The mayor promised increased police foot patrols<\/a> on the eight-block Mission Street corridor between the 16th and 24th street BART plazas where illegal vending has continued to pop up. In recent months, open-air drug use has also increased on those blocks. <\/p>\n The mayor said a sergeant at the Mission Station a block away would \u201coversee these BART plazas,\u201d and that the city would add street teams to \u201ckeep this corridor welcoming.\u201d He said street cleaning would start occurring before school starts.<\/p>\n More SFPD foot patrols are coming to the BART plazas in the Mission.<\/p>\n We\u2019re adding officers walking between the 16th and 24th Street plazas and deploying a sergeant to manage the plazas and surrounding corridors. We\u2019re also changing the street cleaning schedule and expanding our\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/1tnnD4hjMD<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Daniel Lurie \u4e39\u5c3c\u723e\u00b7\u7f85\u5049 (@DanielLurie) February 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Police officers are already a near-constant sight at the plazas. They park SUVs with siren-lights on during the night, and stand on either the northeast or southwest plazas at 16th and Mission to ward off illegal street fencing<\/a>, which grew prolific<\/a> after the pandemic. Until September, an RV-sized van<\/a> was parked on the BART plaza<\/a> each and every day<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lurie<\/a>, the former police chief<\/a>, and the current police chief<\/a> have all acknowledged that the Mission District is seeing \u201cdisplacement\u201d of drug activity and crime from other areas<\/a> of the city where police operations have ramped up. Last year, Lurie told Mission Local<\/a> the city would not \u201carrest our way out of this problem\u201d\u00a0but that police would have to chase drug dealers around \u201cfor a little bit\u201d\u00a0until conditions improve.<\/p>\n The 16th and Mission operation has had mixed results: Street peddlers often simply go across the street from where officers are standing. At night, crowds gather selling everything from perfume to raw steaks to drugs. <\/p>\n For months, the city had succeeded in moving most of the illicit activity to the northeast plaza, and it mostly took place after 5 p.m. But increasingly, vending has also started to emerge again on the southwest plaza.<\/p>\n And, throughout the nearly year-long operation, vendors simply moved to the 24th Street plaza. So would officers. But once they left, the crowds would return. <\/p>\n Residents and merchants saw little improvement after the first few months<\/a> of the operation that began on March 12 last year. But as it progressed they said the streets were cleaner<\/a>, loitering was down, and the city\u2019s street teams were highly responsive. The results can be uneven, however, and crowds often return when police or ambassadors aren\u2019t present.<\/p>\n Police arrests are up. On Thursday, police officers made 16 arrests near 16th and Mission and 59 in the last week, according to Mission Local\u2018s dashboard<\/a> tracking daily statistics from the intersection. Since Lurie announced his crackdown on the area, arrests and citations for dugs<\/a> there have skyrocketed<\/a>, reflecting a concerted police focus.<\/p>\n An alphabet soup of city agencies<\/a> already patrol the area with dedicated street teams<\/a>. They are bolstered by two nonprofit contractors. <\/p>\n The community ambassadors wear clearly marked uniforms and do a variety of tasks, like intervening in street fights, reversing overdoses, and walking children to and from Marshall Elementary near 16th and Mission<\/a>. Students there see drug dealing, feces, public intoxication, and more nearly every day \u2014 one mother told Mission Local she \u201cplay that we jump poop on the street\u201d on the way to class.<\/p>\n \t\t They carry <\/p>\n walkie-talkies<\/p>\n Workers wear one or more <\/p>\n layers of the uniforms, including<\/p>\n a black t-shirt, a black zip-up <\/p>\n hoodle, and a white vest<\/p>\n \t\t Workers wear one <\/p>\n or more layers of the <\/p>\n uniforms, including <\/p>\n a black t-shirt, a black zip-up <\/p>\n hoodle, and a white vest<\/p>\n They carry <\/p>\n walkie-talkies<\/p>\n Lurie acknowledged the lack of progress in his social media video.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have good days, and we have days that are not what we want to see here,\u201d he said. He promised the city would continue to work \u201ctirelessly\u201d on the intersection.<\/p>\n Feng Han, an aide for District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, said in a statement that Fielder \u201chas been asking for more community policing and foot beats since she began her term last year as that was the number one request of constituents.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cShe hopes that this new sergeant assigned can deliver that.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/e1610-930x620.jpg\")
Teens look on as officers back the mobile command unit into the 16th Street BART plaza on March 12, 2025. Photo by Abigail Van Neely.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_5692-853x640.jpeg\")
The northeast plaza at 16th Street, Jan. 23, 2026, at 6:55 p.m. Photo by Lydia Ch\u00e1vez<\/p>\n![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Feb-7-8-32-p.m.-24th-street-853x640.jpeg\")
Northeast 24th Street Plaza, Feb. 7, 2026, 8:55 p.m. Photo by Lydia Ch\u00e1vez<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ahsing-desktop.jpg\"\/)
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