San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) on Tuesday lambasted the rash of crime that has swept through the city in recent months, saying she would be updating policies to be “less tolerant of all the bull—- that has destroyed our city.”
“It’s time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end,” Breed said, according to KPIX-TV. “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to more aggressive with law enforcement. More aggressive with the changes in our policies and less tolerant of all the bull—- that has destroyed our city.”
As part of the crackdown on crime in San Francisco, particularly in the Tenderloin neighborhood, Breed announced a range of new public safety initiatives. These new measures include giving police access to surveillance video in certain situations to deter thefts and new efforts to enhance safety in Tenderloin.
“What I’m proposing today and what I will be proposing in the future will make a lot of people uncomfortable, and I don’t care,” said Breed. “At the end of the day, the safety of the people of San Francisco is the most important thing to me and we are past the point where what we see is even remotely acceptable.”
In a Medium post published on Tuesday, Breed reiterated that San Francisco “can’t be a place where anything goes on the street. San Francisco is a compassionate city, but our compassion cannot be mistaken for weakness or indifference.”
Breed also announced that officials would be taking steps to “disrupt” illegal street sales of stolen goods by creating exclusion zones where street vending will be barred and regulating the number of street vendor licenses that are issued.
The “brazen robberies” in San Francisco have become so common that some businesses have moved to close down or change their hours. Earlier this year, Walgreens announced that it would be closing some locations in the city due to the organized retail thefts, and a 24-hour Safeway changed its hours to close at night.
“Public safety also means confronting the underlying systemic problems that plague our society — such as the need for housing, health care and equity. We will keep working on those issues, too. But we need a safer San Francisco, and we need it now,” wrote the mayor.