In the last two years murder rates have increased in San Francisco, while clearance rates have declined.  Last year the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) solved only roughly one-third of homicide cases.   As the City searches for a new police chief, a pressing concern is how the murder clearance rate - the percentage of homicide cases closed - can be improved.  “Twenty, 20, and even 40 percent [clearance rate] is not acceptable,” said Theresa Sparks, San Francisco Police Commission president.

Homicides in San Francisco nearly broached triple digits in 2007 and 2008, with 99 and 98 murders respectively.  In 2007, 39 percent of San Francisco’s homicide cases were closed, according to SFPD statistics, though media reports place the rate at 25 percent.  A recent San Francisco Chronicle story put the City’s 2008 clearance at 30 percent.  SFPD did not respond to repeated requests by the View for detailed homicide statistics for the last two years.

SFPD’s homicide clearance rate has declined since 2004, according to a 2007 report by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.  Police closed 49 percent of cases in 2004.  This percentage dipped to 35 percent in 2005, and 29 percent in 2006.  Homicide cases can be closed as a result of arrests or due to the death of the primary suspect.

According to Daniel Landry of the African American Community Police Relations Board, low homicide clearance rates are partially the result of a lack of police department engagement with the affected communities.  The police are more apt to share information on a murder case with the media than the family of the victim, Landry said. “The facts show there’s something deeply wrong with the way [SFPD is] investigating these cases.”

SFPD Lieutenant Mike Stasko, head of the homicide unit, declined to be interviewed for this story.  Though he initially agreed to answer emailed questions, Stasko ultimately did not provide a response, and denied access to recent homicide case files.  Neither Supervisors Ross Mirakirimi, head of the Board of Supervisor’s public safety committee, nor Sophie Maxwell, District 10 supervisor and public safety committee member, returned calls for comment about the City’s homicide closure rate.  

In the past SFPD has identified a number of challenges to solving murders.  Lengthy homicide trials soak up investigators’ time, taking them away from other cases.  The rise of non-gang street violence has made developing leads more challenging.  From 2006 to 2007 the number of murders suspected to be gang related dropped to 16 cases from 25, even as total homicides increased.  During the same period dispute-related murders rose from 22 cases to 30.  Another impediment has been the lack of witnesses willing to come forward, often because they fear retaliation.  

Anthony Ribera, director of University of San Francisco’s Criminal Justice Institute and a former San Francisco police chief, questions the effectiveness of community policing efforts that are supposed to create stronger ties between law enforcement and residents of high violence areas.  “I think we’d have to look first at why witnesses aren’t coming forward, and is community policing working in San Francisco.  Is that relationship between the police and the community a reality or is it just lip service?” Ribera said.  Community policing efforts include putting more officers on the streets and participating in neighborhood meetings.

Others, however, feel that the community must also do its part.  Ishmael Burch, family director of the Bayview Hunters Point Community Beacon Center, said police officers have visited Bayview schools in an effort to establish good relationships with the children.  But better police practices aren’t the only solution, according to Burch.  “A lot of time it takes people in the community coming forward when they see something happen,”  said Burch, who was formerly a community organizer with the now defunct community policing program Safety Network.

Change may be coming.  The imminent retirement of Police Chief Heather Fong offers an opportunity for renewed accountability.  “One of the interview questions in the new police chief search will be “how will you hold your people responsible?” Commissioner Sparks said.  

The recently completed Final Report of the San Francisco Department Organizational Assessment by the Police Executive Research Forum, which assessed SFPD’s organizational structure and practices, recommended putting some homicide inspectors on the night shift so they can get to the scene and identify leads more quickly.  The report also called for expanding the homicide division from the current 20 police officers to 28, including personnel dedicated to handling administrative tasks that eat up inspectors’ time.  And the report suggested making community policing a more important part of training and promotions.  A schedule has yet to be adopted to implement these recommendations.  

Homicide clearance rates can improve over time.  In 2007 the SFPD closed 26 cases from 2005 and 2006, pushing the combined clearance rate for those two years to 47 percent.  The national average in 2007 was 61 percent.