Certain street-level fentanyl dealers in the Tenderloin will soon be charged with federal crimes, Northern California District U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey said on Thursday afternoon. He made this announcement at a crowded press conference standing beside a lengthy and eclectic group of speakers that included IRS officials, BART deputy police officials and even postal inspectors, and a propped up poster showing overdose statistics.
Federal charges generally carry harsher penalties, and often trigger deportation proceedings for undocumented offenders.
“We’ll double-down, triple-down, and take all necessary steps to keep this poison from our streets,” Ramsey said.
Despite today’s breaking announcement, some 30 dealers have already been hit with federal charges in the past four months, Ramsey said. But on Thursday he re-emphasized “three buckets” of fentanyl dealers who are eligible for federal charges, which Ramsey views as a strategic deterrent to selling drugs; those selling at federal buildings, those caught in “jump out” operations, and some of those who have been charged with state-level crimes.
The announcement is a part of a new coordinated initiative between local, state and federal law enforcement to crack down on San Francisco drug-dealing, which builds on state and federal partnerships initiated since May. Most of the officials touting the effort Thursday claimed an “all hands on deck” effort like this has never been seen before — though Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide plan, and a federal-local drug crackdown initiative called Operation Overdrive, which uses Department of Justice resources to disrupt local drug markets, have already been in place.
Still, Mayor London Breed, Police Chief William Scott, and other tough-on-crime politicos in support emphasized how this will be “different,” and the initiative’s consequences will strongly deter local drug sales.
First, any street dealer peddling drugs on federal property can be federally prosecuted, Ramsey said, including at the San Francisco Federal Building on Seventh Street, the Phillip Burton Federal Building and Courthouse on Golden Gate (the site of today’s press conference), and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Building, also on Seventh Street. Recently, federal employees who worked at those buildings were told to work from home amid open-air drug dealing.
Additionally, the Northern California District Attorney’s Office will pick one random day a week to “adopt” a drug dealing case with state charges, and investigate them federally. “Each assistant [attorney] gets a dealer,” Ramsey said.
A consortium of local and federal agencies and law enforcement will also conduct drug operations called “jump-outs” that allow for on-the-spot arrests for dealing in the Tenderloin, something they did last night, Ramsey said, gesturing to the special FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency agents and Chief Scott who flanked him.
“We’re here to demonstrate our unity in our purpose,” Ramsey said, adding the “devastating effects of fentanyl” is seen every day on the streets.
The number of involved agencies is numerous — so much so, the list of speakers was abnormally long, a spokesperson suggested before the press conference. Officials aim to stop drug trafficking by train, car, or by mail, apparently, given that the deputy chief of BART, the commander of the California Highway Patrol, and the U.S. Postal Inspector were listed as part of the plan. Already, the state has doubled the number of highway patrol officers and recruited the state’s national guard to aid with San Francisco drug crackdowns, which resulted in some 50 kilograms of fentanyl and 12 kilograms of methamphetamine seized from the Tenderloin in the past four months, which is, respectively, more than double and 1.5 times last year’s haul.
And the mayor rebuffed notions that this is a temporary effort, perhaps driven by this month’s APEC conference. “This is happening, and it is here to stay,” Breed said. “We are not letting up.”
This year is on track to be San Francisco’s deadliest when it comes to drug deaths. From January to September, the latest data available, 619 people overdosed from drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamines and cocaine. During the same time period last year, some 459 died from drug overdose, per San Francisco Department of Public Health data, and the deaths affected Black and Latinx San Franciscans the most.
“The community has said loud and clear that they are sick of the destruction caused by this lawlessness,” said DEA special agent Brian Clark. Clark referenced that “intelligence”-based operations know the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels make the drugs. He said Operation Overdrive has arrested some 70 dealers, “many of whom are Honduran nationals.” It’s unclear what percentage of dealers are Honduran.
“You can stop dealing, or face the consequences of your actions,” Clark said.
Monitoring of money-flow from the illegal drug market will commence, thanks to a partnership with the IRS and the FBI as well, and “stem drug flow from nearby counties,” Ramsey said.
The announcement comes just six days after Breed and Gov. Gavin Newsom floated the possibility of charging some opioid deaths as murder, and officials mentioned a “fast-track” adjudication option for drug dealers, which Ramsey reiterated Thursday.
