we accomplish. the problems that exist in our city were not created over night. we know the solutions will not happen over night. but what you have here are people who understand the challenges and are prepared make the hard decisions about the solutions to move our city forward. we finally have someone who is a

prosecutor serving as our da. we have a commitment from our police department with our police chief. a member of the board of supervisors who understandses the challenges is that people who are suffering from addiction face and the need to make sure we balance the accountability component with services and treatment. we are not losing touch with the fact that san francisco is a compassionate and caring city. addiction is hard for anyone. upon it can happen to anyone at any time. it is happening to many, many people who are struggling on the streets. i'm optimistic because of the fact that all of us are working together. because of the solutions we are proposing. because of the thicks that are important to solving the issue. in 2020. over 700 people died.

2021, we saw over 600 people die. this will year so far a bit over 300 and unfortunately we are anticipating there will be more. but those number are declining they are declining because the w that we are doing. to ensure that we support people we help people and also factor in accountability in the solution. tell take a lot of work but i know this we will get there. we will get there if we stay consistent. and we say persistent in the process of doing what needs to be diagonal everyone here had a story to tell. i have a story to tell. i lost a cysttory a drug over dose it was in the fentanyl but i did lose a cyst in this city the day before she turned 26 to a drug over dose. she was my younger sister.

and when these people here talk about the families and the people and the folks we are lose thering is somebody's sister, too. somebody's mother, father, daughter. they have a story to tell. what story are we going to tell in our pursuit to ensure that if they need a second chance well is an opportunity for them to have one. that if than i get a second chance they can become a member of the board of supervisors in the city. that's when this is about. this is about changing and saving lives. ful and this is about dealing with the destruction in a way that will make people uncomfortable but necessary. we can have criminal justice reforms. but we also need to add to that accountability. i'm looking forward to see when we are doing collectively take shape in a way that will change

our city for the better. and with that we will open up to questions. >> you made comments [inaudible] dug deals and drug use [inaudible] and you mentioned police staffing why that did not help [inaudible] what will be different this time? >> well, i actually think hayou are saying is inaccurate there have been more rests made. since then. and there is more accountability as the da talked about in terms of a number of changes around those who are dealing drugs. we know this problem is significant it is in the though we are not moving forward. there are changes we want to see. we are not going to see them aggressively at the levels we want to see them. it will take time. and yes police staffing can playing a role we are making the

rest and seeing more arrests and more accountsability and seeing a difference and we'll keep at it and in the past we anticipate hiring 200 police officers. 540 police officers short. we need more. that's we are balancing of our ambas dovers and programs we have. treatment and services our street crisis response team its is a combination of things not just law enforcement. we are making more rests than we have before around this issue this is making a difference.

how are you burglar to get message this is the series [inaudible]. >> that messaging is important. we follow had through with consistency. follow through with the arrests we have been talking b. we have a job to do in terms of arresting people that are out there dealing drugs. we'll take away [inaudible]. people are warned -- that we are serious about this. we will make arrests that day our units were making arrests this district attorney is committed. the things take time to catch root. but they will catch rot and i am confident with consistency and persistence things will get

bfrment it is not just the local drug dealers. we have to get at the net works. supply and money there is a lot that guess this this we are working this at every angle. when we need to see is a deference on the street f. we make 10 arrests and the people that are live nothing this community are walking through and driving by don't see a difference on the street t. is important we make the rests but goes with cleanups and the things we do and sustin that work. irrelevant the eye test is what people judge us by. 600 arrests could be a thousand but if they are not see the difference on the street we are doing half the work. combient arrest and convictions with a noticeable difference on the street. that's where this plays in to

what we need to do. it is public health and public works home will and supportive housing human service agency. the bottom line is we are talking about human beings caution the problems. there needs to be personal accountability you don't get a pass because you have a substance disorder. the persistence will matter. >> how do you work with those with a different upon view of issue. many that seen the war on drugs is [inaudible] people try to avoid [inaudible]. how do you have an argument on having creating [inaudible] with somebody who has a different view of this and perhaps a healing issue. going forward. how do you reach that common

