Why the 6th floor of the Westfield is the perfect place for a new police academy

A new home for SFPD training

San Francisco’s police academy is falling apart. We detailed its problems in an earlier post: a crumbling 1960s elementary school on Amber Drive, filled with asbestos, seismically unsafe, with no gym, no mock training village, and too few classrooms. Cadets sometimes take exams sitting on the floor.

But there’s an obvious solution to the crisis: the former San Francisco State Campus at the Westfield mall.

The police need a modern training facility, and downtown needs a tenant. By moving the academy into the mall, we can increase safety downtown, activate Market Street, and boost recruitment with a state-of-the-art training center.

More than an academy: a downtown safety hub with traffic enforcement

Turning Westfield’s upper floors into a police academy could do much more than improve training. Placing a visible public‑safety presence downtown would send a strong signal that the city is serious about reclaiming its core. Major retailers like Nordstrom and Whole Foods left downtown citing unsafe street conditions and a lack of enforcement. Filling vacant space with cadets, trainers, and specialized units would bring new foot traffic and deter crime.

A downtown academy could also serve as a home for the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center and the Hospitality Task Force, both of which lack permanent offices. And relocating the Traffic Company from its facility at 1995 Evans Avenue in the Bayview to a new Jessie Street substation adjacent to Westfield would free up space and centralize traffic enforcement downtown.

With one decision, the city can solve an urgent public‑safety problem and energize a struggling retail core. The sixth floor of Westfield is empty, purpose‑built for education, and waiting to be repurposed. Let’s seize the opportunity to build a modern police academy and a downtown safety hub in one. It’s time we breathe new life into downtown by making our streets cleaner and safer for all.

SFPD is certified to teach others, yet we can’t host them

We have the expertise to train both our own recruits and officers from other agencies in modern, de‑escalation‑focused policing, but we lack the facilities to do so. Despite the shortcomings of our current academy, the San Francisco Police Department is a state‑certified basic training academy. The department’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program has gained national recognition and has been showcased at conferences like the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Force Science Institute.

But the current academy doesn't have enough classrooms or dedicated training spaces to host larger classes or specialized courses. If San Francisco wants to help set the standard for policing in California, we need a facility that reflects our ambitions. We should be able to invite other departments to our academy and provide them with training.

A vacant solution sits on Westfield’s sixth floor

Fortunately, there’s a ready-made alternative hiding in plain sight: the currently unused sixth floor of the Westfield San Francisco Centre. For years, San Francisco State University ran a downtown campus there but it has since shut down. We visited the space and were blown away by how it could fit the needs of a new SFPD Academy. The campus has large, expandable classrooms clustered around Westfield's glass‑walled atrium.

The mall is directly connected to Powell Street BART via an underground passage, making it easy for recruits from across the Bay Area to attend classes. With an already purpose-built educational facility, there’s plenty of room to carve out a modern academy, simulation environment, and gym while leaving lower floors for retail or office use.

And don't worry - the shooting range won't be relocated here. That will stay at the Lake Merced facility!

Because the space was formerly occupied by a university, it barely needs any remodeling. The space could be functional once the furniture from the current academy is installed. We took some pictures, and here are some examples of the facilities and what they could look like for academy training:

Turning this into a regional training center could make the academy financially self-sustaining

What makes the 6th floor even more attractive is that the academy wouldn’t just be an expense, it could pay for itself. Because it would be certified as a basic training facility, we could charge other police departments for the training services we offer. Alameda already does this, and they generate significant revenue. In our case, the academy could operate as a self-sustaining program, even bringing in extra funds rather than relying solely on the city budget.

What we have vs. what we could have

A move to Westfield would not just fix the academy’s deficiencies; it would make the program more accessible and appealing to recruits from across the region given the connection to BART, as well as make the SFPD Academy a home training facility for other regional agencies.