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Organizers with the Defund SFPD Now campaign denounce rushed vote to approve the City’s renegotiated contract with the racist Police Officers’ Association
Contact: Jamie@415-712-2591
Organizers with the Defund SFPD Now campaign denounce rushed vote to approve the City’s renegotiated contract with the racist Police Officers’ Association
Despite broad opposition from community organisers, social justice advocates, labor leaders, and youth activists, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors just approved the City’s renegotiated contract with the Police Officers’ Association which gives police more raises without any accountability for injustices past and present.
San Francisco, CA -- On Tuesday, December 1, 2020, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9 -2, without any discussion, to approve the City’s renegotiated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the SF Police Officers’ Association (POA), the police fraternity with a record of racism, sexism, and homophobia that represents and defends officers in the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). An earlier vote on November 17, 2020 coincided almost exactly with a police shooting in which SFPD officers and Sheriff deputies shot, bean-bagged, and tazed Antonio Estrada, a man in crisis who sustained life threatening injuries as a result. Time and time again, the Board of Supervisors has shown itself unwilling to fully acknowledge and address the brutal police violence that continues in San Francisco.
At the November 17th meeting, SFPOA president, Tony Montoya, said “...there's no objection to the [DOJ recommendations]. We're willing to sign off on many of them tomorrow if it's put before us to do that.” Supervisors Ronen and Peskin were tasked with drafting a side agreement that the POA could sign alongside the passage of the MOU. The proposed side agreement was meant to prevent the POA from slow-walking the 272 DOJ reforms and Supervisor Ronen’s upcoming transparency legislation. However, at today’s meeting, there was no mention of this side agreement.
“The Supervisors’ failure to even address the lack of a meaningful side agreement raises questions as to whether their calls to end police violence are anything more than performative,” said DefundSFPDNow organizer, Alex Karim.
As organizers and community activists at Defund SFPD Now, the Bar Association of San Francisco, labor leaders, experts, and other groups have been saying for months now, the contract amendment contained in this renegotiated MOU is yet another bad deal for the City and for communities most impacted by police brutality in San Francisco. After cutting the SFPD budget by only 6% this past budget season, this renegotiated MOU gives police more raises over an extended contract period, without any concessions whatsoever on reform, transparency, or abolition.
And yet, in a process marred by inaccuracies and misrepresentations, the Board of Supervisors has chosen to abdicate its duty to ensure City contracts actually serve the interests of San Francisco residents by giving final approval to the renegotiated MOU. In doing so, the Supervisors have once again kicked the can down the road on holding police to account, and also on finding a sustainable solution to the ever-growing budget deficit, which currently sits at over $120 million in this fiscal year alone.
“Once again, our city officials have shown that ‘Black Lives Matter’ is nothing more than a campaign slogan to them. This vote was a display of cowardice and a rejection of anti-racism. Today, the Supervisors sacrificed city workers and BIPOC communities so they could refund the police,” said Karim.
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The Defund SFPD Now campaign is a joint project by the SF Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus (Afrosoc) and the Justice Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), SF. The SF Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus is a Black-led organization created in 2020 to center BIPOC voices within socialist spaces. The DSA SF Justice Committee was formed in 2017 and organizes DSA SF’s work fighting for the abolition of policing and prisons.
Defund SFPD Now Statement in response to SFPD Town Hall on Police Murder of Cesar Vargas
As the San Francisco Police Department convened a legally mandated virtual Town Hall to release information regarding the October 10 murder of 21-year-old Cesar Vargas by SFPD officers, Defund SFPD Now issued the following statement:
“Cesar Vargas was murdered. The number of officers that fired the shots to end Cesar’s life is still unknown, but the accomplices to his murder extend far beyond a handful of SFPD officers.
Today, Police Chief Scott will tell us that the killing of Cesar Vargas was justified. He will express sadness that a 21-year-old is dead. He may even describe it as a tragedy and talk about reviewing policing policies.
But, there is no policy, there is no reform, that will make the institution of policing anything but violent. When our “justice” system is dependent on violence—guns, handcuffs, cages—it should be no surprise that a public execution is described as “justified.” But, there is no justice when killings are justified. There will be no justice until we stop relying on violence to address societal challenges.