ground? [inaudible] upon the way i frame is we seen what doing nothing does. when my office decided it was not doing anything about the prp problem we see how the problem got worse and now a crisis point that is what i coni have we have to go something doing nothing has not got us anywhere and it cost us lives. you know people want to talk about the war on dug its is a war when i have to give a lesson to my 6 year old not eating something that looks like candy because it can kill her. this is absolutely a war on the most lethal drug our street has ever seen and something we have to take seriously because our children are dying. not just those chose to use but people who don't know they are

taking it. nought dealers are disguise thanksgiving drug this is attractive to children. we have to do something you know there may be disagreements on the how and the what that we do. but i think this account acted come first we have to function in this system to create deterrents or people will cycle in san francisco to keep selling. [inaudible]. on the political consensus issue, that is something i will work on. what i think is important to say is that what is happen nothing san francisco is not the war on drug when is is happen nothing san francisco now is a war on drug addicts. we have last month surpassed 1700 san franciscos whoa lost

lives to drug over doses. i challenge people who are committed to complaining about solutions to then bring forward solutions. but there are ecstasy very progressive ecstasy amsterdam and vienna -- who's budget they are wealthy but budget is low are then and there san francisco we can solve this problem and do better with you a return to mass incarceration or the drug war. we are a city that -- our creed the city that knows how. i think we can be that again. that is something that i think nought moral imperative of the loss of life we see worse than a public health calamity since the aids crisis calls us to respond to rise to the moment. i will say something else the most terrifying thing that is

out there. there are opioids on the east coast that are narcondition resistant more potent then and there fentanyl god forbid if this come to san francisco we will see a loss of life that is worse than the aids crisis. i think that we have to rise to the moment. and i think it is lazy to just criticize solutions an a return to the drug wor when it is not. [inaudible]. [inaudible] i think it depends on whether or not they have committed a crime. people come to my jurisdiction if they committed a crime. another crime that is crime or what have you. and so general low our prop is to say, we don't believe jill is the solution for you. you have the option of going in

drug court and the option of individualized treatment program we can give you in lieu of what is the normal punitive prop. and i think met often in my time upon being a prosecutor most of the people choose the treatment and does in the money they are successful out of the gateings we have people fall off the wagon all the time. some needs a different center you hold their hundred through this process. but i have found that oftentimes the choice of the punitive or the treatment people choose treatment. >> hadoes this have to do with [inaudible] outside tension. [inaudible] mou does that fit in the over all press? do you feel like the tenderloin

[inaudible] how will opening up other types of centers like that connect with the law enforcement activity and the disconnect with the activities -- >> i think i do, first of all u if it were that simple to get off drugs people would. we continue is challenges. sometime its takes multiple times and sometimes takes force when they go tlurt criminal justice system. but we also have to be realistic about the fact that there are people who use drug in our city and they will use drugs. how do we provide the environment like you know that -- make its possible if people are struggling with addiction to get help or treatment to not be judged. this is why i support safe

consumption cites i support having them in sudden front, unfortunately, we have not been able to do that and there are complicated reasons why. but ultmitt low we have to make sure we have locations for people to go and that we no longer allow the open air drug using that happens on our streets. it will take a balance. it seems as though they are inconsistent with when we are talking about here. but the fact is that we have so many people who are public low using drugs without any consequences. and that's when we have to stop. having wellness centers and places for people to go will be critical. center we opened was a bit overwhelmed with the number of people. and there werefect when is got support and got treatment and transition in housing and other things. not as many as we hoped for but

a few. however, they can serve so many at a time. there are a lot struggling for addiction and having more locations spread out. that could provide services and support to those struggling is why we make the change. >> follow up with this question. 2 more ever that that will be it. >> from our perspective we asked the mayor to provide places where our officers can help people get to those place where is they can be supported. it hen a difficult road. there are folks out there who don't want police officers to have a part of that. when i will say here and now and moving forward is people need to get over that. our receives are out there, we invested a ton of resources and money reform and deal with people in crisis better. our officers know had they are

