The good news is that the SFPD solved 94% of all homicides committed in SF last year. The bad news is that SFPD ranks worst of all major California police departments in solving nearly every other form of crime.
The California Department of Justice just released the 2023 arrest data for California's largest cities, so residents can compare arrest data from the state’s largest police departments. But the information is in a confusing collection of CSV, PDF, and Excel files that are not particularly user-friendly.
So today’s Chronicle went through that data and produced a set of easy-to-understand charts. The one thing that jumps out right away is how the San Francisco Police Department is the No. 1 major California police department when it comes to solving homicides. As seen below, the SFPD saw a sterling 94% success rate at solving murders, not only tops in the state, but well ahead of the national police department average of 58%. So that is just outstanding.
San Francisco police solved fewer crimes last year than departments in other major California cities, a Chronicle analysis found. But a closer look at the data shows that the SFPD has more success solving some types of crime than others.
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) October 9, 2024
Here’s the data: https://t.co/dnuoBztNaF
Less outstanding? The Chronicle notes that the SFPD ranks worst among major California police departments in solving other crimes like assaults and robberies. Now keep in mind this data only compares the largest California cities (SF, Los Angeles, Fresno, Sacramento, and San Diego). And San Jose’s data is not in this mix, because that city has not submitted complete data for the calendar year 2023.
The statistics measure “clearance” rates, which refers to whether the crime has resulted in an arrest and charges being filed. If the suspect dies, that still counts as a solved crime and is added to the clearance rate.
And SFPD’s clearance rates are comparatively low for robberies and assaults. When it comes to assaults, SFPD only arrested suspects in 37% of cases in 2023 (compared to the state’s No. 1 in that department the San Diego PD at 48%, and the national average is 46%). In the robberies category, SFPD arrested suspects in only 20% of cases last year, while San Diego PD had a 35% arrest rate (the national average there being 28%).
But those robbery numbers look a little different if you break robberies down into their specific categories: burglaries, vehicle theft, and larceny theft. In terms of burglaries and vehicle thefts, SFPD ranks a respectable No. 2 statewide, again behind San Diego.
But SFPD has by far the lowest arrest rate when it comes to larceny theft, which includes the notorious local crime of car break-ins. Our very low arrest rate of 3.6% skews the larceny theft numbers downward, and compares poorly to the Fresno PD’s 8.1% arrest rate, and the much higher national average of 15%.
An SFPD spokesperson makes the very valid point that since car break-ins are usually carried out by prolific, serial criminals, one suspect arrested may have been responsible for a ton of other car break-ins that are still considered unsolved.
And there’s also a silver lining on that particular crime, as SF car break-ins are down significantly thus far in 2024 compared to 2023.
Related: Homicides Were Down So Far This Year In SF, But We May Have Just Had Three In One Week [SFist]
Image: San Francisco Police Department via Facebook
