Drug possession. Public intoxication. Resisting arrest. At first glance, there was nothing unusual about the claims San Francisco police levied against 44-year-old Chaz Burnett during two February arrests near Sixth Street that landed him behind bars.
But among those run-of-the-mill offenses was a far rarer allegation: criminal loitering.
For years, San Francisco Police Department officers rarely sent people to jail for “loitering to commit controlled substance offenses.” Arrests for loitering began in earnest in 2024. Now, police are arresting alleged loiterers in droves. The Sheriff’s Department logged 193 bookings for the offense in the first three months of 2025…