A San Francisco district supervisor is calling for more policing in the crime-ridden city – despite advocating to defund the police in 2020.
Hillary Ronen, Democrat, represents District 9 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. During a Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting on Wednesday, she made an impassioned plea to add more officers to the Mission District, which she represents.
Ronen was attacking San Francisco’s police chief for spending a large amount of overtime on an anti-retail theft program instead of prioritizing police presence in her district.
“I’ve been begging this department to give the Mission what it deserves in terms of police presence all year long,” Ronen said. “And I have been told time and time and time and time again there are no officers that we can send to Mission.”
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Supervisor Hillary Ronen speaks with the Chronicle editorial board regarding their San Francisco mental health proposal at the San Francisco Chronicle offices in San Francisco, California, on Monday, June 10, 2019. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
“It hurts. And I feel betrayed by the department. I feel betrayed by the mayor. I feel betrayed by the priorities of the city,” the Democratic politician added.
The speech contradicts her stance on policing in 2020. After the George Floyd protests, Ronen tweeted that she believed “strongly” that San Francisco’s police force needed to be reduced.
“I want to make it clear that I believe strongly in defunding the police and reducing the number of officers on our force,” Ronen wrote. “For decades we’ve had an imbalance in our city’s budget, with hundreds of millions of dollars going to SFPD to have them do work they are not qualified to do.”
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San Francisco County Sheriff’s Office deputies pass by a sanctioned and fenced-in homeless encampment across from City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on May 19, 2020. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
In 2020, Mayor London Breed redirected $120 million from law enforcement to fund other city initiatives. Crime in San Francisco continued to worsen, with homicides increasing by 20% in 2020 compared to 2019. Homicides also increased 17% in 2021 compared to the previous year.
By December 2021, Breed made an emergency request to the Board of Supervisors to add more funds to the city’s police department.
The San Francisco Police Department has struggled with lack of staffing the past few years. In February, officers responded to a burglary over 15 hours after the 911 call was made.
“While the SFPD is short-staffed and our response times have been negatively impacted as a result, a response time of over 12 hours for a call of this nature falls far short of the department’s and the public’s expectations,” Officer Robert Rueca said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Ronen’s office for comment, but has not heard back.
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
