Amid looming threats of a federal intervention, city officials in San Francisco are firmly asserting that the deployment of National Guard troops is unnecessary.
Recent data supports their stance, indicating that both violent and property crimes are at record lows across the city.
Since 2015, crime rates in San Francisco have dropped significantly, with decreases ranging between 29 and 41 percent.
This reflects that homicides are at their lowest rate in 71 years, while robberies and burglaries have reached their lowest levels in 40 years.
Additionally, car break-ins are at their lowest figures in the last two decades.
“Thanks to local law enforcement and city workers, San Francisco is one of the safest cities in the country,” stated City Attorney David Chiu in a recent interview.
He emphasized that local law enforcement is fully capable of ensuring the city’s safety amid growing tensions and claims indicating otherwise.
In response to comments from President Donald Trump, who claimed on August 22 that San Francisco has suffered due to poor governance, local leaders have pushed back firmly.
Trump stated, “Look at what the Democrats have done to San Francisco. They’ve destroyed it,” during a press conference.
Following these remarks, he promised to send in the National Guard if needed, to which Chiu responded with a vow to take legal action against such a deployment.
Data provided by the San Francisco Police Department and the California Department of Justice highlight that the city is on track for historic lows in crime rates.
Currently, there have been 22 homicides this year, approaching the previous low of 27 in 1954.
Robbery figures are also on track to be at their lowest levels since 1985, with 1,354 reported incidents so far in 2025, reflecting a 23 percent decrease compared to the same period last year.
Burglaries mirror this trend, with numbers similarly poised to achieve historical lows.
As for motor vehicle theft—defined as the theft or attempted theft of a vehicle—there has been a noticeable decline over the past two years.
After a spike in 2023 with 6,704 incidents reported, figures show only 2,504 incidents thus far into the year, indicative of a downward trend toward historic averages that had exceeded 12,000 incidents in the early 1990s.
Larceny statistics, which encompass shoplifting and car break-ins, have also shown significant reductions since 2022, alongside a notable decline in arson incidents since 2021.
While aggravated assault figures have remained stable over the past decade, recent figures still show them to be lower than past historical highs.
On Tuesday, the Council on Criminal Justice released a report illustrating that most crime categories in San Francisco have dropped between 2019 and 2025.
The report noted some exceptions, including increases in gun assaults, shoplifting, and drug offenses, based on police incident reports that document arrests and citations.
It was reported that drug offenses have surged by 114 percent when comparing the first halves of 2019 and 2025, a statistic that may reflect either increased drug-related incidents or heightened police enforcement efforts, according to Ernesto Lopez, a senior researcher at the Council.
He explained that increased enforcement could skew data, as officers may engage in more searches, leading to heightened numbers of drug-related arrests.
An analysis of police incident reports around the 16th St. BART station indicated that a significant portion of drug arrests—approximately one-quarter—were concentrated in that area.
This suggests that elevated enforcement efforts in that vicinity may be influencing the overall uptick in drug crime statistics.
However, aside from drug incidents, the general trend in crime data for San Francisco mirrors that of several cities nationally and across neighboring regions.
In Alameda County, which includes Berkeley, Oakland, and Fremont, overall crime rates decreased by 32 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to the California Department of Justice.
Nationally, violent crime has reportedly decreased by 11 percent, while property crime has seen a 12 percent drop, highlighting a broader trend of declining crime rates across the U.S.
Data analyst Jeff Asher noted that crime is declining sharply in most areas, affirming the observed downward trend in San Francisco as part of a widespread national phenomenon.
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