Bay Area/ San Francisco/ Crime & Emergencies
Published on November 16, 2018
The week in SF crime reports: Overall complaints drop, harassment calls climbPhoto: Tony Hisgett/Flickr

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) saw a decrease in reported crimes last week, after an increase over most of the previous month, according to data on SFPD calls provided by crime startup CityCop.

Reports called in to the department fell about 4.6 percent week-over-week, from 6,550 during the week of Oct. 29-Nov. 4 to just under 6,246 in the first full week of November.

Top complaints called in to the department from Nov. 5-11 continued to include suspicious person, trespassing and homeless complaints, with each seeing a slight uptick from the previous week.

Noise disturbances, suspicious vehicles and fistfights also remain major categories, although those complaints each saw double-digit drops last week.

The number of calls to SFPD indicates what citizens are concerned about and what crimes they observe, although not all calls indicate actual crimes taking place.

Looking at official crime incident reports, the most common offense types are theft, assault, burglary, and other offenses like fraud and traffic violations.

Among these major crimes, calls to report petty theft remained about steady last week (at 227 reports compared to 230 the previous week), while reports of burglary increased from 113 to 131. Reports of assault and battery dropped from 204 to 174 last week, while calls reporting threats or harassment ticked up from 133 to 141.

Citizens reported 16 potential homicides, including three in the Tenderloin, two in SoMa, and two in the downtown/Union Square area. (Again, not all calls were eventually determined to be homicides.)

There was one call to report a shooting, on Nov. 6 near Cameron Way and Fitzgerald Avenue in Bayview. There were also nine reported stabbings, including four in Bayview and two each in SoMa and the Mission.

Calls for domestic violence went up from 33 to 38, and for sexual assault from 12 to 15. Both were most concentrated in the Mission and SoMa.

To report an emergency or crime in process, contact SFPD at 911; for non-emergencies, call (415) 553-0123.