News S.F. police in the Tenderloin will now help get drug users off the streets — and may arrest those who refuse

[thegreenhand]

S.F. police in the Tenderloin will now help get drug users off the streets — and may arrest those who refuse​

Mallory Moench
San Francisco Chronicle
24 Feb 2022

San Francisco Mayor London Breed plans to intensify police intervention into open-air drug use in the Tenderloin, with a top official saying Thursday that officers will now join outreach workers seeking to get people doing drugs off of sidewalks and into a new linkage center where they can access housing, addiction treatment and other services.

If people continue illegal behavior and don’t comply, the official said, they could be arrested. The new approach signals the desire by officials to see significant change in the Tenderloin, and is likely to reignite criticism from some city supervisors, District Attorney Chesa Boudin and community groups who say criminalizing addiction is counterproductive.

Read the full article here (paywalled).

 

[thegreenhand]

ah yes the classic “let’s try to our arrest our way out of homelessness”… i’m sure it’ll work one of these times