In November, our Board of Supervisors will vote to approve the mayor’s renegotiation of the Police Officers Association (POA) contract. If approved, it will give SFPD officers two additional years of raises and lock in the policies that have traumatized countless San Franciscans and hampered efforts to create real public safety for all. A commitment to the racist POA is a commitment to the status quo – the very status quo that brings us here today to mourn the police killing of 21-year-old Cesar Vargas.
No San Francisco supervisor has gone on record stating that they will reject the racist POA contract. This is what we mean when we talk about accomplices. Yes, the officers that murdered Cesar Vargas must be held accountable. But what about the public officials who embrace the status quo? Those who have enabled the violence of policing in our communities and the perpetuation of white supremacy?
Today, we demand accountability and we demand justice for Cesar Vargas and everyone traumatized by police. We demand the abolishment of state-sanctioned violence.
Today, we stand in community to support each other and care for each other because we know that the police do not take care of us. The mayor does not take care of us. The supervisors do not take care of us. We take care of us.”
The Defund SFPD Now campaign is a joint project by the SF Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus (Afrosoc) and the Justice Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), SF. The SF Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus is a Black-led organization created in 2020 to center BIPOC voices within socialist spaces. The DSA SF Justice Committee was formed in 2017 and organizes DSA SF’s work fighting for the abolition of policing and prisons.
This campaign is one part of the collective pursuit to defund SFPD into abolition, and ultimately abolish the prison industrial complex in San Francisco and beyond. For years, there has been a grassroots movement in the City fighting for abolition. We support and work alongside these organizations by contributing additional leadership, capacity, and structure as needed in times of mass mobilization.
Board of Supervisors’ Approval of Proposed Budget Disappoints Community, Jeopardizes Reparations for Black Community
In addition to failing to cut a single officer, the latest proposed budget left frontline and essential city workers’ raises vulnerable to being cut by Mayor London Breed in order to pay for SFPD raises
[SAN FRANCISCO, CA September 28]—Following months of widespread calls to defund the police in San Francisco, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 10-to-1 September 22, 2020, to approve the latest budget, effectively preventing any further cuts to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and the Sheriff’s Department for this fiscal year. The Board is expected to cast a second and final vote for approval of the proposed budget September 29, 2020.
“We are disappointed and disturbed that the Board of Supervisors sided with the POA instead of our communities by failing to introduce an amendment that would lay off cops, make significant investments in San Francisco’s Black community, and protect essential workers’ pay,” said Alex Karim, a Defund SFPD Now organizer. “Instead, the city will fail its Black community, fail Labor, or fail us all by doubling down on its support for the racist POA and increasing SFPD salaries, with no accountability whatsoever.”
While several members of the Board remarked during the September 22 hearing that the cuts to the SFPD were “historic”, the budget cuts amounted to approximately 6 percent of the SFPD’s total budget and did not require cuts to SFPD’s current staffing levels. Board members also highlighted a $120 million allocation for reparations to the Black community.
However, the $120 million in reparations appear to be predicated on renegotiation of the Police Officers Association’s (POA) contract to postpone planned SFPD raises but extend the length of the contract, a move that will cost the city more money in the long term and block new accountability measures.
The proposed POA contract renegotiation, which is subject to approval by the Board, would incorporate planned raises next year and provide additional raises to SFPD officers in 2022 and 2023. The renegotiation would also extend the POA contract to 2023—a mayoral election year—giving the POA the power to leverage their next renegotiation during local elections.
Should the Board reject the renegotiated POA contract, the SFPD would run into a multi-million shortfall over two fiscal years. Moreover, while the Board allocated $37.9 million for the city’s union workers from the city’s reserves, the Board’s failure to move city union workers’ raises into the general fund leaves the allocation vulnerable to being redirected to police by Mayor Breed, who has complete power over the city reserves during the current state of emergency. As a result, leadership of some city unions have started to lobby in favor of the new POA contract in order to protect their own raises.
The Defund SFPD Now campaign is a joint project by the SF Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus (Afrosoc) and the Justice Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), SF. The SF Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus is a Black-led organization created in 2020 to center BIPOC voices within socialist spaces. The DSA SF Justice Committee was formed in 2017 and organizes DSA SF’s work fighting for the abolition of policing and prisons.
