Democratic San Francisco Mayor London Breed has backtracked on signature crime policies as several political opponents announced their plan to run against her in the 2024 mayoral election, Politico reported Tuesday.
Breed supported defunding the police in 2020 following the Black Lives Matter protests that opposed law enforcement agencies, and slashed the police and sheriff departments’ budgets by $120 million to “remove barriers to progress,” ABC7 News reported. The mayor changed her approach after moderate Democrats Ahsha Safai and Daniel Lurie entered the mayoral race earlier this year, introducing several reversals to police reform in the past month in response to their criticism of her administration, according to Politico. (RELATED: Dem Mayor Floats Bill To Roll Back Post-George Floyd Police Reforms Amid Major Crime Surge)
Crime in San Francisco has increased in recent years, but Breed has continued to slash the law enforcement budget even as residents begged for more police involvement.
“She’s doing what she needs to do to get reelected,” former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown told Politico. “She’s playing a good poker game.”
When people are quick to write us off, San Francisco always comes back strong. We are investing and working to make this City safe, clean, and welcoming for all. SF is a resilient City that always builds back. https://t.co/xOtzdgRaF5 pic.twitter.com/vyC51rMNd9
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) October 20, 2023
Breed initially emphasized “community ambassadors” and “community-based outreach teams” to respond to “non-emergency” crimes in the city, according to a March webpage outlining the mayor’s policy priorities. But after Safai announced his campaign to run against the incumbent mayor in May, she quickly altered her approach by expanding the police department’s budget by $25 million and claiming that she had always focused on “bringing in new officers,” according to a June update of the webpage.
Both Lurie and Safai are heavily campaigning against Breed based on her relaxed response to crime and lenient policies, causing the mayor to suddenly introduce more crime-fighting measures, Politico reported. Breed started requiring that welfare recipients to stay off of drugs to keep receiving benefits and eased restrictions on police pursuits in October.
Breed’s campaign denied that these changes were in response to her political opponents’ criticism, claiming that the mayor had tried to introduce public safety measures for “years,” Politico reported. But Lurie and Safai questioned Breed’s intentions and pointed out that up until recently, she had done little to respond to the crime crisis during her many years in office.
“It seems pretty desperate,” Safai told Politico. “The mayor has been in office for six years. She’s been in charge.”
Almost 80% of San Francisco residents have said that crime is a major issue for the city, but 65% said they are not happy with how Breed has responded to the ongoing crime crisis. A June poll found that only 26% of voters would choose Breed for mayor in 2024, while 64% said that they do not think she should be re-elected, according to Probolsky Research, a local research and polling group.
Breed did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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