doing. they do. they have relationships with the people we are talking about who need help. and we need to take those excuses away. we are begging for the support when we come in contact with people who need help, let us help them get there. some people say in we don't want the please involved. we need to be involved that's where the disconnect is. you have a police department 2,000 receives that can help. we have to aluthe receives to do when they have been trained to. we are not psychologist or doctors we are trained to deal with people who are hurt and pep in need and crisis and do that well. it does in the make sense. when is wrong with an officer saying, i can be this one hand to get people to the beds. we gotta get over that. the department is here to help. we work with many, men of the activists and advocacy groups

and see things eye to eye often guess off the rail is we don't want the police department to be a part of that. the debate with the lincoln center was that. we everdoes not make sense. does not make sense. we are out there. dealing with people every day who are hurting and we can't tick them? does in the make sense we gotta get over that. we have to work together. that's what she is committed to doing and driving us to do that's what i'm committed to do and the district attorney is working together. that's the disconnect i hope people lynch to when we are saying we gotta get over the fast and let the officers do when they can do. because than i can help. next. thank you. why >> what you are doing [inaudible]

>>you want to talk about it. >> so the question is about the big are issue, right? we are good partnerships with the federal partners we talk about this problem guess beyond san front when we see is the tip of the iceberg. we have to deal with that. have to see an upon difference special go out and be consistent in making arrests when we gift team it goes so for beyond this we then and there is the cases the language term cases the rings up described. there are people them this is when they do. we know this to be the case.

our federal partners the drug enforce am agency. u.s. attorney's office we are working together on that issue. those case take time. tame ~age an investment of time and we have to dot local enforcement. dot local enforcement while cases are making their way through the system and being investigated this . is happening. that's as much i can say. it is happening. we have seen results and will see more. we have good partnerships and those per inships involve everybody assistanting here and more. >> you have spoken about the impact of drug dealing on children in the city when is your department strategy for addressing drug dole nothing schools? >> there are actually laws on the bok about drug dealing near schools and i'm confidence with

direct attorney and her teach everyone of those where it is applicable, of course we have to rest and wroit the good reports and enhancements for drug dealing near schools we discourage that as much as the law allows us to do. i don't think any of us want our children step over drug dealers. we have safe passengers on the tenderloin police officers are on the street so kids wuk home from school without walking throughout drug dealers. we do had we have to do to make sure our children are not exposed. there is more we must do it is unacceptable. law allows for enhancements but we gotta give her when she needs to get it filed. >> all right. >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you for coming out.

>> good afternoon, everyone. happy monday! that was funny. i'm san francisco mayor london breed. it's great to be here with each and every one of you to talk about exciting programs that we plan to launch today. i know there are a lot of people here. people from our ambassador community, folks from various companies and entities and i had a lot of meetings over the last couple of months. after coming out of this global pandemic and what i've been hearing especially from many employers and employees who make san francisco so vibrant and great is that they want us to do

more to improve safety. they want to make sure that when people are catching bart or munithat when they move around e city, they feel safe. another thing i hear from folks in the community and people who visit san francisco is how great at the feel when they're down downtown when they run into a nem an orange jacket and when they're in the tenderloin and help someone find the right path of travel. this is a challenging city. we know it's a major city and a city that so many people want to be in. when people catch bart from the airport, they get off here and go up the escalators with their suitcases to go to check into their hotels. people who visit and come visit san francisco for conventions, that's a big part of our economic engine.

