SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco’s outgoing mayor is touting a drop in crime on her last full day in office. As the city prepares to transition from one mayor to another, crime is front and center.

The latest data shows crime is on the decline in San Francisco. The mayor and chief of police said property crime is down 31% from 2023, and violent crime is down 14%.

On her final full day in office, Mayor London Breed said it’s the result of hard work on several fronts. The mayor said a strong district attorney, new state and local laws and the adoption of new technology, have all contributed to the lowest crime rate since 2001. 

“We have what we need to be a successful city and I feel strongly and proud that I laid the groundwork for what happened in 2024,” said Mayor Breed. “It’s only going to get better.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog in the digital and technological space, warned that “There is no magic “tipping point” the SFPD can hit in which more and more surveillance will suddenly be the primary reason for safer streets—the opposite is true. The more surveillance there is, the more vulnerable communities will feel the negative impacts of heavy-handed policing.”

San Francisco’s Police Chief Bill Scott said a focused approach to catching and convicting repeat offenders and adopting new technology played roles in reducing the crime rate. “Once we got that equipment in our arsenal of tools, drones and helicopters, they became even more effective,” said Chief Scott. “We’re seeing more arrests, we’re seeing more arrests on people that are prolific.”

The latest data comes as the city prepares for a new mayor to lead the city. Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie met with officers in Chinatown to listen to their concerns. He acknowledged the decrease in crime, but said there is still work to be done. “It’s incredibly hopeful,” said Lurie. “We have to continue to do our work. I’ve commended them on those crime stats going down, want to continue to see improvements there.”

Specifically, the mayor-elect said he wanted to see increased focus on the fentanyl epidemic and maintain the focus on public safety and said he will share more details on his plans on Wednesday. 

With the San Francisco Giants’ first pick of the 2017 MLB draft, the club selected Heliot Ramos out of Leadership Christian Academy in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Ramos would spend the next five years in the franchise’s minor league system, with many outlets ranking the outfielder as a top-100 prospect throughout before making his Major League debut on April 10, 2022. The young star would be optioned and recalled multiple times throughout the year, and see only 22 plate appearances at the MLB level.

After spending time at the Major League level in the first month of 2023, Ramos would once again be optioned to Triple-A, where he would succumb to injury less than three weeks later. A right oblique strain would see the outfielder sidelined for much of the year, again failing to eclipse 100 plate appearances at the top level of the sport, reaching only 65.

2024 would prove to be different. It served as the coming out party for Heliot Ramos. The outfielder was able to prove his ability with enough consistent playing time, hitting .269/.322/.469 with 22 home runs, 72 RBI, and a 125 OPS+ across 518 plate appearances while getting his first nod as a National League All-Star.

Now 25 and with one full year of Major League experience under his belt, Ramos’s production at the plate could take another step forward in the coming year.

Baseball Savant shows that Ramos’s power was not just beginner’s luck, as the analytics have the outfielder in the 85th or better percentiles for each of xSLG (90th percentile), average exit velocity (85th), barrel rate (92nd), hard-hit rate (85th), and bat speed (90th).

While the power is there for Ramos, the outfielder has not shown the best plate discipline, with only 37 walks and a massive 135 strikeouts. His walk rate of 7.1 percent ranks in the 36th percentile while his strikeout rate of 26.1 percent ranks in the 23rd percentile.

Defensively, Ramos played all three outfield positions but saw the majority of his time in center field. It proved to be his worst of the three, however, with -7 Outs Above Average, while he posted positive one Outs Above Average in each of the corner outfield positions.

Ramos has already proven to be a solid cornerstone of the Giants’ offense with what he was able to accomplish at the plate in 2024. The coming campaign should see the outfielder take another step forward in his development, and could even see him cement himself as the key to the team’s success.