San Francisco police are increasing their presence at two troubled BART stations in the Mission District, where residents have long complained about an unsafe environment.
Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a social media post that police officers will patrol on foot between BART stations at 16th and 24th Streets. A police sergeant will manage patrols at the plazas and surrounding areas. For years, the stations at 16th and 24th Streets have become havens for the brazen sale of stolen goods, open-air drug markets and rampant public drug use. The station plazas became so bad in 2022 that BART officials closed one down in order to keep illegal behavior away, though years later the areas remain deeply troubled.
Police have deployed several initiatives in recent years, including posting a mobile command center at the 16th and Mission Street station and also conducting nighttime drug market raids. But the city’s police surge has not delivered safe streets.Now Lurie said the Mission is getting more cops and a new street cleaning schedule as well as expanded community ambassador presence “to keep this corridor welcoming and well-cared for.” Lurie said the street cleaning schedule was changed so children walking to school in the morning would have clean streets. Some changes have already started: Officers on plazas and footbeat began on Feb 18., and the new sergeant in charge of the corridor is starting Monday. Meanwhile, the DPW cleaning schedule changed on Feb. 4.The mayor’s office said the city is working with SFPD and BART police to share resources and surge law enforcement in the area. “The Mission deserves public spaces that reflect the pride of the people who live here — and we’re committed to making that the standard every single day,” Lurie said in a statement.Feng Han, a spokesperson for Supervisor Jackie Fielder, whose district includes the BART plazas, said in a statement that “the Supervisor has been asking for more community policing and foot beats since she began her term last year, as that was the number one request of constituents. She hopes that this new sergeant assigned can deliver that.”…