Mayor Outlines New Plan to Increase San Francisco Police Staffing

Mayor Daniel Lurie hopes to improve San Francisco's persistent law enforcement staffing shortage partly by making it more attractive for retired police officers to come back to work temporarily.

Lurie signed an executive directive Tuesday that outlines steps his administration will take over the next year to help the city's police department and sheriff's office grow their ranks. The two agencies have long said they are understaffed by hundreds of people, a problem that Lurie wants to fix as he looks to deliver on his public safety-focused agenda.

The agencies would need to hire about 700 officers and deputies combined to reach full staffing — an enormous challenge for the Lurie administration.

In the near term, Lurie has ordered the city to let recently retired police officers patrol the streets and help secure special events such as parades, sporting events and concerts — all while collecting a paycheck in addition to their retirement. City law allows retired officers to work up to 960 hours a year but effectively offers "nothing" in additional compensation, outgoing Police Chief Bill Scott told reporters at a news conference.

Other short-term actions outlined in Lurie's directive include the creation of a working group with police and sheriff's office leaders that will look at opportunities to share staff for investigations and patrols. Longer-term changes eyed by Lurie include moving sworn staff off some assignments that can be performed by civilians and reallocating officers "to patrol or investigative roles from civilianized roles," the directive said.

Additionally, the mayor is seeking possible adjustments to a program that lets officers work voluntary overtime shifts providing security for private companies. That program was criticized by some city leaders after a recent audit that identified potential abuses.

Lurie, Scott and other city officials framed the police staffing directive as an urgently needed move to keep crime down and make better use of taxpayer dollars amid San Francisco's massive budget deficit. Reported crimes plunged about 27% in the first quarter this year, but safety remains at the top of Lurie's priority list as he tries to reduce public drug scenes and other forms of disorder that still plague certain neighborhoods. The mayor also sees an expanded police force as necessary to cut down on SFPD's use of overtime, which has soared in recent years, fueling concerns about costs as well as excessive workload that can contribute to burnout and morale problems.

"These reforms will ... help keep our community safe and make sure our officers and deputies have the support they need to do their jobs effectively and efficiently," Lurie said at the news conference. "We inherited a historic budget deficit that we must tackle while we bring crime down. Fully staffing our police and sheriff's department saves the city money by reducing our reliance on expensive overtime and improving how we deploy resources."

The recent city audit on police staffing found that spending on police overtime doubled over a five-year period that ended in the 2023 fiscal year. Scott acknowledged at the news conference that the spending should be reined in — and said Lurie's directive would help accomplish that goal.

"We are fortunate that we've had the overtime, and that the Board (of Supervisors) and the mayor has granted us that funding to fill in the gaps, but we know that is not a sustainable model," Scott said.

The audit also determined that officers often misused sick time by calling out on certain days to avoid weekend shifts, and that some used sick time on days when they also worked security shifts for private companies. Lurie's directive said that program, known as 10B, should be evaluated along with SFPD's sick leave and overtime usage "to ensure availability to work and regular assignment duties are not being inappropriately avoided." The city plans to publish a report on its findings.

Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who held a recent hearing about the audit, praised Lurie's plan to evaluate the 10B program.

"I'm glad the Mayor is taking the concerns I and other supervisors raised two weeks ago after an audit found a severe lack of accountability for SFPD overtime, sick leave, and the use of the 10B program," Fielder said in a statement.

Lurie's directive is just the latest effort by city leaders to boost police staffing. Under former Mayor London Breed, San Francisco became the Bay Area city with the highest starting pay for new officers, and the city also approved a union contract that gave officers retention raises in an effort to keep them on the job.

City leaders have reported encouraging signs of interest in SFPD, which just welcomed its third consecutive full class of new police recruits. But city data shows that many recruits don't complete the academy. Classes over the last two years have typically had graduation rates of about 50% to nearly 60%, while the class that graduated in January graduated just 30% of its recruits, according to SFPD.

Lurie's directive said the city should review the Police Academy's operations and propose changes to "improve graduation rates without compromising standards."

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