San Francisco, CA

How San Francisco is lowering crime rates

Published

10 months ago

May 2, 2025

How San Francisco is lowering crime rates

San Francisco has boomed in many ways over the past two decades, but while the city has become a hub for tech talent and entrepreneurship, it has also gained a negative reputation for a high crime rate.

That is, until the past year, when the city saw a staggering drop in reported crime, which is continuing in 2025.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) reported that in 2024, homicides in the city fell by 31.4 percent, rapes fell by 2 percent and robbery fell by 21.8, compared to 2023.

Additionally, assaults fell by 6.3 percent, burglary and larceny theft fell by 9.9 and 35 percent, respectively, and arson fell by 20.6 percent in the same time period.

The start of 2025 also appears to be promising in terms of falling crime. SFPD data shows that homicides between January 1 and April 14, compared to the same time period in 2024, fell by 55.6 percent.

That comparative time period also saw rapes fall by 34.2 percent, robberies by 21.2 percent, assaults by 7.3, burglaries by 42.1 percent, larceny-theft by 30.4 and arson by 29.7 percent.

The statistics cover a smaller period of time, meaning the percentage difference may appear larger than the numerical difference between crimes.

San Francisco District Attorney (DA) Brooke Jenkins spoke with Newsweek about the methods being used by her office and San Francisco law enforcement to reduce crime in the city.

Main: A “Prevent Crime” sign on a sidewalk in San Francisco. Inset: San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

Main: Ringo Chiu/Main: Associated Press, Inset: San Francisco District Attorney’s Office

“When I was appointed district attorney, we had a complete shift in the way that my office was doing the work and in the partnerships that we had,” Jenkins said. “Particularly with the San Francisco Police Department, but also with our other state and federal law enforcement agencies. Those are partnerships that were very strained, if not nonexistent, before I took over, and so that was a big priority for me.”

Jenkins explained that improving the partnerships between the DA’s office and law enforcement has allowed them to improve court accountability, as she had seen a pattern of people being accused of crimes but not being held accountable.

Without “adequate and appropriate consequences” crime would not be deterred in the city, Jenkins said. However, “we can’t prosecute if the ground-level agencies aren’t doing the work and making the arrest,” she said. “We needed to have a strong partnership, really, to motivate and incentivize them to do more. And we’ve been able to really develop that.”

The collaboration between the offices looks like having regular meetings between the DA and the SFPD, making sure that police are aware of the evidence they need to be gathering at a crime scene so they meet the burden of proof at trial, and Jenkins “giving them praise very publicly because they need to feel encouraged and [that] people see the work that they’re doing and how hard they are working.”

Jenkins spoke specifically about drug arrests. She told Newsweek that San Francisco is perceived as having a permissive drug culture, as there are many people who were able to do drugs openly on the street in the city for many years.

Her office, in conjunction with law enforcement, has been increasing arrests for drug dealing, which Jenkins said may be classified as a non-violent crime but “begets violence” in the form of turf wars, robberies and assault.

When it comes to drugs in the city in particular, Jenkins recognized that they cannot be dealt with purely by carceral means.

“I think one of the largest issues that we face in San Francisco is both the unhoused, the homelessness issue,” she said. “Many of those individuals are addicted to drugs, particularly right now, fentanyl.

“And so there is a lot that we are trying to do to get in front of the law enforcement involvement, to try to route these individuals into treatment, to get them incentivized to engage in treatment.”

Jenkins explained that her office has the opportunity to send drug offenders to collaborative, noncriminal, courts to address their mental health, substance abuse or other struggles in order to get them placed in treatment centers as opposed to prison.

“We do really try to make sure that we address the underlying issue that somebody is facing, both before they enter the criminal justice system and have contact with law enforcement,” Jenkins said.

Unhoused people in San Francisco on December 1, 2023.

SOPA Images Limited/Alamy Live News via AP

This is an effort that has not gone unnoticed by social justice groups in San Francisco.

GLIDE, a social justice organization in the city dedicated to combating poverty and systemic injustice, spoke with Newsweek about the city’s new strategy toward crime.

“The shifting public safety landscape has brought both opportunities and complexities to our work: fewer reported crimes can create a safer environment for our clients and staff, but higher arrest rates, depending on how they are applied, can also increase the vulnerability of marginalized populations,” GLIDE said. “We remain committed to offering services that focus on stability, healing, reentry and empowerment.”

Speaking about collaborative courts, GLIDE said: “We have indeed seen greater efforts to divert individuals with substance use issues into treatment-focused programs rather than punitive systems.

