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Axios San Francisco
San Francisco's police-free response program shows reason for cautious optimism
By Megan Rose Dickey,
2024-07-22
Two of San Francisco's non-police alternative response programs have led to fewer police calls and resulted in a large number of residents accepting harm-reduction supplies like naloxone and fentanyl test strips, according to a recent report.
Why it matters: Proponents of such programs have argued that they could reduce harmful and sometimes violent interactions with law enforcement, as well as free up 911 dispatchers and police — two departments that are facing staffing shortages.
Driving the news: The report , released this month by the New York University School of Law's Policing Project, analyzed the effectiveness of San Francisco's Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT) — designed to respond to people experiencing mental health crises — and the Street Overdose Response Team (SORT), for residents experiencing drug overdoses.
The performance of both teams offers "reason for cautious optimism," according to the report.
By the numbers: From June 2022 through August 2023, SCRT responded to 12,581 calls — about 29 per day — within 16 minutes, on average, according to the Policing Project.
Between August 2021 and May 2023, SORT responded to more than 3,000 calls — the majority of which involved an overdose.
In the majority of SCRT's encounters, the police were never called for backup, while a significant portion (1,391) of SORT's clients accepted harm-reduction supplies, according to the report.
What they're saying: The city has made "real strides" in non-police alternatives to emergencies, Jessica Gillooly, a policing fellow at the Policing Project, said in a written statement.
But San Francisco "faces complex social problems" and the programs themselves "still have room for growth."
Between the lines: Last year , San Francisco began a third alternative program, a one-year pilot program called Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team (HEART), designed to respond to non-emergency and non-medical 911 and 311 calls involving unhoused people.
The program, however, launched after the Policing Project's data collection efforts ended.
In May, Breed said the program responded to nearly 14,000 homelessness-related calls in its first year and was "making a difference," the San Francisco Examiner reports .
What's next: The report recommends San Francisco create a centralized system to prevent "fragmentation and confusion" and work to clarify for the public what teams are responsible for what incidents.
In a statement, Mayor London Breed said the city is committed to "a comprehensive, innovative approach to improving safety and support for those struggling on our streets."
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