The Facts

A new peer-reviewed study associates Urban Alchemy staffing with 20% fewer police-recorded incidents at 41 intersections, but it cannot distinguish a net reduction in crime from changes in reporting or crime moving to other streets. Property crime showed no change.

The Context

The study compared recorded police incidents at intersections with and without Urban Alchemy workers. If a worker moves criminal activity a few blocks away, the study may record a reduction at the staffed corner even though the activity was merely relocated.

The authors tested this by removing immediately adjacent intersections from the comparison group, and the daytime effect became statistically insignificant.

In January, San Francisco awarded Urban Alchemy a $22.51 million contract through June 2027.

The GrowSF Take

Overall we're glad that Urban Alchemy exists. A consistent street presence and overdose response can improve daily life for residents in the area.

But this study cannot prove if they actually reduce crime or just move it around.

The lesson for City Hall should be that outsourcing basic safety services to nonprofits isn't a silver bullet. We need to build internal institutional capacity, instead.