Police Commission approves 22 community safety cameras at seven intersections, defers Sixteenth & Mission

The San Francisco Police Commission voted to approve a mayoral pilot to install 22 community safety cameras at seven intersections across the city, but deferred the camera planned for Sixteenth Street and Mission Street to allow Supervisor Daley and local stakeholders more time to consult.

The cameras — allotted as 4 at Third & Newcomb, 4 at 20th/4th & Mission, 3 at Sixteenth & Mission, 3 at Turk & Taylor, 3 at Mission & Geneva, 3 at Jones & Ellis and 2 at 1050 McAllister — were recommended by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and justified by concentrated counts of robberies, assaults, vehicle thefts and burglaries in the targeted areas. The commission’s approval included a requirement that the Mayor’s Office report back on results and implementation details in six months.

“We believe that with the installation of community safety cameras that we could serve to deter the crime in those locations,” said Alan Dantz of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice during the presentation, citing preliminary pilot data and community requests. City Administrator Ed Lee described the Department of Technology’s role in equipment procurement and said the administration had begun partnerships with academic institutions to study legal and technical impacts.

Supporters at public comment described persistent quality-of-life problems and daily neighborhood violence, particularly in the Tenderloin and along parts of Mission Street, and urged deployment at specific intersections. Opposition speakers — including representatives of the ACLU and other civil-liberties advocates — urged caution, questioned the quality of notice to language-minority communities, and submitted studies they said cast doubt on CCTV’s effectiveness at reducing violent crime.

Commissioners pressed city staff on outreach and notice: staff said multilingual signs had been posted at proposed sites and offered to expand outreach. The Mayor’s Office provided a site-by-site rationale and technical details, including a typical camera range of roughly 100 feet and that cameras would be fixed (non-rotating) at most sites.

The commission’s roll call approved the deployment with one procedural caveat: commissioners agreed to continue consideration of the Sixteenth & Mission location to allow Supervisor Daley to convene neighborhood stakeholders; the remainder of the sites were approved. The motion also called for a six-month implementation report documenting incidents captured on camera, retrievals, arrests, and prosecutions attributable to footage, as required by the city ordinance.

Cost and scope: staff said the hardware and installation for the 22-camera package was approximately $275,000; additional staffing and operational costs for image retrieval and reporting were discussed as part of ongoing implementation planning.

What happens next: the commission will reconvene on Dec. 6 to consider Sixteenth & Mission specifically and the Mayor’s Office will return with progress reports and evaluation data as the pilot unfolds.