A new facility aimed at connecting drug users to treatment instead of taking them to jail is set to come to San Francisco after Mayor Daniel Lurie signed legislation Tuesday to open the center.
The RESET Center, or Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation, and Triage Center, will be a facility where law enforcement can bring those arrested for public intoxication or drug use instead of jail.
“The RESET Center allows our officers to arrest those engaged in public drug use at a speed and volume we have never seen before,” Lurie said in a speech before the signing. “If you use drugs on our streets, we will arrest you. But with this new resource, we will also give those suffering from addiction a real chance to choose recovery.”
Lurie was joined by members of the recovery community, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Rafael Mandelman and Stephen Sherrill inside his office during the signing.
“I consider the RESET Center to be the single most important policy shift in San Francisco since the advent of the fentanyl crisis,” Dorsey said in a speech. “Anybody coming to San Francisco needs to know that there are now three new options: get sober, get arrested, or get out, but the party is over.”
Law enforcement will be able to bring those arrested for public intoxication or being under the influence to the center. Those with warrants or who exhibit aggressive behavior will not be allowed in the facility, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff: ‘It is not a jail’
Miyamoto said that the facility will provide more informed care for those struggling with substance use disorder beyond what clinicians at jails are able to provide.
“It is not a jail. They are not sleeping it off on the floors of a holding cell,” the sheriff said in a speech. “They’re in a therapeutic environment with health care professionals right there to assist them, not just while they sober up, but also to provide guidance and support and options once they are released from the facility.”
While it is not considered a detention center, people who are taken to the facility won’t be free to leave until they sober up, according to the legislation.
Supervisor Connie Chan raised concerns about the center during a Board of Supervisors meeting last week where the board approved a contract with an organization to operate the site. She questioned whether the city is legally allowed to detain people at the center even though it is not considered a detention facility.
“Let’s call it what it is,” she said. “People will be detained in this space and it’s not voluntary … With additional information, it makes me deeply question the operation model and its legitimacy.”
“This alone won’t solve our problem. But I am absolutely convinced it’s an example of a promising approach that restores accountability to improve street conditions, to diminish drug-driven lawlessness, and to save lives.”
Supervisor Matt Dorsey
A team from California’s Board of State and Community Corrections, an independent body that inspects corrections facilities, visited the site earlier in the week and determined that the RESET Center does not fall under its authority, said spokesperson Jana Sanford-Miller in a statement.
The center will be located at 444 Sixth St. next to the Hall of Justice. It will have a capacity to hold 25 people at a time, with a maximum 24-hour stay.
The Sheriff’s Office is hoping that people coming through the center will get connected to treatment options instead of using drugs on the streets of San Francisco.
“This alone won’t solve our problem,” Dorsey said. “But I am absolutely convinced it’s an example of a promising approach that restores accountability to improve street conditions, to diminish drug-driven lawlessness, and to save lives.”
