On May 13, 2025, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced an executive order called “Rebuilding the Ranks” at the San Francisco Police Department, outlining a series of short-term and long-term reform measures to address the shortage of personnel in the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and Sheriff’s Office. The initiative was met with support from various law enforcement leaders, police union representatives, community leaders, and city council members.
The “Rebuilding the Ranks” blueprint reflects Mayor Lurie’s core campaign promises and marks significant progress in public safety policies during his first four months in office. According to city data, overall crime rates in San Francisco have decreased by 28% compared to the same period last year, with property crime down by 29% and violent crime down by 16%. Additionally, car break-ins have reached a 22-year low, and the number of tents on the streets is at its lowest since 2019.
However, the San Francisco Police Department is currently facing a shortage of over 500 officers, far from the needed 2,000 personnel. The Sheriff’s Office is also lacking nearly 200 deputy sheriffs. This has resulted in overburdened frontline officers, understaffed policing in neighborhoods, longer response times to incidents, and high costs for police overtime.
The 100-day measures under the “Rebuilding the Ranks” plan include bringing retired officers back to patrol and investigative positions, encouraging retired deputy sheriffs to return to full-duty assignments, mobilizing retired personnel to support large events like marches, concerts, and sports games, streamlining recruitment processes, enhancing police academy training systems to improve graduation rates and maintain professional standards, collaborating with the private sector to boost recruitment efforts, forming cross-departmental teams to consolidate human resources between the police department and Sheriff’s Office, expanding the use of drones and the Real-Time Information Center (RTIC) along with other technology tools to improve efficiency in investigations and patrols, and using technology to expedite recruitment processes.
The six-month goals of the “Rebuilding the Ranks” plan include evaluating policing deployment systems and releasing investigation results, transitioning administrative tasks to civilian staff to allow officers to focus on patrols and casework, establishing public-private cooperation mechanisms with businesses and community districts, drafting legislation to update retirement policies and encourage experienced officers from other areas to relocate.
“We all share a common goal: to ensure every resident of San Francisco feels safe in their community,” stated Mayor Lurie. “We owe this commitment to every resident who wishes to return home safely at night. We also owe respect to every officer and deputy sheriff who shows up for duty on time and stands their ground. Our work will not stop until every resident and visitor in San Francisco feels the city is safe. We will continue to strengthen the trust between law enforcement and the community.”
Police Chief Bill Scott emphasized the need to smartly grow the force instead of relying on overtime, stating that the mayor’s executive order aligns with this responsible approach. Recently, 55 new members joined the police department – a sight unseen for years – with 5 officers transferring from other regions who have already taken their oaths and are currently undergoing training before hitting the streets for patrols in the coming weeks.
Despite his upcoming departure, Chief Scott did not forget to issue a recruitment notice: “We are one of the highest-paid police forces in California and even in the United States. … We are acquiring more tools to enhance efficiency and performance, such as drones, surveillance camera systems, and more. … If you are interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement, remember – there is no better place than here to start or continue your police career.”
Sheriff Paul Miyamoto highlighted that the plan will help reduce overtime and fatigue, alleviate backlogs of cases in the streets, jails, and courts, and relieve officers and deputy sheriffs of multitasking burdens. He emphasized that the initiative will uphold justice, enhance public safety, and make San Francisco a better community.
Several city council members expressed their support for the executive order. District 4 Councilmember Joel Engardio strongly endorsed bringing recently retired but still active officers back to patrol and casework to fill the personnel gap. District 5 Councilmember Bilal Mahmood believed that delegating administrative tasks to civilian staff would pragmatically boost patrol personnel.
District 3 Councilmember Danny Sauter showed strong support for the expanded use of technology equipment as outlined in the executive order, such as drones and Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems. He shared feedback from residents in Russian Hill and Lombard Street about the reduction in daily glass cleanups due to fewer car break-ins with the use of drones. Businesses at Fisherman’s Wharf also noted improvements in retail theft incidents with the application of the license plate recognition system.
The Mayor’s Office announced that within the next year, they will release public progress reports, assess the outcomes of various reforms, and propose necessary follow-up recommendations.