This campaign is one part of the collective pursuit to defund SFPD into abolition, and ultimately abolish the prison industrial complex in San Francisco and beyond. For years, there has been a grassroots movement in the City fighting for abolition. We support and work alongside these organizations by contributing additional leadership, capacity, and structure as needed in times of mass mobilization.
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For more information about Defund SFPD Now’s efforts to abolish SFPD and the Sheriff’s Department, email defundsfpdnow@gmail.com.
Hundreds March to Honor Black Lives, Call for Reparations, & Demand the City Get Cops Off the Street
After honoring victims and survivors of police violence, a community procession made its way to Mission Police Station and spelled out their demands to City officials: defund, disarm, and disband SFPD and the Sheriff’s Department.
San Francisco, CA — On Thursday, September 3, 2020, approximately 300 community members gathered at Mission High School to honor Black lives and demand that the City rise to the moment by defunding the San Francisco Police Department and Sheriff’s Department, getting cops off the streets, and refunding the budget savings to the Black community. The rally and procession culminated in a street painting event, during which activists painted “DEFUND SFPD” on the street directly in front of the Mission Police Station.
During the rally, community organizers lambasted the budget approved last week by the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Appropriations Committee, which would leave the SFPD and the Sheriff’s Department with nearly $1 billion in their total budgets and would not cut a single officer or Sheriff’s deputy. Activists also challenged the Supervisors to ensure that Sheriff’s deputies are removed from City hospitals and that Black communities receive more than the $120 million promised by Mayor London Breed over two fiscal years.
“Every day that the Supervisors refuse to defund SFPD, they are prioritizing police employment over our lives,” Alex Karim, a Defund SFPD Now organizer, told a lively crowd in front of Mission High School. “They have the power to change the system, but instead, they bend over backwards to preserve a system that harms us—a system that protects white property-owning interests at the expense of marginalized people.”
The action was held a week after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake and only days after the publication of allegations that a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy who fatally shot Andres Guardado in the back was seeking initiation into a murderous Sheriff’s gang. While the SFPD has not recently killed anyone, their own data shows that officers continue using force against people of color at a rate of almost 50 percent. The Sheriff’s Department has also faced accusations that deputies are harassing people of color at City hospitals. Additionally, nearly half of San Francisco’s jail population is Black, despite Black residents totaling less than 6 percent of the City’s population.
About Defund SFPD Now
The Defund SFPD Now campaign is a joint project by the SF Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus (Afrosoc) and the Justice Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), SF. This campaign is one part of the collective pursuit to defund SFPD into abolition, and ultimately abolish the prison industrial complex in San Francisco and beyond.
Defund SFPD Now Campaign Conducts Two Direct Actions at San Francisco Supervisors’ Home Offices Encouraging San Francisco Supervisors to Defund the SFPD
More than 150 demonstrators marched from Holly Park to the home of Supervisor Ronen calling on her to commit publicly to defunding the police. (08/18/2020)
In the age of COVID-19, when politicians are hunkered down inside their homes, how can community members ensure that their demands are heard?
After months of remote actions, the DefundSFPDNow campaign decided to deliver their demands directly to the home office of Hillary Ronen and of Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee.
On Tuesday 8/18, over 150 San Francisco residents marched from Holly Park, through Bernal Heights, and to the home office of Hillary Ronen, District 9 Supervisor and member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. These residents called for Supervisor Ronen to be a champion of defunding SFPD and the Sheriff’s Department by proposing a budget that immediately and significantly reduces the number of sworn officers and deputies.
In front of Supervisor Ronen’s house, Alex Karim, co-chair of DSA SF Justice Committee, addressed the crowd, “After months of supervisor meetings, thousands of emails, and over 250 hours of public comments and voicemails, we could not get a single supervisor to make a proposal to fire officers.” She continued, “politicians were refusing to meet us where we were at, so we decided to go to them.”
Karim explained that policing poses a public safety threat, particularly to Black and brown communities, and the only way to reduce trauma caused by policing is to eliminate the number of interactions community members have with police officers.
