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SFPD chief defends expanded foot patrols and civilianization push while noting staffing shortfalls
Summary
Chief William Scott told the Budget & Finance Committee that foot patrol redeployments and neighborhood crime units helped reduce certain property crimes; he described recruitment shortfalls, civilianization steps and equipment needs, and committed to follow‑up data on outcomes in targeted districts.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott defended the department’s strategic emphasis on foot patrols, neighborhood crime units and a relaunch of the investigations bureau during a Budget & Finance hearing.
Scott said the department’s recent redeployment of officers to foot beats contributed to measurable declines in larceny and assaults in the areas examined by an independent study. “The California Policy Lab come in and do an independent study to see what the effectiveness was of that redeployment,” the chief told supervisors, and he offered the report to committee members.
He acknowledged staffing constraints. The chief repeated the BLA figure that the department currently has 1,886 full‑duty sworn officers and described active recruitment efforts — local and statewide outreach, job fairs, and test‑prep sessions — intended to increase academy throughput. He also described plans to civilianize administrative functions; the current budget funded 25 civilian positions, of which six had been filled, with the remainder at various stages of hiring.
Scott described budget pressures beyond staffing. He said the department anticipates roughly $6.2 million in vehicle maintenance and replacement spending this fiscal year and noted that state mandates on body‑worn camera records will require substantial administrative resources to respond to records requests and disclosure obligations.
Supervisors pressed for outcome data. Several board members asked for district‑level before/after comparisons showing whether increases in foot beats in the Tenderloin and other neighborhoods produced measurable reductions in crime, and requested the California Policy Lab study and detailed violent‑crime counts and traffic‑citations tied to Vision Zero priorities. The chief and BLA staff agreed to provide the requested data.
No new staffing allocations were adopted in the hearing; supervisors signaled that staffing and civilianization will be key items for further review during the June budget process.
