San Francisco's mayor: 'Something’s got to give' on violent crime

Mayor London Breed of San Francisco joins Yahoo News Senior White House Correspondent Alexander Nazaryan for a one-on-one discussion about her controversial plan to direct emergency resources to crack down on crime. In December, Breed, a Democrat, attracted national attention after declaring a more aggressive stance against what she described as “the bulls*** that has destroyed our city.” Some progressives in Breed’s party have criticized the program, which focuses on areas most affected by homelessness and drug abuse, saying that additional policing does little to address the underlying issues. “It’s not about taking a stance of being tough on crime or soft on crime,” Breed tells Yahoo News, “I could care less. I don’t want anyone being hurt.”

Video Transcript

LONDON BREED: The challenge we're running to is the behavior that leads to violence, the behavior that leads to the open-air drug dealing and using, and how we have to deal with those things and not pretend that some sort of social service program is actually going to get rid of it. Because once these lines are crossed, there has to be a level of accountability.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: Well, it's been exactly two months since your now-famous press conference.

LONDON BREED: Famous?

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: I would say so.

LONDON BREED: The reign of criminals who are destroying our city-- it is time for it to come to an end. And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies, and less tolerant of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: What was it like to get national attention for just basically describing the problem San Francisco's facing?

LONDON BREED: Well, I didn't think much about it. It was more so out of my frustration and love for San Francisco and a desire to see things improve. I've been here my entire life. And I grew up in poverty. I grew up in very challenging circumstances. And when I think about what families are going through, what merchants are going through, how our city has changed so much, something's got to give. Something has got to change.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: Would you describe yourself as tough on crime?

LONDON BREED: It's not about a stance of being tough on crime or soft on crime. I could care less. I don't want anyone to be hurt.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: Some of your critics, maybe just some progressives, would say that without tackling the root causes of homelessness, substance dependency, crime, any solution is going to be imperfect. What do you say to that?

LONDON BREED: Well, what I say to that is everyone is always going to say, without doing this, without doing that. Everyone is going to have a difference of opinion. Or they may or may not support what we're proposing.

But this is a city that is investing hundreds of millions of dollars every single year in treatment programs, in sobering centers, in housing for over 10,000 people, in shelters, in food, in anything that you can think of where people need services, second chances, and so on and so forth. We are making those investments. So we are not going to completely be able to-- no matter how much money we spend, we're not going to completely be able to spend our way out of this problem.

You know, with those services, with those resources, with the work that we do, there has to be another component to this. Because what we're talking about are a number of different things. We're talking about people who suffer from addiction and substance use disorder and homelessness, which sometimes are not all the same thing. So we can't lump them all into the same category.

So if you use drugs, we're saying, look, we get that you have a problem. And we're not going to let you lay on the streets with a needle in your leg and arm. We're not here to judge. We're here to help you when you say you're ready for help. But to walk past them and to just allow it to be is no longer an option.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: And it seems like the balance there is to recognize the humanity of the people--

LONDON BREED: Yes.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: --but also to have some limits on the behavior. Is that-- is that about right?

LONDON BREED: Yes. That's appropriate. Yes. Recognize these are human beings. We've got to take care of them and do what we can. But we also can't just tolerate everything.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: And that's-- that message is-- for today's sort of politics, that's a pretty unique message.

LONDON BREED: Well, I grew up in poverty in San Francisco. I am really honored and blessed to be mayor. And there's no way that I'm going to do this job typically like a politician who's looking for stepping stones. I won't do it in fear of losing it. So many people are counting on me to change the city for the better. And I don't want to let them down.