San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has picked Deputy Chief Derrick Lew to be the city’s new police chief.

Lurie made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday afternoon, saying Lew “knows this city, he knows this department, and he knows the communities we serve.”

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“This department’s next chapter will be shaped by leaders who know this city deeply and are committed to its safety and its fellow officers,” said Lurie at SFPD’s Medal of Valor ceremony.

The Mayor went on to acknowledge Interim Chief Paul Yep, who stepped into the role this spring after Former Chief Bill Scott moved to Los Angeles.

“I am confident that Incoming Chief Lew will lead this department with a deep sense of responsibility to the people of San Francisco and an unwavering commitment to their safety,” said Lurie.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, in a statement, said she is confident that under Lew’s leadership, the city will be able to drive down crime and make progress with public safety issues.

“Derrick Lew is somebody who understands San Francisco, the problems we’re facing. He’s someone who can hit the ground running,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who is the chair of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee.

“I think, especially being the commander of DMACC, the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center, Derrick Lew is very well suited for this kind of leadership San Francisco needs right now with all the public safety challenges it faces.”

Lew, who was born and raised in San Francisco, has been with the department for more than two decades and has served at Ingleside, Bayview, Mission, and Central Stations, overseeing the SFPD’s drug enforcement work through the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center (DMACC), and most recently led the Field Operations Bureau as deputy chief.

“It is the honor of a lifetime to lead the San Francisco Police Department-the gold standard in policing. I have tremendous admiration for the men and women of this department, who risk their lives every day to protect our city. We are safer because of them,” said Lew. “As chief, I will continue acting with urgency to get more officers into the department, to attack the drug crisis, to improve street conditions, and to ensure San Francisco remains one of the safest cities in the country.”

According to our media partner The Standard, Lew grew up in the Richmond and went to Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, followed by Boston University.

In an 2022 interview with Wind Newspaper, Lew said the 9/11 attacks influenced his decision to join SFPD in 2003.

“I believe the attack more or less made a difference behind me to be a police officer to serve the community,” said Lew in the interview. “I was born in San Francisco. I really wanted to serve my community. I only applied to the San Francisco Police Department.”

Lew started his career at Ingleside Station. As a patrol officer, he worked in the Bayview and Central stations.

In 2006, while working in the Bayview, he and his partner came under fire. They were responding to reports of gunfire and found a man pushing another in a wheelchair. When they told him to stop, the man pushing the wheelchair turned toward the officers and opened fire.

Lew ducked behind a patrol car console while his partner shot and killed the suspect.

That suspect, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, was Mayor London Breed’s cousin, Charles Breed. SFPD says he was an alleged Western Addition gang member who had killed two people that day.

Lew believed he’d been shot, but in reality, a round had ripped through his jacket, which, along with his partner’s, hangs framed on a wall of the Bayview Station.

Both officers later received medal of honor for their role.

In 2008, Lew and four other officers, as well as Heather Fong, the chief at the time, were sued for roughing up an alleged drug dealer and calling him racist names. A judge in 2011 dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning no further claim is possible.

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