that's a big part of how we're able to afford to pay for the city services in the first place. today when we talked about safety, we talked about a desire to have people return to work in the downtown area can. we talked about how people who work in the downtown area in general want to feel safe and secure. so today, wa we want to announce is a significant investment in our ambassador program that will change not just what happens downtown, but will change and support communities all over san francisco that we know are in desperate need of it. [applause] you know, i'm proud of this city because safety we know is not just about our police force even though we have a need for police officers. we are looking at ways in which we can have alternatives for what exactly we're talking about

specifically downtown, having eyes and ears on the streets and those who welcome visitors and even folks who live and work here with a smile on their face. we're going from an ambassador program that includes attendance at the bart station -- love you too. and our downtown ambassadors, union scare ambassadors, we're going from 200 ambassadors and adding on top of that a whole additional 150 ambassadors that will not only support this downtown area, but will support important communities like thelma, like the mission and other places where we know they are so desperately needed. this is just one step forward in hoping to address our public safety challenges in san francisco.

we know it's complicated and we know we have a lot of work do, but what i appreciate about today -- today is about community, today is about people who work here. today is about business, today is about our city workforce. today is about bart. it's about our partnership and working together to make san francisco a safer place for awful us. safer place for all of us. so many things happy as a result of the pandemic. now the pandemic is almost preempty much behind us. how do we roll up our sleeves in order though move the city forward? how do we roll up our sleeves to make san francisco the place we know and love? i hear people talk about san francisco and how it's such a beautiful city. we know it's a beautiful city but how do we keep it that way? we fight for it. we keep it that way by making the appropriate investments. keep it that way by working

together. today is a testament to that. i mentioned the need for additional officers. and i want to thank members of the board of supervisors including the budget chair, hillary ronan and mike dorsey and supervisor mandelman because we wouldn't be able to just get our additional resource toses backfill positions in our police department, but the work we feed to do for ambassadors and our crisis response team and wellness team and all of those things go hand in hand in making our city a safer more vibrant place and i wouldn't have been able to do that without their help and support throughout account budget process and the work we do here today. i want to thank fem for joining us heerd today as well as staff members and people are various communities, it takes a village, but we won't give up on the city

because it's too magical. the city is a place of opportunity. people come to san francisco for opportunity. let's make sure as people come here for opportunity or to work or visit, that they have a great experience that they walk away and tell their friends and family how amazing san francisco is. we're going it fight for this city every day and i hope you'll join news that fight to make san francisco a safer city for every person who is a part of it. with that, i want to introduce our chief of police, bill scott. >> thank you mayor breed and good morning, everybody. i'm going to start off with just a little quick history of it program. and when mayor breed sat with me in her office and this vision was being inspired, i saw the

gloom in the mayor's eye that it's something not only that they wanted do but wanted it right now. this was over two years ago. and about a week or two after that meeting with the mayor, we were at a luncheon being hosted by the union square bid and the mayor announced that the the amr program. and i knew she wanted to get it done. it was just a vision at that time. we took that back with our team and made it happen. and here is the result of that vision by our mayor. the program started as a pilot about two years ago. this was during the global pandemic when we were constructing the program and

doing everything we had to do. we had to get the support of all these wonderful elected officials behind me to get it funded. but within pretty quick amount of time, we started with 10 ambassadors assigned to union square right where the mayor made that announcement. so she delivered and we driferred on that -- delivered on that promise. the goal was to hire a retired police officers not to replace but support our 50 officers in the union street area. we were intentional with piloting this program in union square. i'm happy to say that we met those expectations of the mayor and i firmly believe we metropolitan the expectation of everybody in that room when the mayor made that announcement. today we have 50 ambassadors. and we have a list of retirees who want to be an ambassador.

in addition to union square, we have ambassadors in chinatown, fisherman's wharf and haight. mainly what they do is help us reduce harm to our community. the harms we see day in and day out. the harms that we get complaints about,mthe harms we get demanded to do something about. the harms that we as a city can make boater. better. they increase visibility and presence. they are an arm of the san francisco police department and free up personnel so they can focus on policing.

ambassadors have police radios. they know how to communicate cuss. wust. they are a force multiplier in a time when our staffing has been reduced to critical lows. i'm going to read to you an example of this ambassador's program. this was an e-mail sent to me by a man who doesn't live in san francisco. my wife and i along with close friends tasselled to your city this past weekend for a vacation. we spent the first day traveling through the city in a cable car. we got off in china down towrn and metropolitan by two ambassadors. after retirement they were hired by ambassadors. they explained their job to us. this is an outstanding program and i hope it helps.

