SFPD is harnessing the power of technology in hotspot areas, yielding a significant drop in some of the crimes that have made San Francisco famous for the wrong reasons in recent years. A 57% decrease in auto break-ins in 2024 compared to the previous year is being attributed to deploying new tech tools such as drones, automated license plate readers (ALPR), and savvy street operations.
This type of use of technology to better serve government agencies and the people of the City of San Francisco is what Supervisor Mark Farrell has long been calling 'Digital by Default.' Farrell, currently neck-and-neck with our incumbent mayor in the polls for the mayoral election, told State Scoop earlier this year, "Mayor Breed has failed to leverage the technology and talent in our backyard ... On Day One, I will advance policies that leverage technology and talent to make our city government digital by default."
Today, I released a bold tech + innovation platform to make City government digital by default.
— Mark Farrell 🥥🌴 (@MarkFarrellSF) May 23, 2024
My plan will:
- digitize public services, making them mobile-friendly & accessible online 24/7
- leverage private sector talent to help solve public sector challenges
- + more! pic.twitter.com/QRNpMbMKeD
With the upcoming election inching closer, that might now be changing, as Breed and SFPD have seemingly begun to embrace something akin to Farrell's 'digital by default' concept.
The police department is furthering efforts in transparency by launching a page on its website to keep the public informed about these technologies in use. According to the City and County of San Francisco, the SFPD's current drone policy and monthly flight logs will be accessible, bolstering civilian oversight of surveillance practices. In a recent episode last Thursday, Flock ALPR cameras identified a suspect vehicle, leading to drone footage capturing an auto burglary in progress and abetting the arrest of three armed suspects without needing a high-speed chase, resulting in the recovery and return of stolen property to the victims.
San Francisco is witnessing its lowest break-in rates in years, with numbers dropping beyond the reduced activity seen during the pandemic's peak. The city reported a dramatic 72% decrease in auto break-ins in June of '24 compared to June of '23 and a 70% decrease in July '24 compared to the same month last year. "The use of game-changing technology is helping our officers to be more efficient in making arrests and holding people accountable," said Mayor London Breed. "It’s also about the impact it’s having on people’s lives", as per the City and County of San Francisco.
