親愛的讀者們：
在三藩市，我們一直在努力讓更多警員在街上巡邏，以應對公共安全需求。 而現時，就像全國各地一樣，我們嚴重缺乏警員人手。 雖然我們致力於長遠的發展策略，以招聘新警員來填補警校課程並挽留現有人手，但我們需要使用加班薪酬來確保警方能夠用現有的警員來服務三藩市。
如果我們想繼續在街上看到警員，調查罪案，並應對救幫電話，我們必須為更多的超時工作薪酬撥款。 這不但關乎市內安全，也對經濟復甦尤其重要。
為了讓我們能度過財政年度的其餘時間（6月30日），我們需要再撥款2 千7 百萬元來繼續為警員超時工作提供資金。 在市參事司嘉怡、孟達文、麥德誠及殷嘉立共同支持下，我在市參事提出該預算補充撥款。 而提案需要在市議會內得到 8 票才能通過。
投票將在幾周後在議會進行，而解釋其作用及必要性也正是現在重要的工作。
居民、小商業、大型機構僱主和員工都正對此提出要求。 我們必須聆聽和採取行動。 聆聽也代表繼續擴大我們的警務替代方案，比如我們的街頭危機應對團隊，他們全天候走到街上以應對與精神病患和藥物成癮人士。 這也代表著為市內最難接觸到的精神病患者建立跨部門協調工作，並繼續在州政府風改革我們的精神健康法律。警員工作是關注犯罪和公共安全，而不是圍繞心理健康和無家可歸的問題。
正如剛才說過，就像全國各地的警察部門一樣，三藩市警隊人手嚴重短缺。 市內現時比2019年減少了331名警員，同時在人員配置比分析建議低於 541 人 ，而許多警員亦已符合資格退休。 這影響了市內的警員回應時間以及我們在全市部署警員的能力。
這需要用上數年時間才能修復，而我們亦正努力為此工作。 在上一個預算中，我們增加了招聘和留用獎金，以使三藩市比起周邊地區更具競爭力。 但是，在我們進行這項工作時，仍然需要提供達水準的服務，以解決居民、員工和遊客的需要。
隨著警員人數的減少，為了提供相同水準的服務，加班的需求亦同時增加。 於2021年至2022年間，三藩市警察局的加班總量增加了121%。 今年，加班需求也增多。 為了讓我們能度過本財政年度剩餘的時間（即到6月30日），我們需要再撥款2 千7 百萬元來繼續為警員加班需求提供撥款。 這項補充撥備將確保警方獲得必要的撥款，以繼續達到目前的服務水平。 這包括我們在田德隆區內的工作，同時解決有組織零售犯罪和圍欄行動方面所做的工作。 這項撥款將幫助回應時間進一步下降。
而重要的是，這項補充措施可以防止強制性的服務削減和招聘凍結。 如果這項補充得不到通過，主計長將被要求在6月財政年度結束前凍結招聘和加班支出，這將大大降低全市內的警務水準。 意味著處理毒品市場和零售盜竊的警員將減少，社區巡邏減少及減慢服務應變時間。
這筆撥款還將有助於繼續支援由退休警員組成的三藩市警察局社區大使在商業區內步行巡邏。 這些退休警員對於繼續覆蓋華埠、聯合廣場和漁人碼頭等地區至關重要。
這些補充預算案是我們總體策略的一部分。 圍繞公共安全，增加社區大使，使用警察替代方案來應對行為健康挑戰和其他問題。 圍繞實施警察改革，以便警方以正確的方式完成工作，接受適當的培訓，這樣他們就可以繼續與其所服務的社區建立互信關係。
從3月開始，預算委員會必須聽取補充意見。 而對於我們如何解決長期人手配置問題的計劃將在5月開始的預算對話中繼續。
您可以透過發送電子郵件給市議會成員來表達您對撥款的支持：[email protected]。
我們在三藩市的公共安全方面正取得進展。 我們將繼續解決人手配置方面的重大長期挑戰，但在短期內，我們將繼續與社區合作，以滿足其需求，並使到三藩市居民更安全。
請在微信上添加我以獲取更新和資源：londonbreed。
敬安！
三藩市市長 倫敦．布里德
My fellow San Franciscans,
In San Francisco, we have been working to get as many police officers on our streets to address the public safety needs facing our City. Right now, we have a significant staffing shortage, just like jurisdictions across the country. While we do the long-term work on improving strategies to recruit new officers to fill our Academy classes and retain the officers we do have, we need to use overtime funding to ensure we can cover our city with the officers we do have on staff.
