Expanded crime suppression teams in San Francisco

With crime dropping statewide, the Governor announced the next phase of his crime-fighting efforts in July — deploying new California Highway Patrol (CHP) crime suppression teams to work directly with local law enforcement in major cities and regions across the state — San Diego, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Central Valley, Sacramento, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Specifically in the Bay Area, CHP has helped local law enforcement make an estimated 200 arrests, recover 500 stolen vehicles, and seize 30 illicit firearms since expanding the state’s partnership crime-fighting efforts. These numbers include the statewide total of more than 950 arrests, over 550 stolen vehicles recovered, and nearly 60 illegal firearms seized across the various regions so far this year.

The work these officers do together every day is all in service to their communities and to improve safety overall. For example, in late September, officers on the ground with aircraft assistance, tracked a stolen vehicle involved in an armed carjacking. The suspect fled on foot after the vehicle became disabled, then attempted to carjack another victim before being apprehended by state and local officers with a significant amount of controlled substances.

“The Crime Suppression Team exemplifies what can be achieved through teamwork and coordination,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “Their collaborative efforts with local partners are making a real difference by disrupting criminal activity before it occurs and advancing our shared mission to keep California’s roads and communities safe.”

In addition, CHP will have 200 extra officers during Dreamforce, the world’s largest AI event in San Francisco. Special Response Teams will provide fixed and moving patrols from Tuesday through Thursday this week, in coordination with the City of San Francisco and Salesforce. 

“From the day I took office, I told San Franciscans my number one priority was keeping our streets safe and clean. We took a new approach using every tool available—accelerating police staffing through our Rebuilding the Ranks program, leveraging innovative technology to solve crime, and coordinating closely with our state and federal law enforcement partners,” said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. “With all these tools used together, and thanks to the leadership of Governor Newsom and partnership of California Highway Patrol, crime in our city is down nearly 30%, car break-ins are at 22-year lows, homicides are at 70-year lows, and San Franciscans are feeling positive about the direction of our city once again. And we are going to continue working every single day to build on this progress and keep our city safe 365 days a year.”

Crime is down in San Francisco – period 

According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, overall violent crime in major California cities is down 12.5% in 2025 compared to 2024. The largest overall declines in violent crime were reported by the police departments in Oakland (30%) and San Francisco (22%). 

According to another data set released by the California Department of Justice, nearly every major crime category, including violent crime and homicides, dropped in 2024. 

The results in California’s major Bay Area cities cross over into overall success for the state as California’s 2024 homicide rate is now the second lowest it has been since at least 1966. 

And when comparing crime rates in San Francisco before the COVID-induced crime surge, between 2019 and 2025, there has been a 45% decrease in homicides and 40% decrease in robberies.

Specifically looking at homicide rates during the same time period, several major cities have actually seen increases in homicides since 2019. 

Community groups and local leaders agree 

“As the representative for the Tenderloin, my office is working in lockstep with the Mayor’s Office and Governor’s Office to move our city forward and create strategies to restore safety and dignity to our neighborhoods,” said San Francisco D5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. “San Francisco has always found a way forward – we can, and while there’s work to do, we will continue to make significant progress.”

“San Francisco is making major strides on public safety, and our residents and visitors are seeing and feeling these improvements every day,” said San Francisco D3 Supervisor Danny Sauter. “Thanks to investment and leadership from Governor Newsom and Mayor Lurie, we’re seeing historic drops in crime. As a result, we’re seeing increased tourism, new business growth, and a boost in civic pride.” 

“Businesses, residents, and tourists on the ground all agree it feels like a new day in San Francisco,” said San Francisco Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rodney Fong. “The leadership of Governor Newsom and Mayor Lurie has created a more vibrant and confident business ecosystem, supported by strong community policing and safer street conditions. Simply put, the numbers speak for themselves.”

“Ensuring public safety is an essential job of government. San Francisco has risen to the challenge and has become amongst the safest cities in the nation,” said Advance SF President Wade Rose. “Homicides are the lowest they’ve been in 70 years, car break-ins are at the lowest they’ve been in 22 years, police and sheriff ranks are increasing, overdose deaths are decreasing, and overall reported crime is down nearly 30%. Governor Newsom’s and Mayor Lurie’s efforts have been a key part of this success.”

“Crime statistics in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area show continuous, dramatic improvement. Visitors routinely express pleasant surprise as to how their positive experience doesn’t match up with the often negative newsfeed,” said Bay Area Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman. “Thanks to these continued investments from Governor Newsom, we increasingly hear local residents view the city and region as being on the right track. There is more work to do but these trends are extremely encouraging.”

“Thanks to the public safety efforts made by Governor Newsom and Mayor Lurie our restaurant community is seeing progress and feeling hopeful that they can thrive in San Francisco,” said Golden Gate Restaurant Association Executive Director Laurie Thomas. “We are grateful to the Governor for his commitment to SF and our local businesses.”

Tackling illicit drugs in San Francisco

In 2023, the state began working with local communities to target fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city, and holding the operators of drug trafficking rings accountable. Through collaborative efforts between the California Department of Justice, the California Highway Patrol, the California National Guard, the San Francisco Police Department, and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, officials seized nearly 700 pounds of fentanyl and CHP issued 6,200+ citations for illegal activity, made 500+ arrests, and recovered 115+ stolen vehicles.

Stopping and prosecuting organized retail theft statewide 

The state has no tolerance for organized retail theft and has in fact provided significant support to tackle illicit operators and ensure they are prosecuted. 

Since its inception in October 2019, the state’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force teams statewide have recovered more than 1.4 million items of stolen retail merchandise, valued at nearly $60.2 million. The CHP’s Task Force members have arrested nearly 4,600 suspects for retail crimes and have been involved in over 4,000 investigations, with many focused on combatting this issue in the Bay Area.

In addition, as part of the state’s largest-ever investment to combat organized retail crime, the Governor announced in 2024 the state distributed $267 million to 55 communities to help local communities combat organized retail crime. These funds have enabled cities and counties to hire more police, make more arrests, and secure more felony charges against suspects. So far, from October 2023 to March 2025, state funding has resulted in the arrest of more than 22,100 suspects and the referral of nearly 17,100 cases for prosecution. Through this state-funded work, law enforcement agencies have been able to recover nearly $150 million in stolen property – with years remaining on the grant cycle. 

Significant public safety investments 

While Republicans in Congress pushed their “big beautiful betrayal” bill that cut funding to vital public safety programs, California has shown what real public safety looks like: serious investments, strong enforcement, and real results.

California has invested $1.7 billion since 2019 to fight crime, help local governments hire more police, and improve public safety. In 2023, as part of California’s Public Safety Plan, the Governor announced the largest-ever investment to combat organized retail crime in state history, an annual 310% increase in proactive operations targeting organized retail crime, and special operations across the state to fight crime and improve public safety.

In August, Governor Newsom signed into law the most significant bipartisan legislation to crack down on property crime in modern California history. Building on the state’s robust laws and record public safety funding, these bipartisan bills offer new tools to bolster ongoing efforts to hold criminals accountable for smash-and-grab robberies, property crime, retail theft, and auto burglaries. While California’s crime rate remains at near-historic lows, these laws help California adapt to evolving criminal tactics to ensure perpetrators are effectively held accountable.