“Programs like collaborative courts and pretrial diversion are important steps toward recognizing addiction as a health issue, not solely a criminal one.”

They explained that approaches such as collaborative courts align with evidence showing that pathways to recovery in the form of support and harm-reduction resources, as well as access to health care and social services, are more positively impactful than incarceration.

Another method the DA’s office and law enforcement have been using to crack down on crime is increasing surveillance in the city.

“We were a city that prioritized privacy over enforcement,” Jenkins said.

How San Francisco Is Lowering Crime Rates

Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty

Jenkins said that, ironically, although much surveillance tech is created in San Francisco, it was not used by the city’s law enforcement until a public ballot measure passed in 2024 allowing the police to increase its surveillance methods.

Some of the surveillance tools now being used by police are license plate scanners to track stolen cars, increased filming of “troubled locations,” and drones for assisting police in tracking suspects after fleeing a scene.

Jenkins said they identify “troubled locations” using community feedback, aggregate data from prior arrests and 911 calls.

GLIDE said that although they recognize that surveillance tools with appropriate oversight can be used as public safety tools, “we are also mindful that increased surveillance technologies can sometimes have unintended consequences for already marginalized groups, particularly people of color, people experiencing homelessness, and individuals living with substance use disorder or mental health issues.

“It is critical that any use of surveillance tech comes with strong transparency, community input and strict protections to prevent misuse or over-policing of vulnerable communities. Trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is vital, and any technology must support—not undermine—that trust.”

When it comes to the future of law enforcement in the city, Jenkins said: “We want to be fair. We want to have due process. We want to route people to the sources of help that they need appropriately. But we cannot abandon rules, and I think, to the extent that we continue to enforce rules, cities across our state in our country will be in better shape.”

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San Francisco, CA

SF scientists build robotic storm samplers to track pollutants before they reach the Bay

Published

11 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Environmental Scientist Kayli Paterson from the San Francisco Estuary Institute is hitting the road with colleague David Peterson and a trunk full of water sampling robots.

“Yeah, I think the max we’ve ever done was five. But the sites are very close together. Oh, there it is. Hopefully it samples well,” says Paterson as she turns the mobile sampling lab onto a private oak-lined road.

They’re closing in on a watershed creek flowing through the hillsides near the San Andreas Lake reservoir, west of Highway 280 in Millbrae, part of the larger watershed that eventually drains into San Francisco Bay.

“So, we’ve got our sampler. Look at the battery. Hook that up, red and black. This is a 12-volt lithium battery, and it powers our sampler for probably about six to seven days,” she explains, showing off a self-contained unit miniaturized into a portable case.

MORE: Futuristic Fight Club: VR-controlled boxing humanoid robots battle in San Francisco

The black cases are their latest innovation in stormwater science. Robotic samplers anchor in key sections of the watershed to monitor not only flow, but also the chemicals and pollutants washing downstream toward the Bay.

“And this is a front-line pollution sampler. It’s getting the stormwater before it enters the Bay. And so, we want to know what’s coming into the Bay and getting these samplers out there in more locations will give us a better idea of where we might have issues, where a hotspot is, or maybe a previously unknown contaminant,” says Paterson.

“It’s important to get out that fast,” her colleague David Peterson adds. “You know, in these storms as they’re happening, because the water is picking up pollutants in real time, and we need to be there to capture them.”

When we first met Peterson several years ago, he and another Estuary Institute team were sampling water along the Bay shoreline by hand, a technique that’s still valuable. But to cover more ground, Kayli and a group of collaborators began developing the robotic samplers over recent storm seasons.

Kayli and David start by chaining the unit itself to a tree near the creek bank. The system employs remote-controlled pumps that draw samples from the creek and store them in onboard containers. The software controlling the volume and frequency can be operated from a phone app.

MORE: New study of San Francisco Bay fish confirms concentrations of PFAS aka ‘forever chemicals’

One of the key targets in this study is a group of so-called “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, synthetic compounds that persist in the environment and have been detected in widespread areas of the Bay.

“And we capture samples and send them off to analytics labs across the country. Typically, universities or private labs will process these for us,” Peterson explains.

For these two stormwater detectives, it’s a mission that requires a combination of speed and patience**, chasing flowing water** through creeks and storm drains, sampling as they go.

“So, we’re looking for areas – the point of this is to do source control. Ultimately, we want to be able to trace this back to a possible source,” says Kayli Paterson.

And potentially prevent a source of toxic pollution from reaching San Francisco Bay and our Bay Area ecosystem.

