Defund-the-police Democrat calls for more police as her district continues brutal crime spiral: 'I feel betrayed by the department'

Another Democrat has been confronted with the disastrous consequences of the policies she once championed.

San Francisco City Supervisor Hillary Ronen announced last week that she is "begging" for more police officers for her crime-ravaged city, particularly in the district she oversees. This desperate plea comes just a few years after the Democrat called for the police to be defunded and suggested that half-measures amounted to a "slap in the face."

How it started

Ronen assumed office in 2017, representing San Francisco's District 9 on the 11-member city board of supervisors. The 47-year-old Berkeley Law graduate was re-elected in November 2020.

During her time in office, she has lent her support to the George Soros-backed leftist district attorney, Chesa Boudin. Boudin, whose parents were members of a leftist terrorist organization, has been accused of overseeing a crime surge in the city.

Whereas in 2016 Ronen campaigned on making "police part of our community," in 2020, she jumped on the BLM bandwagon and pushed for reductions to police budgets.

Amid the devastating BLM riots, Democrat Mayor London Breed proposed a $35 million cut from the San Francisco Police Department's budget over two years. This 2.6% reduction was not enough for Ronen, reported Mission Local.

Ronen called the budget reduction "a slap in the face," saying, "We can't just give lip service to this time and this movement."

She also suggested it would be prudent to get "police out of the business of responding to homeless people for being homeless," to plan on reducing the presence of law enforcement at public schools, and to reconsider having mounted police officers at all.

Ronen underscored that defunding the police was ultimately about repurposing a "system that is rotten to its core."

In August 2020, Ronen clarified her position, tweeting, "I want to make it clear that I believe strongly in defunding the police and reducing the number of officers on our force. For decades we’ve had an imbalance in our city’s budget, with hundreds of millions of dollars going to SFPD to have them do work they are not qualified to do."

Breed ultimately diverted $120 million from the police and sheriff's departments in 2020.

How it's going

Mission Local reported that Ronen got what she wanted.

The number of full-duty SFPD officers is at 1,514 as of last week, down from 1,840 in 2019 and 1,872 in 2017.

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office indicated that in 2022, only 3.9% of the 58,681 reported incidents resulted in an arrest.

San Francisco scores a 2 out of 100 (100 being safest) on Neighborhood Watch's crime index. The chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime is 1 in 186, and the likelihood of becoming a victim of a property crime is 1 in 20, as a CNN reporter recently discovered.

According to the SFPD, between Jan. 1 and March 12, there were 66 reports of arson; 5,505 reports of larceny theft; 1,062 burglary reports; 428 assaults; 525 robberies; 39 rapes; 1,123 motor vehicle thefts; and 9 murders.

Mission, Bayview, and Ingleside, all overseen by Ronen, accounted for 41% of arson incidents in the city during that time period; 18% of the larceny thefts; 29.8% of burglaries; 38% of assaults; 37% of robberies; 36% of rapes; 50% of motor vehicle thefts; and 66% of murders. At least half of San Francisco's reports of human trafficking this year have also taken place in Ronen's district.

Only In Your State ranks two zones in Ronen's district as among the "most dangerous areas in San Francisco," particularly after dark.

During a Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting on March 15, Ronen implored the SFPD to prioritize police presence in her district rather than spending overtime on an anti-retail theft program, reported Fox News Digital.

"I've been begging this department to give the Mission what it deserves in terms of police presence all year long," said Ronen. "And I have been told time and time and time and time again there are no officers that we can send to Mission."

Despite having previously suggested anything less than a major cut to police budgets was a "slap in the face," Ronen claimed Wednesday she felt the SFPD had let her down.

"It hurts. And I feel betrayed by the department. I feel betrayed by the mayor. I feel betrayed by the priorities of the city," said Ronen.

Amid her efforts to reverse the damage her previous recommendations have inflicted on San Francisco, Ronen is presently championing race-based reparations. She recently noted that she cannot "wait to get to work" implementing recommendations to hand out $5 million to select black residents, cancel their debt, and guarantee their income.

TheBlaze previously reported that Ronen has admitted the city does not have the money for these reparations.

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