In the spring of 2024, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) launched a creative strategy to enhance pedestrian safety at bustling intersections. Officers donned eye-catching costumes, like Big Bird, unicorns, and rainbow-feathered chickens, to cross busy intersections where drivers must yield. Nearby, officers in vehicles could quickly issue citations to violators.
SFPD has continued to deploy this effective strategy, and most recently in the Richmond neighborhood, due to increasing concerns from residents that drivers are speeding past busy pedestrian crossings while failing to stop or yield. In a 2023 citywide survey, seniors report that they are the largest portion of residents using public transportation in San Francisco, which means they also constitute a significant portion of pedestrians navigating through busy intersections and commercial corridors daily.
The heightened public awareness of these operations, coupled with their deterrent effect, could encourage drivers to navigate commercial and residential corridors with greater caution and respect for pedestrian safety.
Starting at 8 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 30, Lt. Jonathan Ozol, adorned in a bright rainbow chicken costume, navigated the crosswalk at California Street and Seventh Avenue as part of SFPD’s creative pedestrian safety initiative. In just four hours, Capt. Kevin Lee reported 63 citations issued: 56 for failing to yield (approximately a $238 fine and one license point). Additional infractions included cellphone use, disregarded stop signs, illegal turns, and equipment violations. Most violators (73 percent) were San Francisco residents.
The heightened public awareness of these operations, coupled with their deterrent effect, could encourage drivers to navigate commercial and residential corridors with greater caution and respect for pedestrian safety.
In 2024, SFPD recorded 24 pedestrian fatalities. By Q3 2025, this stands at 12, which suggests that fatalities are trending downward at this current rate. At Richmond station, Captain Kevin Lee, a 26-year law enforcement veteran fluent in Cantonese, believes patrol is the “backbone” of policing. He also assigned two bilingual officers, speaking Cantonese and Russian respectively, to neighborhood foot patrols.
Recently there were a series of repeat burglaries on the Clement corridor, which Captain Lee addressed by putting plain clothes officers in high risk areas that resulted in an arrest of a suspect who also had an outstanding arrest for arson.
The updated mandate led by interim Chief Paul Yep is to prioritize efficiency, accountability, and public safety, while deactivating Public Relations units such as Chief of Staff, Strategic Management, and Public Affairs. These resources have now been redistributed to core duties like patrol. Serial perpetrators are being arrested and charged in San Francisco, but judicial discretion on pre-trial detentions, untimely trials and probation continue to challenge public safety and retail revitalization.
