SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Monday marks the first day that California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard assisted the San Francisco Police Department with tackling the sale and use of illegal drugs.
The California National Guard has assured the public that there would not be boots on the ground with their work. Instead, it’s more of a behind-the-scenes network of criminal analysts tracking drug cartels.
The CHP officers assisting SFPD were already based in the city and the California National Guard has dedicated 14 criminal analysts. A big part of the job for both agencies will be finding and stopping illegal drug cartels.
“They’re reviewing reports. They are helping to put together flow charges, identifying who the mid-level dealers are, who the top-level dealers are, possible transportation routes, how’s the fentanyl getting into San Francisco,” said Global Director of Counter-Narcotics Technology Michael Brown, Rigaku Analytical Devices.
Brown commends Governor Gavin Newsom for allowing CHP and the California National Guard to come to San Francisco but questions how effective it will be. He said they need to stop the main sources of the drug supply and not just the drug traffickers.
“You can arrest 626 people. Tomorrow there will be 626 new people doing the same distribution,” said Brown.
On Friday, Mayor London Breed was asked about the criticism from those who compare her plan to the failed War on Drugs. “Everything was about arrests, lock people up and in fact this is different. This is program, services, second chances, opportunities, but also accountability,” said Breed.
KRON On is streaming news live now
Some say there should be more advocating of treatment for those addicted to drugs in order to decrease the demand for fentanyl.
“I would hope that we’d realize that criminalization and policing doesn’t work, and that harm reduction is the alternative that does work,” said Director of Overdose Prevention and Policy Mary Sylla, National Harm Reduction Coalition.
CHP has said they will assist with training and resources, but it’s still unknown if actual arrests will be made by their officers in the Tenderloin and other parts of the city.
