By Louis Wong, SFPOA President
San Francisco City Hall is celebrating that crime is down in San Francisco. Press conferences and talking points all say the same thing: the City’s policies are working.
What we don’t hear enough of is that the reason crime is down is because of our hard work: the reality is our officers (and our new DA Brooke Jenkins) are what is driving down crime in San Francisco.
City Hall needs to see what we live every day: San Francisco is nearly 700 police officers short of the staffing levels the City itself says we need. That shortfall hasn’t shrunk — it has grown. The only way we are keeping up is by asking the officers who remain to work unsustainable amounts of overtime.
That is not a plan. It is a warning.
By the City’s own reports, SFPD is hundreds of officers below the number required to patrol neighborhoods, respond to 911 calls, investigate crimes and do proactive work that prevents violence before it happens.
Yet crime has gone down in several key categories. Why? Because you are still here are working extra shifts, giving up days off, and carrying heavier caseloads to cover the gap left by those 700 missing officers.
Every “success” statistic being touted today rests on that invisible reality: our members are doing the work of a department of 700 officers more than actually exist.
Overtime is not just a budget line. It has a cost in reaction time to crimes and the morale of our hard-working officers.
San Franciscans deserve officers who are not stretched thin because the City refuses to take its own staffing numbers seriously.
Credit Where It’s Due
When crime numbers are down, elected leaders are quick to take credit. But we are not going to let the city claim the benefits of our officers’ work in front of the cameras and then pretend those sacrifices don’t exist when it’s time to negotiate a fair contract.
An honest conversation about public safety in San Francisco has to start with three basic facts:
We are approximately 700 officers short of the City’s own staffing targets.
That gap is being “filled” on paper by overtime, not in real life by additional officers.
Crime is down in part because existing officers are working harder and longer, not because the staffing crisis has been solved.
The San Francisco Police Officers Association is in contract negotiations with the City. Our priorities are not about perks. They are about whether San Francisco will be able to recruit and retain enough officers to keep San Francisco residents, businesses and visitors safe.
A fair, competitive contract matters for three reasons:
Retaining experienced officers
We could lose seasoned officers to other jurisdictions that offer better pay, less forced overtime and better support. Any departure takes decades of experience and judgment with it.
Attracting the next generation
Police officers have options. If we expect them to choose San Francisco—with all of its complexity and challenges—we must offer compensation, working conditions and respect that match the reality of the job.
Reducing dangerous reliance on overtime
We cannot run a major city’s public safety system on chronic overtime forever. A realistic staffing plan and a fair contract are the only way to ease the strain and improve both officer safety and public safety.
This negotiation is about whether, in the coming years, there will be enough officers on the street to answer 911 calls quickly—and whether the officer who shows up will be on their third double shift of the week.
A Simple Standard: Safety First
As union president, I have a responsibility to our members. As police officers, we all have a responsibility to the public. At the bargaining table, the SFPOA is guided by a simple question: Does this make San Francisco safer?
A contract that offers you better pay, improved benefits and better working conditions.
A contact that helps us close a 700officer gap and stabilize staffing makes San Francisco safer.
A deal that assumes we can continue to run this department on chronic overtime does not.
Our officers have stepped up. It’s time for the City to do the same.
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