they were professional and courteous. they made our time in chinatown more pleasant. i spent 48 years as a first responder in the fir service and a part time police officer. i retired from both but i miss the job. i would definitely work as an ambassador in our city if i had the opportunity to do so. this is an outstanding program and you have two outstanding officers working this assignment. i'm sure this program helps keep things a little safer. thank you. this story can be repeated over and over again. this is not the only message of thanks that we get from our ambassador program. with you that typifies what this is about. people visiting our city having a better experience and feeling safer. that is what they do. and that is why the mayor's vision was so important. in closing, i want to say a few

more things connecting people and need to services. our ambassadors do that very well. again, i can tell story after story where that has been done. they're trained in first aid and deescalation and they have a direct line to our on-duty officers which means faster response times which equates to better service. in addition to the ambassadors, pair breed is asking for additional police service aid with the same kept to free up the very, very critical under-staffed police department so officers can do more critical work. and i support at that whole heartedly. i know that her vision to do that will work like her vision to implement this ambassador program. there is more work do.

we can't make up 500 officers that we're short, but we are era darned sure to be innovative and creative to make things better and that's what this ambassador program has done. again, i want to tharchght mayor for leadership and guidance and thank supervisor dorsey and roan and mandelman and the entire board. i want to thank kate and her team. i can go on and on. fire chief, this is a all a partnership. if you don't hear anything else, i want you to hear this. this city is a family. just like any family, when we face hard times, we kol together and make it happen. with the leadership of the mayor, that's what we'll do. this is a bigger issue than the latest new thing. what we're building here is capacity to reenvision and change policing in our city.

by being creative. thank you, mayor and board and thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon. i'm bob powers and i'm the general manager at bart. nice to be here. first, let me turn to my left and thank the mayor for her leadership on this prioritizing this initiative with including public transit. there is nothing more powerful in the bart system if you're taking bart to work or taking your family into the city or out, to see two ambassadors in the train walking through the train or on the platform to see two ambassadors walking by, it means a lot. when i'm in the system, that's what i hear first and foremost. madam mayor, thank you for your leadership. we know at bart, nothing goes further than having ambassadors in folks like crisis

intervention specialists in the system. i'm joined here as the bart general manager by two bart directors. billion a year ago bart -- maybe longer -- bart embarked on a placing bureau. really it is so complementary to the vision that the mayor has right now. it has ambassadors in attendance and crisis intervention specialists partnered with sworn officers. i can attest about the concept of a force multiplier. that is what is happening in the bart system right now. and expanding this madam mayor, is going to be transformative. not only to the city and county of san francisco, but all of the bay area. so i compliment your leadership

on this and i have numbers here. we just started our elevator -- restroom attendance. since march when we started adding restroom attendance right here, there is an attendant right here. we had over a hundred thousand forecloses using the restrooms and not one call for a sworn officer at those restrooms. talk about a force multiplier, it's very, very powerful. [applause] and our elevator attendance. you want to take the elevator from the street to the bart platform, there is an attendant if there. families coming and folks with mobility challenges. there is somebody in that he elevator, it's safe and clean and convenient. again, i look forward to the partnership, madam mayor, and i think we're on to something here. thank you for your leadership. with that, i'm going to

introduce district 6 supervisor matt dorsey. >> thank you so much. i want to thank you. mayor breed, thank you for your leadership. chief scott, my former boss and i remember being part of the announcement of the program. i was moved when the chief talked about the e-mail he got from a retiree. it reminded me, 20 years ago i went to work for the city attorney's office in san francisco. there is a program where retirees come back. as i get closer to retirement eaj myself, just because premier done with their public service careers doesn't mean they're done giving back. that's one of the things i love about this community program. that is why people respond to positively to it. this is something that's going to add 150 new ambassadors ask

