What are the police doing to address drug dealing, drug use and loitering on the streets of Western SoMa?

That was the major question neighbors had for the Southern Police District's new captain during the monthly general meeting of new neighborhood group Western SoMa Voice.

Last month, Captain Daryl Fong took command of SFPD's Southern Station. While Fong is new to the Southern district, he's been in law enforcement for 21 years, serving at Richmond, Central, Bayview and Northern stations, as well as the Internal Affairs Division, Media Relations Unit and Police Academy. Most recently, Fong served as "Officer In Charge" of the department's Special Investigations Division. (The district's former police captain, Jerry DeFilippo, has transitioned to the SFPD's Airport Bureau.)

Capt. Daryl Fong. (Photo: SFPD)

While Western SoMa Voice had a packed agenda—covering everything from local development projects to efforts to activate Victoria Manalo Draves Park—a contingent of frustrated neighbors spent more than an hour grilling Fong on safety concerns in the area.

Hotspots For Drugs

According a handful of vocal longtime residents and business owners at the meeting, both the corner of Mission and Ninth streets and Washburn and Grace alleys (off Mission Street between Ninth and 10th) have become hotspots for drug dealers and users. Individuals come from all over to congregate on the sidewalks from sunrise to midnight, they said.

It's gotten so bad, said one Grace Street business owner, that he doesn't allow his female employees to leave the office alone. Another resident said she has to brave walking in the street just to get around the crowds at Ninth and Mission.

Others cited ongoing problems with the bus shelter on the north side of Mission Street at Ninth, with a couple of nearby property owners collecting signatures to petition the city to remove it altogether.

Photo: Google Maps

Need For More Officers, Foot Patrol

To combat these issues, concerned residents and business owners told Fong they need more of a police presence in the area—especially on foot. While Fong assured the group that he would like to bring a permanent foot beat back to the district, he said the station isn't sufficiently staffed to do so.

Last summer's SFPD redistricting has decreased Southern Station's headcount, Fong explained. Before redistricting, Southern Station officers patrolled Mid-Market, along with the neighborhood's nearby alleys and the first block of Sixth Street. Those 14 officers now belong to the Tenderloin district.

Map: SFPD

A handful of Southern Station officers have also been reassigned to a citywide auto-burglary and drug enforcement team, Fong said, reducing the district's resources even further. The station does have nine new recruits, but they're still undergoing training.

Despite staffing concerns, Fong did say that in the few weeks he's been with the station, he's been able to make strides in curbing major quality-of-life concerns he's been hearing from community members.

One such area of concern is Victoria Manalo Draves Park. Fong said he's prioritized outreach to the homeless residents camped in and around the park by the Homeless Outreach Team and enforcement, resulting in a drastic improvement in the area. And last month, he said, officers with Southern Station and the department-wide task force nabbed a San Francisco resident allegedly responsible for eight burglaries around the district.

But overall, Fong said partnering on long-term crime reduction strategies with agencies like SF Public Works and the Department of Public Health, as well as the community, will have a much more profound effect. As one potential long-term solution, he suggested the community consider organizing "take-back" efforts, like those being conducted by block-specific safety groups in the Tenderloin.

From his prior experience walking the Mid-Market beat, Southern Station's Lieutenant Campos added that one of the best ways neighbors can help is providing clear suspect descriptions when reporting crimes and safety concerns. Descriptions like "a man wearing dark clothing" are common, but nearly impossible to act on or investigate, he explained.

Community-Driven Solutions

Near the end of the discussion, a few additional community-driven solutions were briefly discussed.

One of the Western SoMa Voice founders suggested the group think seriously about forming a community benefit district. Through taxes, a CBD would generate funds that could be used to hire dedicated security guards.

A guest speaker from the Department of Public Health recommended considering implementing a community event, like 4 Corner Fridays in the Tenderloin, to regularly reclaim neighborhood sidewalks.

Fong also offered to connect residents of impacted alleys with SF Safe, to schedule evaluations of their alleys and determine environmental changes that could make them less appealing to criminals and loiterers.

Other crime and safety-reduction measures being debated by members include installing outdoor needle exchange boxes, to reduce improperly discarded needles on neighborhood sidewalks, and launching a program to increase surveillance cameras in the area.

To keep up with Western SoMa Voice's future meeting and ongoing efforts, head over to westernsomavoice.org.

To stay informed of Southern Station's latest initiatives, email SFPDSouthernStation@sfgov.org to receive the captain's newsletter. The captain's monthly community meeting is held at 6:30pm on the third Wednesday of every month; @SFPDSouthern tweets the exact meeting location each month.