CV NEWS FEED // The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is recruiting officers on Texas college campuses just three years after the current mayor announced an initiative to “defund the police.”
The San Francisco Standard reported Monday that “for the first time, police officer candidates will be tested outside of California, with a written test, a physical ability test and an oral interview.”
“A department spokesperson said the trips are meant to lower barriers to entry into the police department, speeding up the hiring process,” the Standard continued.
The campuses where the department is scheduled to hold tests are Texas Southern University, Sam Houston State University, Prairie View A&M University, and Texas A&M University.
The Standard stated that the “recruitment push comes as SFPD faces staffing issues, leading the department to pay out millions in overtime annually.”
Between 2017 and 2022, the [SFPD] spent $88.9 million more on its employees—despite its staff working fewer hours, according to employee pay data from the City Controller’s Office. The police department has attributed the reduced hours worked to a staff shortage.
The Daily Wire reported Wednesday on the lack of San Francisco police officers:
According to Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a former police communications staffer, the police department’s full-duty police officers have been reduced by 335 from 2017. The city had 1,537 officers as of January; a police staffing analysis estimated the city needed more than 2,100 officers to work properly.
Following the death of George Floyd three years ago, San Francisco embraced the then-popular “defund the police” movement.
Again, from The Daily Wire:
In July 2020, Mayor London Breed announced that $120 million would be cut from the police and sheriff’s departments. “Reforming our criminal justice system must go hand-in-hand with policy changes and budget investments to make our city more equitable,” she said.
“By redirecting funding from law enforcement agencies back into the African American community, we are putting our words into action, and we are doing it by listening to a community that for too long has been unheard and underserved.”
A subsequent soaring in property crime rate forced Breed to reverse course and the police budget was actually increased.
The city’s law enforcement officers have complained that the mayor does not support them.
“We want to be part of the solution, but time and time again, the mayor seems to block the sheriff from doing that,” said Ken Lomba, the president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association.”
“And this is another example,” Lomba added. “She’s cut the funding for those items and it almost seems like silent defunding, you know? For us and we’re trying to help.”
