Police Reform
Killer Police Robots Won’t Be Coming to SF After All
Police Reform, San Francisco By Olivia Wynkoop, Bay City News Foundation Following local protests and international criticism, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors reversed a decision on Tuesday that would have allowed law enforcement to deploy armed robots. Last Tuesday, the board gave a go-ahead for the police to use killer remote-controlled robots in what more...
SF Considers Allowing Police to Use Armed Robots to Kill
Police Reform, San Francisco By Kiley Russell, Bay City News Foundation A day before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to take a final vote on a policy allowing police to deploy armed robots, opponents gathered at City Hall to decry the decision. Lead by supervisors Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen and Board President Shamann more...
SF Mayor Proposes Sweeping Crime Crackdown
Crime, Police Reform, San Francisco San Francisco Mayor Breed joined several other city leaders on Tuesday announced several proposed changes to address what she said are growing safety and health concerns happening in the city. During a briefing at City Hall, Breed, joined by Police Chief Bill Scott and Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, announced a series of more...
Oakland’s Brand New 2021 “Town Nights” Parks Festival
East Bay, Fairs & Festivals, Oakland, Outdoorsy, Parks & Beaches, Police Reform, Uplifting On Monday, November 22, Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention is kicking off the 2021 Town Nights events at eight locations across the city of Oakland. According to the flyer there will be free food, games, sports, entertainment and more. Town Nights events aim to change community norms around violence through community engagement, more...
SF Announces New “Organized Retail Crime” Plan
Bay Area Updates, Brand New, Controversy, Police Reform, San Francisco Mayor London Breed Announces Organized Retail Crime Initiative SFPD led initiative aims to partner with private sector to result in higher reporting rates and more investigations, better enabling regional task force partners to solve cases and target upstream criminal enterprises Mayor London N. Breed this week unveiled details from San Francisco’s Organized more...
SF’s “Street Overdose Response Team” Launches August 2nd
Brand New, Crime, Getting Help, Police Reform, Uplifting San Francisco will begin rolling out its newly formed Street Overdose Response Team (a.k.a “SORT”) starting Monday, August 2, 2021 to address non-fatal overdoses through a holistic approach, city officials said Friday. SORT will respond to overdose calls and provide an immediate response from San Francisco Fire Department paramedics, followed by more...
Oakland Diverts $18M from Police Budget
East Bay, Oakland, Police Reform By Keith Burbank, Bay City News Oakland city councilmembers redirected more than $17 million from proposed police spending to alternative methods of violence prevention when the council passed a $3.8 billion budget Thursday evening. The vote came at about 5:30 p.m. following hours of public comment and discussion at a virtual meeting. The more...
New “Safety” Cameras Coming to SF’s Castro?
Brand New, Causes, Police Reform The Castro Community Benefit District is considering putting up “safety” cameras in the Castro at “crime hotspots” and intersections where vehicle collisions are likely. But the possibility of adding the cameras is raising questions civil liberties and surveillance concerns. To get community feedback if the program should be put in place (as more...
SF Plans New “Crisis Team” Ambulances for Summer 2021
Bay Area Updates, Brand New, Getting Help, Police Reform San Francisco has a new type of ambulance; it’s specifically for the Street Crisis Response Teams, which launched in November 30, 2020. And thanks to Jacob Ward with NBC News, now you can get an inside look at the team in action. There’s currently two teams that respond to 911 calls more...
Berkeley Approves Groundbreaking Police Reform Measures
Bay Area Updates, Brand New, Police Reform Thanks to CBSN Bay Area and KTVU for sharing the news that Berkeley’s city council voted to enact sweeping changes to the police with the goal of reducing racial disparities. The city council voted unanimously to approve a package of reforms including stricter protocols and more thorough background checks for officers. New protocols more...
SF May Try Non-Police Response to Homeless
Brand New, Community, Police Reform Thanks to the Mercury News and San Francisco Examiner for letting us know about a proposal from community advocates to reduce police responses to homelessness issues The mission of CART (Compassionate Alternative Response Team) is to provide an alternative to a police response to homelessness in San Francisco. The program is supported more...
SF Now Sends “Crisis Team” to Some 911 Calls Instead of Cops
Brand New, Police Reform San Francisco’s New Street Crisis Response Team Launches Monday, November 30, 2020 Partnership between the Department of Public Health and Fire Department begins with first SCRT Team on the street today with more teams to come as pilot ramps up. SCRT offers a non-police response to calls related to people suffering from more...
Mayor London Breed Closes County Jail in SF
Bay Area Updates, Police Reform Mayor London N. Breed and Sheriff Paul Miyamoto announced on August 25th, that County Jail #4, located on the 7th floor of the Hall of Justice, will close effective Saturday, September 5, 2020. Other San Francisco county jails currently have the capacity to absorb additional people in custody. People from County more...
Berkeley is the First City to Remove Police from Traffic Stops
Bay Area Updates, Have Your Voice Heard, Police Reform Thank you KRON4 for letting us know that Berkeley became the first city in the US to remove armed police officers from traffic stops. The Berkeley City Council voted early Wednesday morning on July 15, after a long 9 hour City Council meeting, to make sweeping changes to the police department more...
San Francisco Bans Jail Phone Call Fees
Police Reform Thanks to KQED for letting us know that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this week to permanently stop charging exorbitant markups for items in jail stores and to permanently end the practice of charging people in county jail for phone calls. The measure, first introduced by Mayor London more...
