Lack of ‘broken windows’ policing in San Francisco leading to more broken windows

‘Broken windows’ policing is out of fashion in San Francisco. And nowhere is its absence felt more keenly than in the part of the city covered by SFPD’s Richmond Station where there are plenty of broken windows and vagrancy abounds.

Late afternoon yesterday, for instance, most of the ground floor windows of the old Sutter Health hospital in Presidio Heights were smashed by a violent lunatic who threw rocks at each of them. This was the second time in as many weeks that the building’s windows had been broken.

SFPD was unable to muster a response in the 17 minutes it took the perpetrator to stroll to a nearby bus stop, wait for a bus, and then depart the area on a #1 MUNI heading downtown.

Daily arrest logs in the Richmond district are typically marked “no arrests” with, rarely, one or two individuals detained here and there. It is an open question whether this is because no arrestable crimes are being committed or whether police don’t respond quickly enough to effect any arrests.

And with a noticeable uptick in unkempt vagrants in and around the Laurel Heights shopping area – including those simply lying on the sidewalk with their hands down their pants as families walk by – residents can be forgiven for wondering whether other parts of the city are receiving police resources at their expense.

Richmond Station Captain Chris Canning did not respond to a request for comment over the weekend about this and similar incidents, nor about the resources at his disposal.

Having officers focused on quality-of-life crimes, as a way of maintaining order and preventing more serious offenses being committed, was a key part of NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton’s drive to cut crime in New York City in the 1990s.

City leaders embraced a campaign to “defund the police” in 2020.