SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 9.16.2024
San Francisco, the one time City of tolerance, is rapidly descending down the rabbit hole of Orwellian surveillance.
What makes this all the more disturbing is the fact the San Francisco Chronicle, rather than critically analyze this totalitarian State activity and its impact on civil liberties, is acting as cheerleader. Raising none of the profound issues at stake and simply mouthing the words of Mayor London Breed and the San Francisco Police Department.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 9.16.2024
The burst of new technology comes after voters in March approved the Mayor London Breed-authored Proposition E, which expanded the powers of police to use new surveillance systems.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Police Chief Bill Scott also cheered the latest devices.
“The burst of new technology..” SF Chronicle
“We are excited to add another tool in our department’s tool belt,” SFPD boss Scott said in a statement. “Our officers are already eagerly embracing other technologies like (automated license plate readers) and drones to make significant arrests. I can’t wait to see what they will do with assistance from these security units.”
The sort of pole-topping, mobile security cameras best known for looming over the parking lots of big-box stores are now getting a government job in San Francisco, where they will monitor the city’s high-crime zones when police officers are away.
Mayor London Breed unveiled the new fleet of camera trailers Monday as the latest addition in a wave of high-tech crime-fighting tools. The initial three cameras are launching weeks after city officials announced a new system of police-operated drones and automated license plate readers.
“New technology has been a game-changer for public safety in this city,” Breed said in a statement. “As we continue to fill our academy classes with new recruits, this technology not only helps our existing officers be more efficient today, but it means as our ranks grow we will see even more impact.”
Fortunately the San Francisco Standard has taken a deeper dive into the illegal activities being committed by the leadership of San Francisco all in the name of fighting crime.
Excerpted from The Standard 9.16.2024
San Francisco police have been using drones to catch car break-in suspects and investigate sideshows for months but internal emails show they knowingly broke the law by buying the crime-fighting tech.
Now the San Francisco Police Department is asking city leaders to approve the drones after it ignored warnings from within its ranks that it should have held off. Newly unearthed SFPD emails show the first call for caution came months ago from one of its own policy experts.
About a week before the March 5 election, the SFPD was planning what drones to buy if voters expanded police powers by passing Proposition E. But a department analyst noted that Prop. E alone did not give police authority to unilaterally add drones to its arsenal.
Asja Steeves, SFPD policy division manager, said that even if voters passed the law, it doesn’t excuse the department from abiding by Assembly Bill 481. Authored by then-Assemblyman David Chiu, the 2021 law requires police to get the blessing from city electeds before using new surveillance tools.
“Prop. E does not supersede state law,” Steeves wrote in a Feb. 28 email to department leaders obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and shared with The Standard.
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