SF DA explains why 40 people arrested from drug market raid haven't been prosecuted yet
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco has been deploying officers throughout the city to tackle open air drug markets. During the latest operation, SFPD arrested about 40 people but none were charged.
It's the latest crackdown by San Francisco police and the sheriff's office. It happened a week ago on Market and Van Ness, one of the city's hotspots for drug dealing.
"Market and Van Ness has a huge drug problem. They cleared it out by doing what they did, so I think the motive was right. I think the questions was why they made so many arrests, and they couldn't confirm with prosecutions, but the crackdown had to be done," said Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.
Shaw views this operation as the right approach but like many, has been wondering what happened next. We checked in with the city's district attorney's office and confirmed out of the 40 people arrested, none have yet been charged.
VIDEO: Dozens of drug dealers arrested in overnight raid at SF's Jefferson Square Park, police say
Here's the breakdown:
- 40 people arrested
- 23 people were cited and released, and have a court hearing in April
- 12 people were arrested, booked into jail but were not charged
- 5 were arrested, booked into jail, but face further investigation
We questioned DA Jenkins on why it's been so hard to prosecute these cases.
"Just like in other types of cases, there is oftentimes where the police and my office have to come together and discuss what evidence we need in order to charge, because we have a different charging standard which is beyond a reasonable doubt versus their arrests standard of probably cause," said Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco District Attorney.
In a statement, SFPD responded saying:
"SFPD officers must establish probable cause when making any arrest, including in all of our recent drug market operations and surges.Our officers will continue enforcing the law to disrupt the drug markets to ensure our streets are safe and clean."
MORE: Dozens arrested in recent SF park drug raid were already wanted on warrants: officials
Luz Pena: "Is your office having conversations with SFPD when it comes to gathering that evidence so you can prosecute?"
"So obviously as you know, they have only done a few of these operations and yes, we do have meetings scheduled to have these conversations next week. It's important to sit down and talk through some things that we did not find to be enough, and to be able to tell them what it is that we need," said DA Jenkins.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said her office is seeking for the evidence a jury would "expect" and added, "We are all doing our very best to meet the needs of the San Francisco public right now who want our street conditions improved, and SFPD is doing everything that they can to meet those needs and those expectations and it's a learning process."
