San Francisco Business Times: Mayor Breed credits policy changes for reduced crime in 2023

Alex Barreira, San Francisco Business Times

Last year San Francisco experienced its lowest rate of property crime in the last 10 years, outside of the 2020 shelter-in-place period, according to new police statistics shared by the office of Mayor London Breed on Tuesday.

San Francisco saw a 7% year-over-year decrease in overall reported crimes and its lowest level of reported property crime incidents in the last decade, excluding 2020. In a press release, Breed said the trends were a result of actions her office has taken to address public safety concerns, including retail theft, which have remained a focal point of the city's critics when it comes to the large number of vacant storefronts downtown.

"Our work around public safety is making a difference, but we’ve got more work to do," Breed said in a press statement. “We are not letting up on our efforts to make San Francisco a safer and enjoyable city for everyone, and this includes continuing to ramp up police staffing and giving our local enforcement agencies the resources they need to do their job."

Reports of violent crimes — at more than 5,400 for the year — were down 11% from 2019 but slightly increased from 2021 (4,967 reports) and 2022 (5,272 reports).

Breed has advocated for reforms to boost the technological tools at police's disposal to address organized retail theft and pushed for greater coordination with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. The city has committed a great police presence to Union Square since the infamous smash-and-grab blitz of the 2021 holiday season. In November, officials upped the ante with even more patrols, retired officers, and welcome ambassadors for holiday shoppers and tourists.

In the last quarter of 2023, Breed said property crimes dropped 34% year-over-year, which would coincide with the weeks of a significantly increased police presence (with the help of state and federal support) leading up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting last November. Her office also cited a study published late last year by graduate researchers at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank focused on policy. According to that study, San Francisco saw a 35% reduction in reported shoplifting incidents in the first half of 2023, the largest year-over-year drop among 24 major U.S. cities evaluated.

In the first three weeks of 2024, property crime reports were down 41% compared to the same period last year, while reports of violent crime were down 23%.

Going forward, city officials are hoping to boost anti-retail-theft efforts with the help of a $17 million state grant awarded in September, which funds those initiatives as well as the installation of hundreds of automated license plate readers citywide.

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