SF Mayor London Breed speaks about Bob Lee stabbing investigation, public safety in the city
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: An arrest has been made in the San Francisco stabbing death of 43-year-old tech executive Bob Lee, according SFPD. They say the suspect, 38-year-old Emeryville tech entrepreneur Nima Momeni, appeared to have known Lee and it was not a random street crime. Get the latest updates here.
From a brutal attack on a former San Francisco Fire commissioner - to the stabbing death of tech executive Bob Lee, Mayor London Breed spoke out Saturday about the city's safety record.
INTERACTIVE: Take a look at the ABC7 Neighborhood Safety Tracker
"I want to start by making it clear that in both of these cases the information is still not yet public; they're under investigation," said Mayor Breed, while taking questions at the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco.
The mayor cautioned people not to jump to conclusions.
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"When the facts of many of these cases come out, many people are going to be surprised," said Breed, adding social media has helped spread a message questioning the safety in the city. "It has really heightened events like this as well as people jumping to conclusions about what they think is happening."
VIDEO: New details, video in brutal attack of former SF fire commissioner in Marina District
Despite the safety perception, the mayor said progress is being made pointing to the city's move to put $25 million more into police overtime.
"It continues to allow us to do our jobs here and to make sure we're not only out on the streets to respond to calls for service, but it provides us the ability to do these investigations around the clock," said the mayor.
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The city's at least 500 officers short, but the mayor said recruiting efforts are starting to pay off, including a bump in starting salary.
"We're starting to see those applications come in," said Mayor Breed, also pointing to a major move last week asking the federal government to help crackdown on the open-air drug market.
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"It looks as though we are probably going to get some support from hopefully the state and federal government and we'll be able to make that clear what that entails," said the mayor.
"There were stabbings and shootings in my district the Tenderloin over this last week as well, including a homicide, this is obviously incredibly disturbing," said Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the Tenderloin District.
"We need to really go aggressively against open-air drug dealing in the Tenderloin not just from a local level, but a state and federal level and I think when that support kicks in it's going to be a new day in San Francisco," said Mayor Breed.
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