Press Release: Supervisor Wiener to Call for Oversight Hearing on Spike in Burglaries, Home Invasions, Auto Break-ins, and Other Property Crimes

Hearing will ask Police Department, District Attorney, and other departments and organizations to report on statistics and strategies to confront home invasions, car break-ins, thefts, and other property crimes in San Francisco

San Francisco — At today’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Scott Wiener will call for a hearing on property crime trends in residential neighborhoods, including home invasions, auto break-ins, and robberies. At the hearing, the Police Department, the District Attorney, and the Superior Court will be asked to report on current property crime trends, and what is being done to address these issues. Community safety groups like SF SAFE will also be invited to discuss how residents can better protect themselves against these crimes through organizing neighborhood watches and employing safety strategies.
“Our neighborhoods continue to be confronted by a relentless wave of property crimes,” said Supervisor Wiener. “There are high profile cases of home invasions, and everyday disturbances like car break-ins and packages being stolen off people’s porches. We need to know what’s actually happening, how the City is responding, and what approaches residents can take to protect themselves and their property. We need more officers walking beats, and more focus on property crimes. We need our police, our District Attorney’s Office, our courts, our probations departments, and our community organizations to work to together to ensure accountability for crime, as well as strong efforts at rehabilitation to reduce recidivism.”
Supervisor Wiener has been a strong supporter of increased police staffing through aggressive funding of police academy classes. Moreover, earlier this year, Supervisor Wiener authored legislation making it city policy to tie police staffing to population growth. This would take our minimum staffing goal from around 2,000 officers, which the voters approved in 1994, to 2,200–2,300 based on today’s population. According to an analysis by the City Controller, San Francisco’s police staffing — when adjusted for population and when compared to peer staffing in other cities — falls far short of where it should be.
The hearing will be held early next year. In January, Supervisor Wiener will convene a District 8 neighborhood safety community meeting, in light of the increase in crime.