PROJECT BACKGROUND
In order to ensure that police district boundaries reflect the changing needs of the communities the San Francisco Police Department serves and protects, the Board of Supervisors passed legislation requiring the periodic review of those boundaries. The resulting Administrative Code (Sec. 2A.86) mandates this comprehensive review every ten years following the results of the federal census, with an interim review to be provided by April 2008.
The City has contracted with Public Safety Strategies Group (PSSG) to conduct the District Station Boundaries Analysis. The study began in July 2007 and concluded in May 2008.
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PROJECT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The District Station Boundaries Analysis is complete and a full report is available for download by clicking here.
The key findings observed during this evaluation include:
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There is an immediate need for two new stations and the remaining eight stations, despite being fairly new or updated, do not fully meet the needs of effective police operations.
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There are clear and longstanding areas of crime concentrated in the northeast corner and certain sections of the middle area of the City. New strategies are needed to address these issues.
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Survey results show that the majority of SFPD and community respondents desire additional police presence in the districts and on patrol. The majority of community respondents strongly oppose any changes to police districts that would compromise police presence. SFPD survey respondents are evenly split on their desire for boundary changes.
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Workload distribution is not well balanced among the district stations. The lightest workloads are in areas with the least amount of calls for service and the highest workloads are in the areas most impacted by crime.
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Technology in the City is antiquated, hampering productivity, effective strategic planning, and analysis of staffing needs and assignments.
In response to these and other findings, the report recommends realigning boundaries to create five new districts from the existing ten districts. The report further recommends that the City build a single station to serve the northeast corner of the City and retrofit existing stations to accommodate growth, support productivity and address safety and security concerns. The report also recommends updates to computer aided dispatch, records management, and staffing systems.
The report details the following benefits to implementing these recommendations:
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Increase in Police Services and Visibility. Reconfiguring the districts could increase the number of officers on patrol by 10% over current patrol deployment. At a minimum three to five officers could be redeployed per station with the potential to re-deploy 90 to 100 officers.
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Unified Crime Planning and Police Operations. District realignment will allow for greater direction of prevention and intervention initiatives and more effective use of resources. District realignment is a step toward changing the organizational culture related to effective policing.
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Cost Effective Facility Building and Management. The Central and Southern stations need to be replaced and it is fiscally prudent to build and maintain a single station to serve the Northeast corner of the City.
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Neighborhood Unification. Reconfiguring the districts decreases the number of neighborhoods split by district lines.
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Improved Management and Planning. Updates to systems and administration will enable enhanced planning, management and future boundary reviews.
The information below provides the project's methodology and timeline, as well as the questions the analysis sought to answer.
PROJECT APPROACH
Methodology
The District Station Boundaries Analysis used a variety of information to ensure a comprehensive assessment, including:
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Input of residents, businesses, and visitors in the form of hearings, meetings, surveys, and focus groups
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Surveys of the San Francisco Police Department personnel and facilities
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Analysis of City data such as housing development and census tract information
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Analysis of crime, calls for service, and human resources data
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Reviews of similar projects in other locations
Timeline
Significant dates:
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August 20 - 29, 2007
Surveys of Police Department personnel and facilities
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September 10 - September 21, 2007
Community Meetings and Surveys
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September 17, September 19, and September 24, 2007
Public Hearings
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October 2007
Focus Groups
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November 2007
Interim Report issued: Best Practices Analysis and Literature Review
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May 2008
Final Report issued
RESULTS
The analysis sought to answer the following questions:
1. How could the City’s current police district boundaries and resource allocation strategies be more in line with the industry’s best practices?
2. Do the City’s existing police district boundaries contribute to effective police operations and resource allocation?
3. Would an alternate configuration of boundaries more effectively address existing and anticipated demand for police services?
4. How well do current police district boundaries address the needs of the City’s diverse neighborhoods, geographies, and communities? Could the configuration be changed or enhanced to better leverage resources with other law enforcement agencies, City service providers, and community organizations to prevent crime and violence?
5. Given the Department’s existing physical assets, how well does the current configuration of police district boundaries match the Department’s allocation of resources and that of current and future demand for police services?
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