Just after 10 a.m. on Monday, San Francisco police pulled up to the city’s new 24-hour sobering center at 444 Sixth St. and delivered a man in handcuffs. He was the first person to be brought there instead of the hospital or county jail down the block.
One could call this man the first arrestee, client or patient. The “Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation, and Triage” center opened today despite concerns about its legality and conflicting answers from city officials about whether intoxicated people there would be free to leave.
A city attorney memo obtained by Mission Local in February flagged a “high risk” that a court would find the RESET center to be a “detention facility,” which, by state law, would be required to meet certain standards that the center does not appear to meet.
A 24-hour police “drop off” center is a goal Mayor Daniel Lurie has been touting since his inauguration day…