“Reform does not work,” she said, citing use of force reports which demonstrate that SFPD pointed their guns at people nearly 2.4 times per day last year—less than 2% of those times in defense of self or others even after years of California DOJ mandated reforms. She added that 76% of uses of force by SFPD in Q4 2019 were against people of color.
Speakers had varied background and included Maria Cristina (Mothers on the March, Frisco 5), “S” (Rad Mission Neighbors, sex worker), and formerly unhoused activists, but they were united in their calls to fire police officers and Sheriff’s deputies.
“We know very well what we are asking for—to abolish the police,” shouted Cristina.
The rally ended with a presentation—a checklist (bit.ly/checkalltheboxes) of over 40 policing budget line items was taped to Ronen’s front door. The demands called for Ronen to “check all the boxes” with each check representing a commitment to eliminating that line item from the budget.
Three days later, at the Friday Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing, Supervisor Ronen became the first supervisor to propose laying off SFPD officers. However, this proposal was not supported by the rest of the Committee, including Supervisor Yee, citing constituents that asked for more police officers in their neighborhoods.
When asked to comment, a DefundSFPDNow campaign representative said, “When select constituents claim that they want more police, what they are really saying is that they want to feel safe. But, the safest communities in our city are not the ones with the most police officers, they’re the ones with the most resources.”
In response to Supervisor Yee’s unwillingness to lay off officers, the DefundSFPDNow campaign focused its second direct action of the week on Yee’s home office. On Saturday 8/22, they delivered a 21ft banner, anchored by 150 pounds of concrete, to the front of Yee’s home office. The message—“NORMAN YEE: FIRE SFPD”.
Outside Supervisor Yee’s home, speaker Nihar Bhatt of Rad Mission Neighbors addressed the Supervisor, “Our movement will define what victory means and the movement in the streets all over this country has been extremely clear—we want to defund the police not reform the police.”
Bhatt added, “Defund the police means nothing unless it means firing cops.”
About the DefundSFPDNow campaign
The DefundSFPDNow campaign is led by the Justice Committee of the San Francisco chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, in conjunction with the San Francisco chapter of the Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus. The campaign is one part of the mass movement calling for the defunding of SFPD and abolition of the prison-industrial complex. To view the campaign’s line item policing budget analysis, visit defundsfpdnow.com.
Protestors taped a list of demands to Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s front door. The demands list can be seen at: bit.ly/checkalltheboxes. (08/18/2020)
Long-time activist Maria Cristina urged the crowd to remember that we are the heroes we need and we must hold our elected officials accountable. (08/18/2020)
A 21 foot banner, anchored by 150 lbs of concrete delivered to the home of Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, making clear the demands of the people of San Francisco:
“Norman Yee: Fire SFPD”. (08/21/2020)
A car caravan, consisting of demonstrators & community organizations, makes its way through Mt Davidson Manor and Westwood Park to Supervisor Yee’s home office. (08/21/2020)
Outside Supervisor Yee’s home office, demonstrators listened to speeches from leaders of systems-impacted groups, including Rad Mission Neighbors’ founding member Nihar Bhatt. (08/21/2020)
The SF Budget Has Dropped and It's Not Good News
The SF Budget has dropped and it’s not good news. While Mayor Breed is ramping up her rhetoric to protect and fund the Black community, and she promised to
"Fundamentally change the nature of policing in San Francisco" these are the facts. Breed claims she is diverting $120 million from policing to Black communities. However, her proposed budget is smoke and mirrors — SFPD's budget is only going to decrease by 2.6% ($18 million) this year and will INCREASE by 0.2% next year.
For the first time in the history of this country the people en masse are calling for defunding the police and refunding the community. But as we come up against the inertia of the old and failed model of reform, city leaders here in San Francisco, and across the nation, are cowering in the face of resistance from police unions and the rich who want their lackeys to protect them at all costs.
We cannot let the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement be crushed! San Francisco still has a chance to lead the nation by taking radical actions so that no more black lives are lost to police violence.
