Sheriff Paul Miyamoto wants more RESET-style sobering centers after the Sixth Street pilot admitted about 600 people, a sign the city may want to expand a model that gets intoxicated people indoors and into supervised care.

Caltrans will close stretches of 19th Avenue over three spring weekends to repave State Route 1, part of a broader rehabilitation and safety effort.

San Francisco's broad crime drop continued in early 2026, with robbery, assault, and property crime all down sharply. But shootings and gun-violence victims are edging up, a sign the city should keep backing effective policing while intensifying pressure on repeat violent offenders.

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood plans legislation to ban uncertified lithium-ion batteries after a Tenderloin apartment fire displaced residents and underscored the risks of low quality electronics.

The Police Commission is preparing a rare evaluation of DPA director Paul Henderson after a whistleblower lawsuit revived toxic-workplace allegations. That is news, but the bigger story is that San Francisco appears to review key public-safety leaders only after a crisis.

City Attorney David Chiu says whoever leaked a confidential legal memo could face investigations, penalties, and even removal from office.

A judge fined Public Defender Mano Raju $26,000 after his office refused 26 felony appointments. Raju says he's understaffed, but defendants are being denied their constitutional rights.

Economist-blogger Noah Smith says he donated $10,000 to GrowSF to support Alan Wong in the June 2 District 4 election — arguing that one seat could decide whether San Francisco keeps moving on safety, housing, and permitting reform.

San Francisco voted in 2019 to close Juvenile Hall by the end of 2021, but it’s still operating—and in 2025 cost about $543,000 per detained youth per year. With SB 823 realignment requiring counties to handle the most serious cases, SF’s own plans show the work is underway—but City Hall still needs to pick a right-sized, costed path forward.

A San Francisco judge held Public Defender Mano Raju in contempt for continuing to refuse some new cases, escalating a standoff that’s already delaying prosecutions and leaving some defendants waiting for counsel. City Hall needs a transparent, funded plan to restore ethical caseloads—fast.

SFPD is cutting station overtime hours by 22% as City Hall seeks $100 million in personnel savings. Overtime has doubled in recent years, but the city is also already pursuing hiring/civilianization and tighter overtime tracking—so the test now is whether leaders can cut costs without quietly shrinking proactive policing, and whether they’ll publish clear monthly metrics to prove it.

San Francisco’s first sober homeless shelter is near capacity, with a growing waitlist—early evidence that many people want recovery-focused, drug-free shelter options. City Hall should scale what works, and keep the ability to stand up programs quickly—with clear performance metrics and accountability.

San Francisco supervisors are moving toward a five-year pause on a controversial high-rise condo sprinkler retrofit mandate that residents say could cost $200,000–$300,000 per unit. The delay would push the permit deadline from 2027 to 2032 while the city studies feasibility and possible exemptions.

San Francisco’s new speed cameras drove traffic citations back to mid-2010s levels—after years of enforcement collapse—by issuing tens of thousands of tickets in just months.

After December’s huge outage, PG&E’s CEO told Supervisors the Mayor asked for Opera House power, but then walked it back. The real story isn’t the political theater: it’s a fragile grid and a utility that keeps failing San Franciscans when it matters.

San Francisco is launching a “drunk tank for drug use”: the RESET Center, where people arrested for public intoxication/drug use can sober up indoors with medical supervision instead of tying up ER beds or jail cells. The Board approved a $14.5M pilot contract for a SoMa site at 444 6th St. on a 9–2 vote (Fielder and Chan no).

BART says its new “next generation” fare gates are converting more riders into paying customers — bringing in an estimated $10 million per year and reducing station damage and maintenance needs. Turns out a small portion of riders can cause a lot of problems, and fixing that can make a big difference for everyone.

SF supervisors will vote in February on extending and expanding the midnight–5 a.m. retail-hours restriction from the Tenderloin into parts of SoMa. GrowSF’s view: shut down the bad actors and enforce existing laws—don’t impose a blanket curfew that punishes legitimate small businesses.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan says he’s running for governor, arguing his “build capacity fast + enforce rules with accountability” approach on homelessness and public safety can scale statewide — and positioning himself as a blunt critic of Sacramento’s status quo.

San Francisco will use $21M in state Proposition 1 bond funding to open 50 new locked behavioral-health beds at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The state pays for the buildout but SF must still fund staffing and operations.

SFPD says officers broke up a Jan. 18 Outer Richmond sideshow, arrested two men, towed vehicles, and seized an illegal assault rifle and ammunition. It’s a reminder that stunt-driving events aren’t “harmless fun” — they’re organized disorder that puts neighborhoods at risk.