More than a dozen of the robots were given names in a special contest, including the Big Sipper and the Tubeinator.

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San Francisco, CA

Floats for San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade get finishing touches

Published

23 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Floats for San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade get finishing touches

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — ABC7 Eyewitness News got a sneak peak as crews put the finishing touches on the floats you’ll see at Saturday’s San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade.

Since it’s the year of the fire horse, you’ll see a lot of horses and fire symbolism on the floats, housed at Pier 19.

“So Year of the Horse, it’s energy, it’s passion, it’s momentum so a lot of things that we’re really hoping to embody in the new year,” said Stephanie Mufson, owner of San Francisco-based The Parade Guys, which designs and constructs the floats.

She said they’ve been building them for about three months, with the designs starting in November.

MORE: Bay Area artist brings Year of the Horse statue to life for Golden State Warriors

“We’re in the home stretch,” she said. “We’ve got a couple of days left and we’ve got a nice little team that’s cranking out all the finishing work that needs to go into it.”

Derrick Shavers was sanding some wood that will be painted and become cherry blossom trees on a float.

“It’s exciting,” Shavers said. “I look forward to coming every year and just creating and making things shine and sparkle.”

Bon was painting mountains for a float, making sure everything is perfect in time for the parade.

MORE: Meet the 2026 San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade mascot, Maverick

“It’s one of the few parades that actually happens at night still,” Bon said. “So we got to make sure all the lighting is in check, and people are safe on the float. It’s all in the details, just for it to walk by you for 10 seconds.”

Ten seconds that bring so much joy to those watching the parade.

Here’s how you can watch the parade on ABC7 Eyewitness News on Saturday, March 7.

Coverage starts at 5 p.m. wherever you stream ABC7.

SF Chinese New Year Parade 2026: How to watch ABC7 Eyewitness News live coverage

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

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San Francisco, CA

Celebrated San Francisco historic landmark, the Huntington Hotel officially reopens

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Celebrated San Francisco historic landmark, the Huntington Hotel officially reopens

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — First opened as apartments in 1922 and converted into a hotel two years later, the Huntington was once a playground for socialites and Hollywood stars.

It shut its doors in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and remained shuttered until this week, following new owners and a million-dollar, top-to-bottom renovation.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for The Huntington Hotel in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood Monday.

The hotel officially reopened on Sunday.

Mayor Daniel Lurie attended the celebration for the hotel on California Street.

“This is another sign that San Francisco is on the rise, when you have major institutions and major hotels reopening,” Lurie said. “We’re seeing it in Union Square. We’re seeing it now up here on Nob Hill. This is an exciting moment for San Francisco.”

What doom loop? Downtown San Francisco showing signs of economic rebound, experts say

The hotel, known for its iconic sign, will be restoring the landmark sign to its former glory.

Many say it’s a symbol of what’s going on in San Francisco.

MORE: Nordstrom making return to San Francisco with new concept, mixed reactions

“It came to symbolize San Francisco’s decline during COVID when it shut and it now, I think, symbolizes San Francisco’s rebirth,” said Greg Flynn, Flynn Group Founder, Chairman, and CEO. “It’s sort of the perfect symbol of it because it’s coming back better than it ever was.”

Alex Bastian, President and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, said hotel occupancy rates are up in 2024.

“Our data team crunched the numbers, and the four-week rolling hotel occupancy rate for San Francisco Bay Area hotels is 55.1 percent as of January 17 of this year. Compare that to January 17 of 2021, during the pandemi,c when it was 13.1 percent.”

Of course, the Super Bowl helped.

Here’s what Super Bowl LX visitors are saying about San Francisco

“There’s no marketing campaign better than what we achieved as San Franciscans,” Bastian said. “The mayor and his team really elevated the game. They did an incredible job. We are so fortunate, as a city, because so many came here and they left their hearts here in San Francisco.”

Eyewitness News wasn’t allowed to gather video of the hotel’s features, but the hotel provided renderings of a sample room.

Matthew de Quillien, The Huntington Hotel General Manager, said the hotel has 143 rooms, many of them suites. Also, the Nob Hill Spa, Arabella’s Cocktail Salo,n and a reopening of The Big Four Restaurant, featuring its famous chicken pot pie.

“Our owner was able to find the original recipe from the 70’s and we remastered it and we’re … serving it to our guests,” de Quillien said.

He said rates range from $600 a night to $7,000 a night for its Presidential suite.

The restaurant opens to the public on March 17.

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

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