Lurie Said He Will ‘Rebuild’ SF’s Police Force. What’s His Plan?

Mayor Daniel Lurie said he will address chronic police understaffing by paying officers to come out of retirement — on top of their pensions.

The “Rebuilding the Ranks” program, announced Tuesday, is intended to help San Francisco fill police and sheriff’s staffing gaps — and address public safety concerns, Lurie’s stated top priority.

As the city looks to rein in overspending in the face of a looming deficit, Lurie said the new program will be cheaper than relying on overtime — but he does not have a dollar amount for the savings yet.

“We inherited a historic budget deficit that we must tackle while we bring crime down,” he said at a press conference Tuesday. “Fully staffing our police and sheriff’s department saves the city money by reducing our reliance on expensive overtime and improving how we deploy resources.”

Lurie said SFPD is more than 500 officers below minimum staffing levels, while the Sheriff’s Office is around 200 deputies short. SFPD also has around two dozen volunteer reserve officers, who Lurie has ordered can now be paid police officer wages instead of the small stipend they currently receive.

To meet the understaffing challenge, Lurie said SFPD will launch a Reserve Officer Program and a Sheriff’s Office Retention Program within the next 100 days to retain those who recently retired. At the meeting, former Police Chief Bill Scott said the program dips into a City Charter stipulation that allows retired officers to work 960 hours per fiscal year.

The order also establishes a Special Events Officer Program to allow recently retired peace officers to work security at parades, concerts and other events to take additional pressure off the police department, Lurie said.

“We have been living on overtime and that is not sustainable,” Scott said. “We’re fortunate that we have the overtime, and that the Board and the mayor has granted us that funding to fill in the gaps, but we know that’s not a sustainable model.”

A recent audit found that the police department was billing excessive overtime hours for the past five years, something that Scott has repeatedly attributed to understaffing.

In six months, the program will be evaluated in a public report for specific practices like sick leave, overtime pay and “10B” assignments — where sworn officers work as private security.

Supervisor Jackie Fielder, one of only two supervisors to vote against a $91 million budget allocation for sworn officer overtime last week, said she is “cautiously optimistic” about the new program.

“We will be closely watching to ensure that this report will lead to actionable change,” she said in a statement.

Despite introducing the program as needed to address public safety, Lurie and other city officials acknowledged the fact that crime is generally down in San Francisco. Car break-ins are at a 22-year low, and there was an overall 28% decrease in crime during the first four months of Lurie’s term, compared to the year prior.

“Mayor Lurie’s Executive Directive addresses a critical need to relieve the pressure on our public safety personnel by reducing overtime, exhaustion, burnout, and backlog in our jails and courts,” said Sheriff Paul Miyamoto. “This isn’t just about supporting my deputies and SFPD officers, it’s about making sure crime is fought, justice is served, rights are protected, and San Francisco is safer for everyone.”