As San Francisco continues to struggle with unabated drug crimes that play out in public every hour of the day, District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill is promoting a new plan that may offer relief. It shifts the focus from enabling drug users to protecting residents. The aim is to help the Tenderloin and South of Market — the city’s most drug-saturated neighborhoods — become safer for families.
On Nov. 13 at City Hall, Sherrill led a rally about his effort to change how the city addresses the fentanyl epidemic, this time from the public’s perspective.
Sherrill’s Protecting Parks, Playgrounds, and Schools resolution calls on the San Francisco Police Department to develop and implement a comprehensive enforcement plan that targets illicit drug activity around areas where families gather. The zones would extend 250 feet around parks, playgrounds, and schools. The bill is cosponsored by District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey and District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter.
If enacted, the legislation would give law enforcement greater authority to cite and arrest people who are actively using illicit substances in those areas, as well as people already impaired by drugs or alcohol.
It would bring together the Police Department’s Drug Market Agency Coordination Center with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, the district attorney’s office, the Department of Public Health, and the Department of Emergency Management to coordinate efforts to remove drug activity from the identified zones.
Sauter, Dorsey, and District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood attended in support, as did members of several community groups, including Drug-Free Sidewalks, Hope House, United Playaz, and Connected SF.
Steve Adami, executive director of The Way Out, a recovery-focused homeless initiative of the Salvation Army, was also in attendance. He called for an end to the city’s current approach to public drug use.
It’s time to end the chaos on our streets, Adami said:
“Every day we’re told crime is down while there’s another stabbing, shooting, looting, or open drug market on social media. San Francisco’s drug and homeless crisis is affecting everyone, but especially our children. Supervisor Sherrill’s legislation strengthens our commitment to restoring public order in our city. Open-air drug markets and public drug use have created a public safety emergency fueled solely by drug addiction.”
Adami stressed a final point:
“Our city must stop funding services and programs that promote and enable drug addiction and expand opportunities that promote abstinence and accountability.”
San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee member and Drug-Free Sidewalks member Cedric Akbar noted that his communities were devastated by the crack epidemic and cannot return to that era, but doesn’t accept standing by and doing nothing.
“Enough is enough,” Akbar said. “Today, we have to show that accountability is compassion. You can tell people no, you cannot use on our sidewalks. We can say yes, we have treatment for you. The children and the people of the Tenderloin and South of Market deserve much better than what we’ve been given.”
A man named Luke, who said he is currently in recovery, was in the crowd and expressed hope that the ordinance would pass.
“It will make the details different,” he said. “A person will think twice about doing [drugs] in front of a little kid.”
SFPD Deputy Chief Derrick Lew explained how the plan would work during the hearing that followed the rally.
First, someone would need to call 911 or the nonemergency line to report drug activity within 250 feet of a school, playground, or park. A priority level would be assigned, and police would respond. Officers may issue a warning, a citation, or a custodial arrest.
If arrested for drug use, the person could be transported to the new sobering center on Sixth Street in South of Market as an alternative to a hospital or jail. There would be a mandatory 24-hour hold, but the person can choose to remain longer if they wish.
Once at the sobering center, individuals can safely come down from substances and then be connected to long-term treatment and recovery services.
The plan also offers logistical benefits for police and public safety. Instead of officers taking people to hospitals and having them tied up for hours during processing, they would drop individuals off at the center, where the Sheriff’s Department would take over. That would allow officers to return more quickly to patrol and enforcement duties.
“The biggest part of this is identifying and making it very clear what areas are places where families and children deserve to feel safe,” Sherrill said after the hearing. “The entire city, obviously, but we need to start here. I’m urging all city departments to come together. We’ll start with one place, then a second and a third. We have to start doing something new.”