Shootings in San Francisco not as deadly

Numbers game: Just last year, police were trying to explain why there was a drop in nonfatal shootings but a rise in homicides. This year, the situation is different. (Examiner file photo)

Police arrived at a street corner in the heart of the Tenderloin just before 3 a.m., after gunshots were reported.

One person had been shot, but was transported to a hospital and was expected to survive.

Shootings like this one, which occurred last week, have one of two conclusions: death or survival.

And while police tout San Francisco’s plummeting homicide rate, the number of people wounded in shootings has remained steady since last year.

In 2008, as killings crept toward a near-record high, Police Department brass consistently pointed to the smaller number of nonfatal shootings as a more accurate way of gauging overall violence. This year, police find themselves explaining how the pattern has shifted.

San Francisco has tallied 20 homicides from Jan. 1 to May 31 of this year, which is less than half the 45 killings during the same time period in 2008. But the number of reported nonfatal shootings has remained unchanged at 91.

The statistics have spawned several theories among law enforcement and city officials.

“It’s hard to reason why, other than the fact that they’re not getting as close to the victims when they shoot them or the victims are getting medical care in a more timely manner,” said Gary Delagnes, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who sits on the Public Safety Commission, said a handful of reasons could explain the trend.

“Often, homicides are related to some kind of turf or drug war that results in some retaliation, which represents a domino effect. When there’s less homicides, there’s less retaliation,” he said.

San Francisco General Hospital’s trauma unit, one of the best in the country and where virtually all gunshot victims in The City are treated, also deserves some credit, Mirkarimi said.

“They are an unsung hero in this case,” he said. “Maybe the [perpetrators] are just bad shots, too. All these variables are in place.”

Police also say there are fewer separate shooting incidents, even if the number of the wounded has not dropped.

The 91 people injured in the first five months of both this year and 2008 must also be compared to the same time period in 2007, when The City counted 114 nonfatal shootings, Deputy Chief of Police Kevin Cashman said.

Cashman credited the strategy of concentrating more police resources in San Francisco’s most violent neighborhoods for the drop in homicides this year and nonfatal shootings during the past two years.

The “zone strategy” was adopted at the beginning of 2008 to focus on five geographic areas — Bayview-Hunters Point, Mission, Western Addition, Tenderloin and Visitacion Valley — where the most violent crimes had been committed in recent years.

“After adoption of the zone enforcement violence reduction plan, we saw an immediate reduction in nonfatal shootings in 2008 compared to 2007,” Cashman said. “That reduced level has remained consistent since then.”

“We still believe the zone strategy is having a positive effect,” police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said. “We’ll strive to continue to make sure the numbers drop.”

tbarak@sfexaminer.com

Gun violence

Homicides and shootings in San Francisco through May 31, as compared to previous years.

Source: Police Department