SAN FRANCISCO – Big sweeps, but few prosecutions in San Francisco. 

At this point, law enforcement officials are standing by the strategy of enforcing and tracking down where drug markets move even if they aren’t leading to many prosecutions at this point. 

San Francisco’s Police Department has highlighted several high-visibility enforcement efforts, including just over a week ago at the intersection of Market and Van Ness to show the renewed effort to crack down on open-air drug markets and use. 

So far no charges

While that sweep resulted in 40 or so arrests, so far no one has been charged. 

Law Professor David Levine from UC School of Law San Francisco said police can arrest someone based on probable cause, but prosecutors need to meet the higher bar of beyond a reasonable doubt to win a case. 

“There’s a big difference between the standards police use to make an arrest versus what the prosecutors use to initiate a prosecution and ultimately what they need to win a case in front of a jury,” said Levine.

What they’re saying:

San Francisco police issued a statement reading in part, “17 of the arrests at Market and Van Ness were for outstanding warrants that were sent to the appropriate jurisdictions. These efforts have led to better outcomes. Our streets are cleaner and safer where we enforce the law.” 

Calling it successful 

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ office also weighed in, calling the enforcement a success and saying most of those arrested were cited for misdemeanors and will appear in court within the next month or so.

The DA released a statement reading in part, “Successful prosecution and law enforcement requires a robust, collaborative partnership among agencies, and we are committed to working with our partners to offer guidance on what we need to meet our burden of proof.”

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, whose district includes the South of Market, agrees that simply having police disrupt drug markets and use is an important step, and can even be a tool to get drug users into treatment, and impact the demand side of the drug trade. 

“The party is over”

“This isn’t about going back to the war on drugs,” said Supervisor Dorsey, “It is about telling people that the party is over. We have to restore public order in San Francisco.”

Legal experts say even without prosecutions, law enforcement may be sending a message. 

“Because you’re going to make these criminals at least a little more careful about what they’re doing,” said Levine. “They’re going to be a little bit more discreet about what they’re doing.”

What’s next:

The DA said her office will be meeting with SFPD next week to discuss the recent enforcement, and offer guidance on what her attorneys need to successfully prosecute cases. 

The Mission District will be getting its very own night market in six weeks’ time, transforming a three block stretch of Valencia Street into a sprawling community block party complete with revelry, boozing, and entertainment after-hours. 

Starting at 5 p.m. on May 8, and running into the night until 10 p.m., Valencia will be shut down to car traffic between 16th and 19th streets. Visitors will be able to roam the street, beer in hand, and visit stages lining either side featuring performances by Mission artists.

Each block will house a stage produced by Mission businesses and local groups. The longtime dive bar Blondie’s will organize live music on its stage, another stage will host performances dedicated to Carnaval, and a parking lot will host an indigenous artisans’ market. 

Restaurants will set up tents with extra seating to serve food to passers-by, who can grab a bite and browse offerings from local artists, games, and lots of music. 

It’s the latest of nearly a dozen night markets opened in San Francisco over the past year, but also a local effort: Valencia badly needs revitalization, said Manny Yekutiel, the owner of his namesake cafe Manny’s and the president of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association. 

“Foot traffic has drastically reduced in recent years,” he said. “We need to come up with a way to bring people back.” 

The night market, dubbed “Valencia LIVE,” will be funded by donations to the Civic Joy Fund, a group co-founded by Yekutiel and Mayor Daniel Lurie that has backed night markets throughout the city, namely in Chinatown, the Richmond, and the Sunset. 

The Sunset market last summer drew an estimated 20,000 people to the streets, swarming booths and food vendors. 

The Valencia version is a pilot program: It will take place on the second Thursday of every month, from May until October. Organizers hope that, if successful, the market will last for at least two years.

The push for these markets is part of an ongoing effort to revitalize San Francisco’s dwindling nightlife scene, including by Lurie, who celebrated his inauguration day with a visit to a Chinatown night market in his honor complete with an electronic music performance, fireworks, and dancing.

