San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie listens to a question from a member of the media on Thursday March 6, 2025. Photo by Oscar Palma.
			
			

		


	

		
		
					At a press conference on Thursday morning, Mayor Daniel Lurie, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott and Sheriff Paul Miyamoto celebrated a raid on Wednesday night at 16th and Mission streets, and reaffirmed their commitment to crack down on drug dealing at “troubled spots” across San Francisco.The total haul from Wednesday’s operation: Four arrests and an ounce of drugs.Asked about the significance of such a haul, neither Scott nor Lurie answered directly, but still called the operation a success. “This is a relentless pursuit to crack down on these drug dealers that have really been a scourge to our city,” said Scott.“We are sending a message that whether you’re on Sixth Street, dealing drugs, using, or if you’re on 16th and Mission, we are going to be relentless in our focus on cleaning these areas up,” said Lurie. He said today that lately he’s spent most mornings at 16th and Mission, checking the conditions of the alleys and the BART plaza.Wednesday night’s “saturation operation” was a joint effort by the police and sheriff’s departments, as well as Public Works. It included street-vending enforcement and netted four arrests, all narcotics-related. The San Francisco Police Department advertised the seizure of 28.5 grams of drugs, almost exactly an ounce.The police did not say what kind of drugs were confiscated.The raid came just a day after Lurie filmed himself at the BART plaza, saying, “I see what you see … We’re going to start getting tough on those that are dealing drugs,” adding that the city would be “relentless” on enforcement. The plaza is often filled with street vendors peddling all manner of goods, much of it likely stolen, splayed out on the sidewalk.The raid also came a week after a similar, albeit much larger, operation at Jefferson Square Park, which Lurie touted as an example of what the city is capable of achieving if these operations continue. “[The park] has now been clean for the last week, and conditions have been vastly improved there,” said Lurie. “We are not claiming any sort of victory. We are just getting started. People need to understand that we are going to enforce the laws.”But the San Francisco Standard reported this morning that, out of the 85 arrests conducted during the Jefferson Square Park raid, only three were for drug dealing. One of those three arrestees was released on-site, and two were booked into jail. When asked about the long-term plan to keep dealers and users from going from neighborhood to neighborhood, Scott said the solution is simple: Follow them.“The long-term strategy is that they go to other neighborhoods, then we have to go there as well. That’s something that we are working on and we’re getting better at,” Scott said. “This game that the dealers have been playing, it’s coming to an end.”San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott addressing questions from the media on Thursday March 6, 2025. Photo by Oscar Palma.Scott and Lurie also signaled that the police department’s understaffing is always a challenge. The department has struggled to recruit new blood and faces a 509-officer shortage, according to a police spokesperson.Lurie is asking for $61 million for police overtime for this fiscal year, despite a city report from December that found police overtime costs had surged amid poor oversight and abuse of the system. Scott said his department is moving personnel around as a way of dealing with the understaffing issues.“We’ve been granted some overtime to supplement our resources, and we’re using that effectively as well,” said Scott. “We have to make the best of what we have. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses about what we don’t have. We’re going to make the best use of what we do have.”Lurie ended the conference by pleading for a fully staffed police and sheriff’s department and said that, at the moment, they’re using technology to bridge the understaffing gaps.	

	

	
			
															
																						
					

											Oscar is a reporter with interest in environmental and community journalism, and how these may intersect. Some of his personal interests are bicycles, film, and both Latin American literature and punk. Oscar's work has previously appeared in KQED, The Frisc, El Tecolote, and Golden Gate Xpress.