Homicides in San Francisco hit 9-year low
S.F. homicides fall as police flood tough areas
The causes are a Federal crackdown on the MS-13 gang in the Mission, and a new foot patrol approach in five troubled neighborhoods (the Mission, the Tenderloin, Bayview, Sunnydale and the Western Addition).
(07-05) 18:03 PDT -- San Francisco's homicide total for the first half of 2009 hit a nine-year low - falling more than 50 percent from last year - a drop that police officials attribute to flooding high-crime areas with officers and focusing on the handful of people who commit most of the crimes.
As of June 30, police were investigating 25 homicides recorded so far in 2009, according to department statistics. That total includes one slaying that happened in 2008 but was not labeled a homicide until this year. Considering only deaths that have happened this year, the tally is 24.
The last time the city had so few slayings in the first half of a year was in 2000, when there were 24 killings by June 30. The total for that year was 61, the fewest since 1964.