Tenderloin police sweep picking up drug felonies
By: Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer
October 2, 2009
 |
| Crackdown: Beat officers Allen Mulliden, left, and John Fergus patrol the corner of Ellis and Jones streets as part of a strike against drug dealing in the Tenderloin. (Examiner file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — The latest police crackdown on open-market drug dealing in the Tenderloin set out to quash low-level crimes, but suspected criminals are being taken off the streets and charged with felonies.
Just after starting his job as the new police chief, George Gascón focused on the Tenderloin and the drug dealing that was going on within eyesight. Though some were critical of his efforts, the push has resulted in an increase in felony narcotics arrests there — many of which come through enhancements for dealing drugs near schools and while on parole.
Gascón’s crackdown on drug dealing in the Tenderloin is keeping prosecutors busy, with 207 felony narcotics cases going to court from the Tenderloin in a three-week period alone.
The District Attorney’s Office charged 362 felony drug cases throughout The City in August, compared to 233 in the previous month.
One critic of the crackdown, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, initially criticized the arrests because they would lead to overcrowding at the jails and a strain on the criminal justice system, with a sudden bottleneck of felony charges for defendants. One deputy public defender, Tal Klement, even wrote a guest editorial in The Examiner calling it a “failed war on crumbs.”
Adachi’s predictions have proven true. As reported by The Examiner, Sheriff Michael Hennessey is looking for supplementary funding to house a large spike in the prison population in the last two months. Now, the courts have a higher caseload to deal with despite a record low amount of misdemeanor filings by the District Attorney’s Office.
“Drug dealers treat the Tenderloin like a dumping ground, and this effort is about reclaiming the neighborhood for the families and residents who live there,” said Brian Buckelew, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office.
Dina Hilliard, a decade-long resident of the Tenderloin and a manager with the North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District, is optimistic that the sweeps will work.
“I think the neighborhood started out by being a little skeptical,” Hilliard said. “But there’s been a few evenings now where I’m walking home and there’s not a drug dealer in sight.”
bbegin@sfexaminer.com
