SFPD credits targeted patrols, community outreach for reduced violence in Mission District

Captain Corrales told the San Francisco Police Commission on March 30 that the Mission District has seen an overall drop in violent crime this year compared with the same period in 2010 and described the department's short-term tactics and longer-term outreach to sustain that improvement.

'We have a 8% reduction this year as opposed to last year for the same time period in violent crimes,' Corrales said, summarizing a range of statistics that included fewer aggravated assaults and an increase in arrests. Corrales said arrest totals were up sharply: violent-crime arrests were up 42% and total Part I arrests were up 25% for the reporting period. He flagged auto burglaries as a continuing concern but said community partnerships and focused enforcement helped tamp a brief spike in gang incidents.

Corrales outlined a multi-pronged response: saturating known gang areas with plainclothes and felony-response units, rerouting some officers from other assignments into gang-abatement efforts, conducting probation and parole searches with probation officers, executing search warrants and large narcotics seizures, and undertaking three four-day weekend abatement operations in which 162 officers were deployed and 50 arrests made. He listed seizures including methamphetamine and cocaine quantities and said officers recovered multiple firearms during recent enforcement actions.

The captain emphasized community collaboration as a central element of the strategy. He credited organizations including the Community Response Network, HOMEY/Homie, Lower 20th Street Merchants Association, Mission Beacon, Mission Boys and Girls Club, San Francisco Wraparound Project, Central Latino Senior Center and La Casa de Lehi Madres for helping de-escalate potentially volatile moments in the wake of shootings and homicides. Corrales described coordinated outreach around a highly visible shrine and funeral that, with community workers' involvement, proceeded without further violence.

Commissioners pressed Corrales on staffing and officer safety. After an assault on an officer working alone, Corrales said he issued a mandate to eliminate single-officer units at night in the Mission District; day-watch single-officer beats remain in some areas because of staffing constraints. Commissioners commended the change and asked for continued updates on foot patrol coverage and clearance rates for homicide investigations.

The commission did not take formal action on the presentation; commissioners asked the chief to provide additional clearance-rate data in a future chief's report and to continue monitoring staffing impacts on community beats.

Ending: The commission invited continued follow-up; Corrales said community meetings and long-term outreach events (an Easter egg hunt and a Christmas gift program) are part of ongoing efforts to build trust and reduce violence over time.