by ELENI BALAKRISHNAN FEBRUARY 27, 2024
Here’s the latest in our “Meet the candidates” series for District 5, where we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election, with answers capped at 100 words. All the responses will ultimately be compiled onto a single page, where readers can peruse the potential supervisors’ stances on upwards of 40 topics before it’s time to vote in November.
So, here’s our latest question for the District 5 candidates: What do you think of Proposition E’s proposed limits on the Police Commission and policy changes for the San Francisco Police Department? How will it affect District 5 residents?
Allen Jones
I think Proposition E’s Police Chief/Commission aspect is asinine. However, I voted Yes on E because I am unwilling to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I support less police paperwork. The surveillance technology is akin to “See something, say something.” This includes possible police misconduct. I am not looking for fairness in Proposition E; I am looking for the challenge of making it help fight crime in District 5, if passed by voters.
Bilal Mahmood
Amid a fentanyl epidemic, smash-and-grab crisis, and small-business break-in extremity, ensuring public safety must be a priority in District 5. Reducing the bureaucratic bottlenecks for our first responders to ensure they can do their job is one avenue to ensuring we achieve better outcomes on public safety. In turn, the intent of some of the elements of Proposition E I find are in the right direction, but some of the facets like amendments to vehicle-pursuit policies are questionable.
Dean Preston
We need public safety interventions that work to make us safer, not empty rhetoric and failed approaches. Unfortunately, Proposition E offers nothing that will make us safer. The measure reduces oversight of police, blocks crucial reforms, encourages dangerous, high-speed car chases through our streets, and unleashes unchecked surveillance on San Franciscans. It will increase racial disparities in policing, especially when it comes to use of force by police. We need real public-safety solutions, not harmful political gimmicks like Proposition E.
Candidates are ordered alphabetically. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at eleni@missionlocal.com.
Read the rest of the District 5 questions here, and the entire “Meet the Candidates” series here. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
ELENI BALAKRISHNAN
REPORTER. Eleni reports on policing in San Francisco. She first moved to the city on a whim more than 10 years ago, and the Mission has become her home. Follow her on Twitter @miss_elenius.More by Eleni Balakrishnan