Studies, however, show that increasing incarceration has a minimal effect on curbing crime. Critics of tough-on-crime policies have likened campaigns like these to the War on Drugs, which many experts agree failed. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins rebuffed the notion she and others are engaging in a new War on Drugs, yet said: “but we have a war on fentanyl. And this is how we get it done.” Jenkins commended the plan, noting that federal officials may have a better chance at prosecuting cases “more seriously” than local efforts can.
Indeed, a few of Thursday’s speakers mentioned that compassion or other measures were needed to end the crisis. “We know we will not arrest our way out of this problem,” Clark said. “Education, treatment and prevention are more important than ever.”
But ultimately, speakers Thursday had harsh “messages to dealers,” and words like “poison,” “carnage” and “death” were thrown around dramatically.
“San Francisco is no longer the place where anything goes,” Breed said.
What about the Mission District? Are they going to do something about the rampant fentanyl drug use at 24th Street BART? There are kids going to school that have to walk through this insanity every day. It’s disgusting.
Gross
Super yuck. War on Drugs. Just say No. these policies fail. Decades of data show that. Breed and Newsom are desperate…..they are campaigning. Blech.
Lets see if the overdose and death rate goes down. So far it has just gone up, and given the evidence, will continue to do so. Breed/Jenkins/Newsom approach will be very expensive (in lives and money)–but who cares if these 3 can get themselves re-elected: their careers (enhanced by catering to the folks who will fund them) Trump everything else, right?
“and words like “poison,” “carnage” and “death” were thrown around dramatically. ”
How snarky. How are these word “dramatic”? Have you lived in TL and seen the continuous wave of ODs and deaths wrecked by these drug dealers? How is such a degree of suffering described as is “dramatic”?
Your job is to report the news. Save your attitudes to yourself.
Mission Local is still pining for the return of Chesa Boudin, so he can let all the criminals out.
Mission Local shows the same contempt for law-abiding citizens that Boudin did.
With the number of “drug dealers” I see on my way to and from work in TL, Downtown, and Mission, I’m open to them doing something that might actually resolve this on-going problem. Doing nothing is not the solution and giving more taxpayer $ is not the answer either. Lets see if we get any positive results from this.
I’ve noticed fewer obvious drug deals and users smoking off of foil in the Mission lately. And while deporting and imprisoning drug dealers won’t solve the problem, it’s a step in the right direction.
How is something that won’t solve the problem a step in the right direction?
At least in the North Mission, public opiate use is nowhere near the prime challenge.
We got into this situation, step by step over the years, exactly because of leftist policies of “compassion”, and “counseling.” There are nice, liberal cities throughout Europe, genuine welfare state countries, that would never tolerate the kind of madness we excuse in SF. They don’t have anywhere near the drug problems we do, and it’s not just because they have an army of social workers. They are also serious about law enforcement. I applaud the local, state, and federal efforts 100%. Come down on the criminals like a ton of bricks. It will have the desired effect. What will the crybabies and the whiners say then? Most of America is disgusted by what we have turned into. Maybe this is a genuine attempt to turn things around.
Thomas,
The Europeans mostly decriminalized drugs long ago.
That cleared streets of dealers.
Most have effective UBI systems.
In those countries they simply don’t allow American level poverty.
Truth is that the extremes of American Capitalism have had a far more damaging effect upon our neighbors around the World and especially in Central and South America.
They’re at our borders because we killed their best leaders and stole and are stealing their resources and funding dictators to keep them under control.
“ton of bricks” ?
What do the Chinese say ?
“always dig two graves”
Go Niners !!
h.
Well said. Traveling to any – any! – city in Western Europe big or small is quite the eye opener. Walk the place, take the bus a night.
They want to draw commuters, visitors, tourists back to San Francisco? Make the place livable for the local yokels? The vibe’s in town’s gonna have to change quite a bit.
In Europe, economic policy is not engineered to maximize the production of shit lives that cause people to see opiate addiction as a step up, an effective coping mechanism.
“The Devil pays well.”
Campers,
One Person can replace all of the people in the picture together …
An Elected Police Chief
She wouldn’t have to please the SFPOA
He wouldn’t have to obey the Mayor.
Guaranteed Foot Patrols for start
Go Niners !!
h.
Why does Brooke Jenkins always look like a scared little kid? Maybe she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop with all of the ethics violations and criminal conduct she and her office have been accused of.