attendants all around town town, tenderloin and tourist areas and high twrask areas. it's going to combine a combination of safety ambassadors, welcome ambassadors and the psas or public service aids that free up staff. i want to give a special shout out. i live in mid market maibd e neighborhood and i think the most popular public servants in the neighborhood is urban alchemy. i say it like -- it's good to have you here. it's not just eyes on the street, it's the welcoming smile and a feeling of safety. only complaint i hear about urban alchemy is we want more of you and 24 hours a day. we are requesting to do everything to empower you and get more of you for longer

hours. thank you to everybody for program we are announcing as the force multiplier of giving back to our city. with that, i'll hand is it off to supervisor mandelman. >> i want to thank the mayor and the chief and each of their teams and all the other folks who w[ñ$/q to make this happen. we foe we have a significant challenge in san francisco in terms of the chief staffing. we're short more than 500 officers. that number is not static. it's growing as officers retire. i think that's one of the biggest challenges that the mayor and board of supervisors have to address in the coming years. the mayor has begun to in the last year's budget. in the meantime, we have public safety challenges now. what i appreciate about the announcement today is that we are not waiting years to recruit new officers, we're figuring out how to use the offices that are we have now most effectively and

how to find other people who maying able to do those jobs and get them out. if your home is broken into, bet getting someone who is not a sworn officer to take the report more quickly so the officer can be on the street in the castro or mission or soma and addressing the needs ever constituents and making residents and tourists feel safer is all for the good. this is smart. glad to be here and express my support and thanks. i'm going to introduce a colleague who i know works every day with her office on some of the challenges that have emerged in the last few years around illegal vending, drug dealing, drug use on the street. awful the challenges that we hope this announcement and drug use -- that we hope this announcement is going to try to kreas. to address. i want to call up supervisor

ronan from district 9. [applause] >> thank you so much. i want to say right now as we speak conditions on the street in the mission district are unacceptable. i want to shout out and thank a couple of people, ryan is here from mission merchant soargs. the small business commission they have been working with us and we have been working with the mayor's office to change that fact. i want to thank urban alchemy -- give them another hand. providing a model along with the mayor that we want to replicate in the mission. we want to return the vibrancy, the beauty, the healthy feeling of the streets of but we want to do that without

criminalizing poverty. without making it more difficult for people that are poor to survive in the most expensive city in the world. we believe the community ambassador program is the way to do that. bringing people from the community to walk the streets and make sure that the communities are safe, clean, healthy and vibrant is exactly the right strategy. thank you, madam mayor for creating the strategy and investing in more and adding the mission to this important effort. ask thank you urban alchemy and all the incredible workers doing that work successfully every single day. thank you. [applause] now it's my pleasure to introduce orlando white from lincoln. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm orlando white and i head up community development. at linked in our vision is trade

economic opportunity. for us to reach this ambitious vision we work alongside the community organizations to demonstrate that we're living this vision locally in our own neighborhoods. we've been proud to work alongside mayor breed to support programs for the opportunities that connects young people for employment and job opportunities to learn. we're proud to be a part of this community. the feedback that we have received from our employees is that they love the energy, the vibrancy and atmosphere of this city. they want to have a safe and efficient commute into san francisco. we appreciate mayor breed's commitment today to expand the city ambassador programs. these are a key presence in the city and are an invaluable asset for our employees who live and

work here. they're city-owned that this city cares and wants to ensure safe commutes for all of us. i know that we ats at linked-in are are not o lone in our commitment to the city. we hear from other businesses that they're excited. we're proud to be a part of this great city's future. thank you so much. >> as i said, this is definitely a collaborative effort. it's us coming together to try to address some of the most challenging issues facing our city. but i also want to say what i especially appreciate most with urban alchemy and the downtown ambassadors and union square ambassadors and attendance in bart and retired police officers, from my own personal

observation, seeing how they engage with the public and try to be so helpful whether it's giving someone's direction ors restaurant recommendations or helping someone foo treatment and sadly in some cases helping to reverse their overdose using narcan. these ambassadors are the eyes and ears of the streets, the guardians of the city, they're here to support and protect the public, whatever that means and it it involves a variety of things whatever necessary to keep people safe in san francisco. i'm excited about the opportunity not only to expand it in the downtown and tenderloin but neighborhoods like the mission and west porten and other communities that need it. we ever a great city and a lot of people that want to be a part of it. nothing makes me feel better