If we want to continue to see officers on our streets, investigating crimes, and responding to calls for service, we have to fund more overtime. This is about the safety of our neighborhoods and it\u30fbs about our economy.
To get us through the rest of the fiscal year (through June 30), we need to appropriate $27 million more to continue to fund overtime. I\u30fbve introduced that budget supplemental at the Board of Supervisors, with the support of co-sponsors Supervisors Catherine Stefani, Rafael Mandelman, Matt Dorsey, and Joel Engardio. We need eight votes from the Board of Supervisors to pass this.
This vote will be coming up in a few weeks at the Board, and it\u30fbs important to explain what it does and why it\u30fbs necessary.
Our residents are asking. Our small businesses are asking. Our large employers and workers are asking. And we have to listen and act. Listening also means continuing to expand our alternatives to policing, like our Street Crisis Response Teams, which are out on our streets 24/7 responding to people struggling with mental illness and addiction. It also means building our multi-department, coordinated approaches to those who are hardest to reach struggling with mental illness in our City, and continuing our work to reform our mental health laws at the state level. Because our police officers need to focus on crime and public safety, not issues around mental health and homelessness.
As I said, like police departments across this country, San Francisco has a severe staffing shortage. San Francisco is now 331 officers lower than in 2019 and 541 officers below the staffing analysis recommended level and many are eligible for retirement. This impacts our City\u30fbs response times and our ability to deploy officers across the city.
That is going to take years to fix, and we are working on it. In our last budget, we increased recruitment and retention bonuses to make San Francisco more competitive with surrounding jurisdictions. But while we do that work, we still need to provide the level of service to address the issues our residents, workers, and visitors deserve.
As the number of officers decline, the need for overtime increases in order to provide the same level of service. Between 2021 and 2022, SFPD saw a 121% increase in total overtime. And this year, we are using even more. To get us through the rest of the fiscal year (through June 30), we need to appropriate $27 million more to continue to fund overtime. The supplemental will ensure the police have the funding necessary to continue to meet current levels of service. This includes the work we are doing in the Tenderloin and addressing organized retail crime and fencing operations. It will help us from seeing response times further decline.
Importantly, this supplemental prevents mandated service cuts and a hiring freeze. If this supplemental does not pass, the Controller will be required to freeze hiring and overtime spending through the end of the fiscal year in June, which will significantly reduce policing levels across the city. That means fewer officers addressing drug markets and retail theft, reduced community foot patrols, and slower response times for calls for service.
This funding will also help continue to support SFPD Community Ambassadors. These are civilian retired sworn members who serve to supplement foot beat patrol presence in merchant corridors. These retired officers are essential to continuing to provide coverage in areas across the City like Chinatown, Union Square, and Fisherman\u30fbs Wharf.
These budget supplementals are part of our overall strategy. Around public safety, adding ambassadors, using alternatives to police to deal with behavioral health challenges and other issues. Around implementing police reforms so our police officers are doing their jobs the right way, with the proper training, and so they can continue to build trust with our communities they serve.
The Supplementals must be heard at Budget Committee starting in March. And the plans for how we tackle our long-term staffing issues will continue on into our budget conversations, which begin in May.
You can help by emailing members of the Board of Supervisor to express your support: [email protected].
We are making progress around public safety in San Francisco. There are significant long-term challenges around staffing that we will continue to address, but in the near-term we will continue to work with the community to meet their needs and make San Francisco safer for all.
Please add me on WeChat for updates and resources: londonbreed.
Sincerely,
London N. Breed
Mayor
