Mayor outlines four-part public safety package including ambassador contract extension and police pay deal

Mayor London Breed told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on March 7 that she plans to move four public-safety items through the board in the weeks ahead, including an extension of community ambassador contracts, a police funding supplemental, a three-year memorandum of understanding with the police department that would add retention pay and other incentives, and a supplemental request for the district attorney to hire prosecutors focused on fentanyl cases.

The mayor described the ambassador programs — including Urban Alchemy in the Tenderloin and Mid-Market ambassador programs as well as city "welcome ambassadors" — as non‑police alternatives that both assist visitors and provide jobs to formerly incarcerated or unhoused residents. "Urban Alchemy has truly been a transformative partner in the Tenderloin and the mid market communities," Breed said, adding that she wants the board to avoid politicizing contract approvals so the programs do not lose funding.

Why it matters: Breed framed the package as an attempt to both keep officers on the street and expand non‑police responses to street-level concerns. She said the package would combine short-term steps — supplemental funding and contract extensions — with longer-term work on staffing and alternatives such as the city's Street Crisis Response Team.

The package's four elements

- Ambassador contracts: Breed said she will seek to extend and expand current contracts, including Urban Alchemy's work in the Tenderloin and other ambassador programs. She emphasized that the nonprofit partners must hire and develop capacity before coverage can expand and warned that safety concerns sometimes limit deployments.

- Police supplemental funding: The mayor asked the board to move a supplemental appropriation quickly to keep officers on patrol and deploy retired ambassadors as supplemental foot-beats.

- Police contract: Breed said she will introduce a proposed three‑year contract with the San Francisco Police Officers' Association intended to raise starting pay, add retention bonuses, and offer childcare and overtime supports. "The agreement will help stop the outflow of experienced officers leaving San Francisco by including significant retention bonuses," she said.

- District attorney prosecutors for fentanyl cases: Breed said she plans to seek additional prosecutors dedicated to fentanyl prosecutions, citing a spike in overdose deaths linked to fentanyl during the pandemic.

Board exchange and limits of local authority

District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston pressed Breed for a commitment to place non‑police ambassadors on uncovered stretches of the Tenderloin and Lower Polk neighborhoods, identifying specific blocks between Van Ness and Larkin and between Geary and Ellis. Breed said she supports expanding coverage citywide and supports Urban Alchemy, but she declined to make an immediate commitment to specific deployments. "I can't make a commitment today to do so, and to also force people to expand or to hire or to deploy in places that they don't agree to," Breed said, noting nonprofits' staffing choices, safety concerns for ambassadors and the need to coordinate across programs.

Preston framed the issue as both a budget and a deployment question, saying uneven coverage has pushed problematic activity into blocks without ambassador presence. Breed said the city is providing resources and that contract approval should not be manipulated for political ends; she urged collaboration to expand coverage where capacity allows.

What was not decided

No ordinance, appropriation, or contract was adopted during the March 7 meeting. The mayor announced items she intends to bring forward and asked the supervisors for timely support, but formal votes on those proposals will occur in committee or on future board agendas.

Speakers quoted in this article spoke during the March 7 mayoral remarks and the ensuing Q&A and are recorded in the meeting transcript.