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SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Police Department is seeing a record number of new recruits, Interim Chief Paul Yep announced on Wednesday. The surge in recruits is leading the department to increase the number of officers on the streets for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The department’s training academy has seen four full classes in a row, with a fifth scheduled to begin in December. The boost is largely due to an aggressive hiring strategy and competitive pay and benefits, an SFPD press release states.
“San Francisco is the best city in the world to be a police officer,” Yep said in a press release. “Our political officials and the public support our police, and we’re helping make San Francisco safer than ever before. Working for the SFPD and serving the community is an incredibly rewarding career.”
In 2025 the department has seen 3,375 entry level applications, which is a 40% increase compared to 2024. There have also been 195 applications from officers in other jurisdictions looking to transfer into the department.
The department press release credits Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Rebuilding the Ranks initiative for boosting the number of applicants.
“Public safety has been and will always be my number one priority as mayor,” Lurie said in the same press release. “Thanks to our Rebuilding the Ranks plan to fully staff our police department and sheriff’s office, we are seeing real progress: Crime is down 30% citywide and at its lowest point in decades, with more applications coming in, hiring moving more quickly, and more officers coming through the academy.”
Lurie said he plans to continue to partner with state and federal law enforcement to “ensure we are using every tool available in service of public safety, and our local law enforcement will continue working relentlessly every day to keep San Francisco safe.”
Understaffed
By the numbers:
A department analysis published earlier this year states the SFPD is experiencing a chronic shortage of officers. The report states the SFPD should have a minimum staff of 2,000 officers, but only has about 1,500.
The department has covered the gap through overtime pay, which has increased costs significantly in recent years.
A five-year study published in December 2024 found that in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, SFPD spent $53 million on overtime. By the 2022-2023 fiscal year it had increased 105% to $108 million.
Lurie’s Rebuilding the Ranks initiative was launched in May and outlined steps to accelerate hiring, allow recent retirees to staff special events and shift administrative work to civilian staff so sworn officers can focus on public safety duties.
The department this year streamlined the hiring process by making testing and background checks more efficient, a press release states. SFPD has also increased outreach and advertising, and collaborated with the Mayor’s Office of Innovation to boost digital marketing and to use technology to address hiring bottlenecks such as background check wait times.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has implemented similar changes — hiring additional contractors and retired deputies to help with background checks, and combining the written exam, interview and physical agility test into a single-day assessment to expedite the application process.
“This year, we offered a salary increase for entry-level deputies — helping us attract and retain local talent who can afford to live in the communities they serve. We’re seeing more San Franciscans joining our ranks and a renewed sense of pride and commitment across the Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said in a press release.
A safer city
What they’re saying:
Lurie, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, announced that crime in San Francisco has fallen in every category.
“We’ve seen crime go down in Union Square by 40%. Citywide, crime is down 30%,” Lurie said. “We are at 70-year lows when it comes to homicides, and car break-ins are at 22-year lows. We have a lot of work to do but I trust our local law enforcement.”
Lurie was joined by District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Sheriff Miyamoto outside the city’s law enforcement training facility. The trio had gathered to push back against statements made by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff endorsing the deployment of National Guard troops to San Francisco.
Benioff, whom Forbes reports has a net worth of $8.7 billion, said in an interview with the New York Times: “We don’t have enough cops, so if (the National Guard) can be cops, I’m all for it.”
Benioff said Salesforce, which has a market cap of $225 billion, is funding hundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to help patrol the area around the Moscone Center, the site of his company’s annual Dreamforce conference, which this year is expected to bring 45,000 attendees to the city.
In the same interview, which was conducted via phone from Benioff’s private jet, he told the New York Times he spends most of his time living on the Big Island of Hawaii, and wasn’t certain how many days per year he is in San Francisco.
Benioff’s comments drew condemnation from state and city officials alike, as well as tourists visiting the city.
“I feel safe. I’ve been walking around and hanging out, and I haven’t felt unsafe, not one time,” Gary Slates, a first-time visitor from North Carolina said. “I think they have people (dressed) in pink cleaning up. They’re picking up behind people, so I like that. I’ve never seen that either.”
Benioff later walked back his remarks, saying his focus was on the safety of conference attendees, and announced Salesforce would donate $1 million to the SFPD to fund larger hiring bonuses.
Federal attention
Why you should care:
During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, President Trump said he was considering including San Francisco in the next round of federal deployments to American cities.
Speaking with reporters from the Oval Office, Trump said San Francisco is “a great city that could be fixed.”
“I’m gong to be strongly recommending, at the request of government officials, that you start looking at San Francisco. 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and now it’s a mess, and we have great support in San Francisco, so I’d like to recommend that for inclusion,” Trump said. “Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped assaulted, or shot. And that’s exactly what our administration is working to deliver.”
Trump did not state which government officials had reportedly requested federal assistance. His claim was rebuked in a statement by State Senator Scott Weiner.
“San Francisco neither needs nor wants Trump’s private army in our streets. Any such deployment would be a massive waste of taxpayer dollars and yet another step toward authoritarianism. And contrary to Trump’s lie, no ‘government officials’ here have requested federal occupation,” Weiner said in a press release issued Wednesday afternoon. “Under the leadership of our mayor, district attorney and police chief, crime is down in San Francisco. Our city is coming back. We don’t need Trump’s authoritarian crackdown in our city. Bottom line: Stay the hell out of San Francisco.”