San Francisco brought in the National Guard and California Highway Patrol this week to combat trafficking and drug-addled zombies in the city — but four days later, sources told The Post deals are still going down on the streets.
According to the NYP, The struggling city finally announced it would take a tougher stance on crime after an exodus of retailers plagued by theft, dwindling tourism and 200 overdose deaths in three months which sources claim have put the city in a “doom loop.”
Mayor London Breed said using CHP officers and the National Guard as support to curb drug trafficking is the “aggressive step” the city needed to take.
However, the initial deployment consisted of just six CHP officers and 14 National Guardsmen. The traffic officers were deployed to the Tenderloin and South Market districts, where open drug use has become rampant while the National Guard are providing “analytical support” to track drug deals that involve cartels.
With CHP handling traffic, beat cops are then able to focus on patrolling the streets and making arrests, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said. However, Lt. Tracy McCray, vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, thinks it will make little difference.
“To be perfectly and brutally honest, do you think [drug abusers] are really counting the number of officers in the street,” she told The Post. “That’s not happening and they don’t care. Right now, I see blocks in San Francisco where people are just using out in the open and there is no one telling them, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t be doing this.’ “That’s why they keep coming back day after day.”
Scott said some drugs arrests have been made since the CHP rollout but declined to give exact numbers at a police commission meeting on Wednesday, where he also clarified the National Guard’s support role.
“They are not going to be ‘boots on the ground’ … in the streets of San Francisco, no military equipment or anything. They are analytical and administrative support … and this is going to be an ongoing partnership,” Scott said.
JJ Smith, a long-time Tenderloin resident, agreed, saying a handful of extra officers won’t help address the drug crisis, which he claims is fueled by South American cartels.
