The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco known for its squalid conditions, homelessness, crime, illegal drug trade, liquor stores, historic theaters, trendy restaurants and art scene. In other words, a mixed bag. At least, that’s what it was pre-pandemic. Now it’s better described as a disaster zone, where residents feel unsafe walking the streets and overdose deaths are a daily occurrence. It’s gotten so bad that San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, has announced a plan to flood the Tenderloin with police to address the surge in crime, plus declared a state of emergency to deal with the overdose crisis. She explains:
“It’s time that the reign of criminals who are destroying our city ... come(s) to an end. It comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies and less tolerant of all the bulls— that destroyed our city.” - Breed quoted in Trisha Thadani & Mallory Moench/San Francisco Chronicle Dec. 14, 2021 Mayor Breed wants to flood Tenderloin with police to confront drug dealers — and those using drugs
“We will use that focus and coordination to disrupt the illegal activity in the neighborhood, to get people the treatment and support they need, and to make the Tenderloin a safer, more livable place for the families and children who call the neighborhood home… We need an emergency response for drug overdoses, with immediate rapid crisis intervention, outreach and coordination on our streets, with expanded treatment and detox. We have to act now with everything we have to save lives.” - London Breed, mayor of San Francisco, CA. News Releases/Office of the Mayor. Mayor London Breed Declares State of Emergency in the Tenderloin December 17, 2021
This being San Francisco, not all locals are happy with Breed’s approach to what’s happening in the Tenderloin. Here’s what one critic has to say:
“…the mayor should focus on investing in treatment, education and housing rather than policing as a response to deep-rooted crises… Gun-toting foot patrols can’t address the root of the Tenderloin’s problems. But they can appease a base of voters who equate police presence with safety. And they remind us who London Breed has always been.” –Justin Phillips/San Francisco Chronicle December 26, 2021 Get-Tough Stance Part of Mayor’s Playbook
Note the either/or thinking, what Daniel Dennett calls “rathering”, e.g., treatment rather than policing, as if increased access to treatment and more police on the street were incompatible policies. Why not do both? In fact, that is exactly what mayor Breed plans to do. Besides, there’s plenty of evidence that increasing foot-patrols in criminal hot spots does reduce criminal activity in those areas, mostly through deterrence (and not increased arrests) and without displacing crime to near-by neighborhoods (Andresen & Lau, 2014; Piza, 2018).
Another false opposition: addressing root causes or focusing on problematic behaviors. Again, why not both? Let’s assume (for the sake of argument) that lack of affordable housing is a root cause of street crime. Does that mean one should do nothing to stop criminal activity on the streets until housing is available and affordable for all? Of course not. Muggers must be stopped from mugging, whether they’re housed or not. Plus, it takes forever to build housing in San Francisco. And what actually gets built is just a fraction of demand. Case in point:
“When affordable housing builder Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. first bid on the parking lot at Fifth and Howard back in 2007, there were plenty of reasons to think it was a crazy idea. …It took 13 years — and nearly as many false starts and dead ends — but on Thursday, Mayor London Breed joined developers and construction workers from Swinerton on the site to celebrate the start of construction of 203 apartments… The project is scheduled to open in the fall of 2023.”J.K. Dineen/San Francisco Chronicle Aug. 26, 2021 It took 13 years, but 200 affordable homes are finally coming to SoMa
Doing the math, that would be 16 years between the developer’s first bid (2007) and projected completion (2023). And for a measly 203 units, in a city with an unhoused population of over 8,000 at last count.
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References:
Daniel Dennett (2013) Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking. W. W. Norton & Company
Martin A. Andresen & Kevin C.Y. Lau (2014) An evaluation of police foot patrol in Lower Lonsdale, British Columbia, Police Practice and Research, 15:6, 476-489, DOI: 10.1080/15614263.2013.805870
Piza EL. The Effect of Various Police Enforcement Actions on Violent Crime: Evidence From a Saturation Foot-Patrol Intervention. Criminal Justice Policy Review. 2018;29(6-7):611-629. doi:10.1177/0887403417725370
Piza, EL & Chillar, VF (2021) The Effect of Police Layoffs on Crime: A Natural Experiment Involving New Jersey’s Two Largest Cities, Justice Evaluation Journal, 4:2, 176-196, DOI: 10.1080/24751979.2020.1858697