San Francisco Superior Court is escalating its standoff with the Public Defender over refusing new felony cases, raising the risk of delays—and even releases—when defendants can’t get counsel.

A San Francisco jury acquitted Antoine Watson of murder in the 2021 killing of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee, the attack that helped galvanize Stop Asian Hate. The verdict raises hard questions about accountability and how the city protects vulnerable seniors.

San Francisco plans to open a new “RESET” stabilization center at 444 6th St. to take people arrested for public intoxication off the street, medically monitor them, and connect them to treatment—without tying up officers in hourslong jail or ER drop-offs.

San Francisco ended 2025 with just 28 homicides—the fewest since 1954—and major drops in robbery, theft, and car break-ins. Other big cities also reported declines, underscoring a broader post-pandemic trend—but SF still needs better clearance rates and sustained enforcement to keep neighborhoods feeling safe.

Weeks after the Dec. 20 Mission substation fire that knocked out power for up to 130,000 customers, San Franciscans in multiple neighborhoods were still dealing with repeat outages—while PG&E’s shifting rate structure makes paying for backup power feel less like an “investment” and more like self-insurance.

Thanks to Supervisor Danny Sauter, the fine for sideshows has been doubled to $1000.

Mayor Daniel Lurie selected Deputy Chief Derrick Lew, a veteran investigator and leader of San Francisco’s drug-market crackdown, as the city’s next police chief, signaling a continued focus on enforcement, technology, and public-safety results.

An SFPD officer’s shooting of a dog and its owner on Market Street underscores San Francisco’s rising dog-bite problem and the collapse of the city’s "canine court" system for dealing with dangerous animals.

Supervisor Mahmood secures $200K pilot to help young residents avoid drug trade recruitment.

The city is finally launching a pragmatic sobering center to handle drug-related arrests, combining enforcement with treatment opportunities.

Mayor Lurie successfully advocates for the city, leading to the cancellation of planned National Guard deployment.

The City had nowhere to put an alleged sexual assault offender, eight days after release he struck again.

Sacramento fixes a problem of its own making, reversing failed decriminalization policies.

San Francisco's new speed cameras are proving highly effective, cutting the number of vehicles speeding.

Supervisor Sauter seeks $1,000 penalties as city targets dangerous street takeovers with stronger deterrents.

Board unanimously approves plan with hard deadlines and transparency dashboards after Vision Zero failed to prevent 43 traffic deaths in 2024.

Sherrill and Lurie announce free firearms storage at police stations to prevent domestic violence tragedies.

Near-unanimous legislative support for Mayor Lurie's state-local partnership to crack down on retail theft and boost nightlife.

Bay Area transit police report substantial crime reductions with new fare gates and increased officer presence.

GrowSF’s first-ever tracking poll shows that concern over violent crime is down by 21 points since September 2023, dropping from 60% to just 39% today.

Four retired officers will patrol the neighborhoods as unarmed ambassadors to support small businesses facing safety concerns.

The SFPD is facing a staffing shortage and will hire retired officers to help fill the gap during special events.

Interim Police Chief Paul Yep promotes a dozen leaders, including union head Tracy McCray, aiming to stabilize the SFPD amid leadership turnover.

Vandals smashed windows and spray-painted hate speech at Manny’s, a community café in the Mission District. Supervisor Jackie Fielder has not condemned the attack.

Thanks to $9.4M in donations, the SFPD’s Real Time Investigations Center is getting a major upgrade—No more asbestos ceilings and stained carpets, their new modern office will have video walls, drones, and more staffing to drive down crime.

Mayor Lurie’s $15.9 billion budget proposal closes a $817.5 million deficit without sacrificing core services, while making structural cuts and setting aside reserves.

Despite a projected $782 million budget deficit, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s budget proposal does not cut funding from San Francisco’s core public safety services.

After running a competitive bidding process, BART will switch from Urban Alchemy to District Works for their elevator attendant program, prompting layoffs at Urban Alchemy.

After eight years as San Francisco’s top cop, Chief Bill Scott is stepping down this summer amid growing pressure for change.

Waymo’s autonomous fleet logged 56.7 million miles and dramatically outperformed human drivers in almost every crash scenario.

How has Mayor Lurie done in his first 100 days? Pretty well!

Car break-ins, burglaries, and robberies are all down significantly, and more than other cities.

Emergency calls and drug-related reports are surging at 16th and Mission, the latest epicenter of San Francisco’s disorder.

Safety fixes and traffic improvements are coming to Oak Street, after the MTA Board voted to approve a second left turn lane at Masonic, shorter crosswalks, and a side-running bike lane

Car break-ins have fallen from a pandemic peak of 21,800 to just 8,500 per year.

One organization will replace nine separate teams that respond to street crises in San Francisco.