The Valencia Night Market will be just one of three “entertainment zones” in San Francisco, which were made possible after a state law from Sen. Scott Wiener went into effect last year allowing for businesses under a music venue license to apply to be an entertainment zone. 

That license lets businesses sell beer, wine and liquor to pedestrians during certain hours, as long as they don’t walk away with them outside of the mandated zone.

The other two entertainment zones are “Thrive City,” outside the Chase Center arena, and Front Street between California and Sacramento.

Merchants in neighborhoods across the city have expressed interest in creating more entertainment zones, but argue that high fees and a harrowing permitting process have made securing a license harder than it needs to be. 

Lurie, for his part, introduced legislation in February to create 20 new liquor licenses for a downtown “hospitality zone.” Liquor licenses are notoriously difficult to procure.

The Valencia market will be put on by the Civic Joy Fund, the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association, the Mission Merchants Association, and Into the Streets, a business founded by Katy Birnbaum in 2023 and dedicated to organizing events in downtown San Francisco. The mayor’s office is also helping.

Shaelyn Dalziel, who works at Valencia Street Vintage, said closing down the streets to vehicles has worked “wonders” for her business before, pointing to the once-a-year Sunday Streets, which also shuts down Valencia to traffic and brings out gobs of shoppers. Her store, alongside the rest of the neighborhood, has reaped the benefits from the event, she said.

Valencia Street appears to have fared better than other parts of the Mission, however, at least according to data from the San Francisco’s Controller’s office. That’s despite complaints by business owners of the negative impact of the center-bike lane, and its subsequent removal. 

By May 8, construction crews moving the center-bike lane to the curbside should be finished with their task, clearing the way for a continuous closure from 16th to 19th streets — and for pedestrians to pack the corridor.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco has been deploying officers throughout the city to tackle open air drug markets. During the latest operation, SFPD arrested about 40 people but none were charged.

It’s the latest crackdown by San Francisco police and the sheriff’s office. It happened a week ago on Market and Van Ness, one of the city’s hotspots for drug dealing.

“Market and Van Ness has a huge drug problem. They cleared it out by doing what they did, so I think the motive was right. I think the questions was why they made so many arrests, and they couldn’t confirm with prosecutions, but the crackdown had to be done,” said Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.

Shaw views this operation as the right approach but like many, has been wondering what happened next. We checked in with the city’s district attorney’s office and confirmed out of the 40 people arrested, none have yet been charged.

VIDEO: Dozens of drug dealers arrested in overnight raid at SF’s Jefferson Square Park, police say

Here’s the breakdown:

• 23 people were cited and released, and have a court hearing in April

• 12 people were arrested, booked into jail but were not charged

• 5 were arrested, booked into jail, but face further investigation

We questioned DA Jenkins on why it’s been so hard to prosecute these cases.

“Just like in other types of cases, there is oftentimes where the police and my office have to come together and discuss what evidence we need in order to charge, because we have a different charging standard which is beyond a reasonable doubt versus their arrests standard of probably cause,” said Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco District Attorney.

In a statement, SFPD responded saying:

“SFPD officers must establish probable cause when making any arrest, including in all of our recent drug market operations and surges.Our officers will continue enforcing the law to disrupt the drug markets to ensure our streets are safe and clean.”

MORE: Dozens arrested in recent SF park drug raid were already wanted on warrants: officials

Luz Pena: “Is your office having conversations with SFPD when it comes to gathering that evidence so you can prosecute?”

“So obviously as you know, they have only done a few of these operations and yes, we do have meetings scheduled to have these conversations next week. It’s important to sit down and talk through some things that we did not find to be enough, and to be able to tell them what it is that we need,” said DA Jenkins.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said her office is seeking for the evidence a jury would “expect” and added, “We are all doing our very best to meet the needs of the San Francisco public right now who want our street conditions improved, and SFPD is doing everything that they can to meet those needs and those expectations and it’s a learning process.”