than when i see one of our ambassadors with love for san francisco talking to someone else and that smile on their face about telling them about their favorite restaurants or favorite places to go in san francisco. that's the kind of city we're trying to create after coming out of a challenging time of a global pandemic. i want us by wrapping it up, to remember who we are as san franciscans. we've been through challenging times. we are a resilient city. we're at a point where we're getting to zero new h.i.v. infections in san francisco. we've seen freeways collapse and turned them into neighborhoods on the waterfront and community. this is o no different after coming out of a global pandemic. we have an opportunity here to transform our city to make sure that it is clean, that it is safe and that it is vibrant and

thriving for everyone who wants to be a part of it. safety has to be at the forefront of the work we do to get there and i'm so excited and proud to be working with all of the people here joining us today to make that commitment, to make san francisco what we know it can be. thank you all so much for being here today. applause plaza. [applause] ♪♪

the tenderloin is home to families, immigrants, seniors, merchants, workers and the housed and unhoused who all deserve a thriving neighborhood to call home. the tenderloin initiative was launched to improve safety, reduce crime, connect people to services and increase investments in the neighborhood. as city and community-based partners, we work daily to make these changes a reality. we invite you to the tenderloin history, inclusivity make this neighborhood special. >> we're all citizens of san francisco and we deserve food, water, shelter, all of those things that any system would. >> what i find the most fulfilling about being in the tenderloin is that it's really basically a big family here and i love working and living here. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> my hopes and dreams for the tenderloin are what any other community organizer would want for their community, safe, clean streets for everyone and good operating conditions for small businesses. >> everything in the tenderloin is very good. the food is very good. if you go to any restaurant in san francisco, you will feel like oh, wow, the food is great. the people are nice. >> it is a place where it embraces all walks of life and different cultures. so this is the soul of the tenderloin. it's really welcoming. the. >> the tenderloin is so full of color and so full of people.

so with all of us being together and making it feel very safe is challenging, but we are working on it and we are getting there. >> for us, we wish we had our queue and we created spaces that are active. >> food and drinks. there is a

lot for a lot of folks and community. for us, it started back in 1966 and it was a diner and where our ancestors gathered to connect. i think coffee and food is the very fabric of our community as well as we take care of each other. to have a pop-up in the tenderloin gives it so much meaning. >> we are always creating impactful meaning of the lives of the people, and once we create a space and focus on the most marginalized, you really include a space for everyone. coffee is so cultural for many communities and we have coffee of maria inspired by my

grandmother from mexico. i have many many memories of sharing coffee with her late at night. so we carry that into everything we do. currently we are on a journey that is going to open up the first brick and mortar in san francisco specifically in the tenderloin. we want to stay true to our ancestors in the tenderloin. so we are getting ready for that and getting ready for celebrating our anniversary. >> it has been well supported and well talked about in our community. that's why we are pushing it so much because that's how we started. very active community members. they give back to the community. support trends and give back and

give a safe space for all. >> we also want to let folks know that if they want to be in a safe space, we have a pay it forward program that allows 20% to get some funds for someone in need can come and get a cup of coffee, pastry and feel welcomed in our community. to be among our community, you are always welcome here. you don't have to buy anything or get anything, just be here and express yourself and be your authentic self and we will always take care of you.

>> i'm joel, i believe san francisco best days are ahead. i know it hen frustrating living had things are in the wrong direction i'm in the giving up i'm offering a change. time to replace the status quo. we deserve to live in a city this works. first, step is getting the basics right. safer streets. better schools. more housing and small businesses. i moved here 20 year ago to tick i job as a journallingist employmented advocate for people. i was raise boy a single misdemeanor. she cleaned houses for a living did not have much money but taught mow to get things done with resources we have my