Daniel Lurie vowed to stop the chaos on S.F.’s Sixth Street. Here’s how police are cracking down

San Francisco Police Sgt. Kevin Cuadro didn’t get far into his daily patrol of Sixth Street on Monday morning before he was confronted with the chaos that has come to define the beleaguered South of Market strip.

Minutes after Cuadro stepped out of a pizza shop and started talking to people crowded along the sidewalk, a woman ran toward him in a hurry. “You don’t see the dude jumping on people’s cars?” she shouted. Officers “better go get him,” the woman said, or she would “beat the f— out of him.”

Cuadro pivoted and spotted a disheveled man darting through traffic, holding a tattered black-and-white umbrella in the air and jumping on the hood of at least one car as he made his way south. The sergeant, a 13-year veteran of the Police Department who began leading regular foot patrols of Sixth Street about a month ago, was quickly joined by other officers who swarmed to the area blaring their car sirens.

• Read also: Homelessness, drug use on S.F.’s Sixth Street worse than ever, merchants say
• Related: Mayor Daniel Lurie proposes new fentanyl law and visits troubled S.F. street

After a brief pursuit, officers handcuffed the man on the ground in front of a convenience store. A San Francisco fire truck and ambulance soon arrived, and authorities restrained the man on a gurney, placing him under an involuntary psychiatric hold as he cursed and screamed.

It’s the kind of scene that city officials, with a big push from Mayor Daniel Lurie, are trying to make less common on Sixth Street, which has become defined by public displays of drug use, loitering and general disorder. Merchants in the area have grown increasingly vocal in their discontent, and Lurie has vowed to boost police presence along the street as he tries to carry out his plans to improve public safety just weeks after taking office. 

Through a combination of new foot patrols, undercover operations and assistance from officers at other police stations, San Francisco police officers over the past month have made 218 arrests along the Sixth Street corridor. The department did not provide a historical comparison, so it’s not clear whether that’s an increase. 

The escalated enforcement marks the latest push by the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center, which launched under then-Mayor London Breed in May 2023. The operation is a partnership across city departments designed to improve street conditions and crack down on crime in the Tenderloin and SoMa.

“Before we started and in the beginning, Sixth Street has looked as bad as it’s ever looked in my lifetime,” Cuadro said as he walked up the street on Monday. “There’s been small wins, but obviously it’s far, far from perfection. … It’s still pretty sad.” 

Since taking office on Jan. 8, Lurie has made Sixth Street a top priority, visiting the troubled corridor frequently to view conditions, while speaking to people on the street and merchants in the area. 

Lurie also introduced a fentanyl ordinance that he hopes will help places like Sixth Street. The proposed law, which will be considered by a Board of Supervisors committee on Wednesday, would accelerate city contracting for services related to addiction, mental illness and homeless shelters. It would also allow Lurie’s office to raise money from private donors for those efforts.

“We cannot continue to do things the same way they’ve been done, because we’re going to get the same results,” Lurie said in an interview with the Chronicle editorial board last week. “People want change. They want it quickly, especially when it comes to this drug crisis.”

Lurie warned that it could take years to make long-lasting changes to the city’s drug treatment offerings and homeless services, but he is seeking to make visible improvements in the near term. 

“Short term, I want us to be able to walk our streets and feel safe with our kids — and also (feel) that … the people that are struggling are safe, too,” he said.

Over the past 30 days, officers along the Sixth Street corridor have arrested 124 people for drug-related offences, 36 for outstanding warrants, 18 for assault and 40 for other crimes.

Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement officers are working hard to improve the “unacceptable conditions” along Sixth Street, but acknowledged that there is more work to do.

Drug users and people living on the streets said they’ve been forced to congregate on and around Sixth Street after officials increased enforcement in the Tenderloin and other parts of SoMa.

Willow Street, which used to be a longstanding hub for drug activity in the Tenderloin, is clear most days now that employees from Urban Alchemy are on hand to ensure people do not gather to use drugs or set up tents.  

Business owners along Sixth Street said they’ve noticed more officers patrolling the stretch lately, but they have yet to see substantial improvement. 

Chi Vo has owned Miss Saigon on the corner of Mission and Sixth streets for nearly two decades. Vo said conditions outside his restaurant, including drug use, illegal vending and people sleeping and defecating on the sidewalk, have worsened since 2020.

“We’re really upset,” Vo said. “Clients still love our food, but when I talk to them, they say they’re scared to come to the area.”

The number of dine-in customers has plunged 70% from before the pandemic, Vo estimated. He relies on delivery services to survive. 

Vo said he’s particularly frustrated by a group of illegal vendors who lay out food and cigarettes on blankets directly outside his eatery. He recently watched police arrest a vendor, only to see the man return the next day.

“I don’t know what the solution is, but I can see it hasn’t really improved yet,” he said. “Right now, they’re not scared by the police.” 

The six-block stretch of Sixth Street from Market to Howard streets has been a hot spot for homelessness and drug activity off and on for years. 

There are about a dozen permanent supportive housing buildings for formerly homeless people in the area, as well as a handful of low-cost private hotels and nonprofits offering social services to homeless people and drug users. The corridor is home to a shelter storage center, a food pantry, a community resource center and a harm reduction program where people can pick up syringes or the opioid antidote naloxone, or take part in outpatient treatment.

Between the housing and services are several late-night convenience stores, a couple of nightclubs and other small businesses. 

When Breed was mayor, she sought to institute a police-led crackdown on open-air drug scenes after fentanyl use and overdoses skyrocketed during the pandemic.

Breed ordered police to arrest people using drugs in public who were considered a danger to themselves or others. While hundreds of people were arrested as a result, officials did not track whether anyone made it through addiction treatment as a result.

Around 9:30 a.m. Monday, the sidewalks were already crowded with people, many openly using fentanyl. Some were hunched, clutching strips of drug-dusted tin foil in one hand and lighters in the other. Trash littered the ground.

Michael Castro, 41, was sifting through his belongings stuffed into a backpack and a tote bag at Minna and Sixth streets. A fentanyl and crystal meth user, he said he’s been homeless since 2017 and has been frequenting the area for a few years.

He’s noticed the increased police presence lately — and doubts it will be effective. 

“People aren’t gonna stop using drugs,” he said.  

Reach Maggie Angst: maggie.angst@sfchronicle.com; X: @maggieangst; Bluesky: @maggieangst.bsky.social. Reach J.D. Morris: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com; X: @thejdmorris