San Francisco city leaders actually have the power to make dramatic cuts in the police budgets. DSA Afro-Socialist Caucus and the Justice Committee have gone through the budget and come up with 36 line-item cuts amounting to $295.2M in funds that can be saved for community services this year.
But Mayor Breed already defied the rightful powers of the Board of Supervisors in its decision to provide 8,000 hotel rooms for the homeless even as Covid is spreading through these populations with no end in sight. Now the stealing of homeless people’s property and telling them to move on has started up again. Is this progressive board going to show some backbone or not? Can they form their mouths around the words “Defund the Police, Refund the Community?”
If we want to understand what it would be like to live in a world without police, we need not look any further then Pacific Heights. There you will find a world in which people have the security of a home, healthcare, work and the freedom to move freely and fearlessly, knowing that the police will only come when called on to protect the status quo.
When police enter our communities of color, of the working class and the unhoused, their very presence creates fear. Racial-profiling, accusations of gang affiliation, physical abuse and even murder continue to occur with impunity.
The obvious solution would be to provide the programs that would heal our communities of desperation, In San Francisco, one of the wealthiest cities in the world; many people are living day-to-day in constant fear of job loss, eviction, and overwhelming healthcare costs that could land even more people on the streets.
And yet the police continue to patrol our streets to create a constant atmosphere of intimidation.
As the federal government sends unidentified military and ICE agents into our communities, we must call for radical change! Radical means down to the roots.
What is unique about this issue is that they do not need the co-operation or approval of the state or federal government to do so. In this unique moment that’s a lot of power. It will take some brave and visionary action on the part of the Board to create a culture that pulls the old system up by its roots.
The only reason to pool our resources as a people is to create social equality and true security through housing, food, mental health, rehabilitation of our wounded, education, infrastructure as well as protect our natural world and ultimately the soul of this land. Right now our money serves to protect the rich under the guise of providing safety.
Call it socialism or compassion, we are in this together, and must uproot the corrupt enforcers of this violent oppression now.
DefundSFPDnow Responds to Mayor’s Outrageous Budget Proposal
Mayor Breed Broke Her Promise to Transform Policing: A 2.6% Budget Adjustment is Not Enough, San Francisco Demands We Defund Policing Now
Mayor Breed promised to “fundamentally change the nature of policing in San Francisco.” The Mayor’s proposed budget fails to deliver on that promise. Instead of delivering real cuts and forcing structural change, the Mayor’s budget is an exercise in bookkeeping: it “eliminates” paper positions kept vacant for just such a purpose without reducing the size of our police forces by a single officer. It preserves the breathtaking scope of these forces. The Mayor sold the press a story that she was cutting $120 million from policing, but her budget proposal only cuts $18 million from SFPD and $11 million from the SF Sheriff’s Department. Her budget proposal actually INCREASES the SFPD budget the following year. San Franciscans took to the streets risking arrest and injury to demand structural change. The Mayor’s budget leaves the racist and violent structures of policing in place.
Departments across the city are facing drastic cuts due to the budget shortfall. Twenty-one agencies are facing deeper cuts than the SFPD; Public Works is facing a 31% cut and Muni is facing a 14% cut. Meanwhile the Mayor pairs a paltry 2.6% cut to SFPD this year with a budget INCREASE next year. City workers are being threatened with furloughs and layoffs while officers who murdered Mario Woods, Alex Nieto and Jessica Williams remain on the public payroll. The Mayor proposes to cut more money from the San Francisco Public Library, $19 million, than from SFPD. But it's SFPD, not the library, that has killed 14 of our neighbors in the last five years. This proposed budget does not demonstrate a commitment to justice. The Mayor is proposing to cut entire childcare programs, cut money to mental health and housing services, and cut other services that keep the city healthy and safe, all while preserving a system of policing that actively makes us less safe. This budget does not reflect San Francisco values.
San Francisco’s Black community deserves a $120 million investment, and much more, but Mayor Breed’s numbers don’t add up. We demand much bolder immediate action to defund, disarm, and disband SFPD, SF Sheriff’s Department and the entire prison industrial complex in San Francisco. San Franciscans made their voices heard this Summer: we demand the City make a commitment to pair sustained reinvestment in the Black community with a tear down of the systems that continue to oppress Black people.