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San Francisco's Richmond district has seen its number of burglaries surge 342.9% this year, according to the latest data from the city's police department.
The San Francisco Police Department reported a total of 124 burglaries in Richmond as of Feb. 14, compared to 28 burglaries for the same period a year ago. Meanwhile overall burglaries in the city are up 62.5% with 1,123 burglaries reported as of Feb. 14 compared to 691 for the same period a year ago.
In addition, robberies, assaults, motor vehicle thefts, and arson in the Richmond district increased by 90.9%, 50%, 58.3%, and 25%, respectively, while rape and larceny theft decreased by 75% and 56.6%, respectively.
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The data comes after San Francisco Mayor London Breed outlined a series of police reforms in June.
Among the reforms, Breed said officers would no longer respond to calls that do not involve a threat to public safety. Instead, police would be replaced by trained, unarmed professionals to limit unnecessary confrontation between the police department and the community.
The non-criminal calls include neighbor disputes, reports on homeless people and school discipline interventions, among other activities.
The city also said at the time that it would strengthen police accountability policies, ban the use of military-grade weapons and divert funding to address disparities in the Black community.
In July, Breed also announced a $120 million budget cut to police and sheriff's departments over the next two years. In addition, San Francisco asked police and fire fighter unions to delay raises for two years in order to save an additional $270 million.
In December, Breed said that the city is projecting a budget shortfall of approximately $653.2 million over the upcoming two budget years, out of an annual general fund budget of approximately $6 billion. She said the shortfall is a result of "slower than expected revenue growth, costs for employee salaries and benefits, and additional costs to respond to COVID-19."
"The challenges facing our City in the months and years ahead are significant, and we have a lot of hard choices to make to get our City back on the road to recovery," Breed said in a statement. "Closing this deficit will not be easy, and it’s going to require tough choices and real tradeoffs."
In response, Breed has directed all city departments to propose ongoing reductions equal to 7.5% of adjusted general fund support, and an additional 2.5% contingency proposal if the pandemic gets worse. She also asked departments to "prioritize core services" and "present clear tradeoffs when presenting proposed reductions."
Budget proposals from departments are due on Feb. 22, where they will then be evaluated by the mayor's budget office and submitted to the city's Board of Supervisors by June 1. The Board of Supervisors will then review the budget proposal and send a balanced budget back to Breed for signature by Aug. 1.
While revenues are projected to largely return to pre-pandemic levels over the next five years, the projected gap between San Francisco's revenues and expenditures will reach approximately $503 million in fiscal year 2025-26 if the city does not take corrective action, Breed's office said.
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According to a two-year budget proposal that will be presented to the San Francisco Police Commission on Wednesday, the department estimates its base budget must reduce adjusted general fund support by nearly $37 million and reduce an additional $12 million for contingency should fiscal conditions worsen.
Fiscal year 2021 and 2022 budget reductions proposed include cuts to all vacant positions, vehicle replacements, three out of four academy classes over the next two years, an $8 million cut to overtime in fiscal 2021, a $12 million cut to overtime in fiscal 2022 and no funding for technology or capital improvements.
The 7.5% general fund cuts are estimated to result in layoffs for 167 sworn officers and 43 civilian personnel. Of the 167 officers who would be laid off, 30 percent would be Latino, 28 percent would be Asian and 9 percent would be Black. The department is currently 18 percent Latino, 17 percent Asian and 10 percent Black. Police added that the additional 2.5% contingency cut could mean layoffs for an additional 56 officers and 14 civilian personnel.
The SFPD projected as part of its proposed budget that it could have as few as 1,502 officers by 2023 if no academy classes are funded and sworn staffers are laid off.
The police budget already saw a $25 million reduction between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021, going from $692.9 million to $667.9 million. The budget for fiscal year 2022 is expected to drop to $603 million if the reductions are implemented.
The police presentation also shows that there have been 33 victims of gun violence in the city overall this year to date, compared to nine during the same period last year.
Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report
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