Community leaders in San Francisco called for a 24-hour ceasefire on Thursday as the number of homicides in the city skyrocket.
Mayor Daniel Lurie, Police Chief Derrick Lew, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, and several supervisors and nonprofit leaders gathered on the steps of City Hall to announce the ceasefire, which begins Friday.
While every other crime statistic is down so far this year compared to the same period last year, homicides have increased by 250%. There have been 14 homicides in San Francisco so far this year, compared to four at this time last year.
“This is a crisis point,” Jenkins said at the event. “I can’t tell you how many mothers and fathers and grandmothers I’ve had to sit across from and see their tears because they’ve had to bury their children and their grandchildren.”
While the possible causes for the rapid rise in homicides were not discussed, speakers emphasized the need to educate young people since gun violence is one of the leading causes of death for youth under 18 years old in the United States, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We must continue to reach our youth and show them the consequences of bad decisions before it’s too late,” Lew said.
Of the 14 homicides so far, arrests have been made in nearly every case, Lew said.
But getting in front of the issue instead of reacting after the fact is essential, officials said.
“My job is to make sure that our city comes together to invest in intervention and prevention of these types of tragedies from happening,” Jenkins said. “We’ve got to have people on the ground in these schools, in these communities, because it’s not enough for law enforcement to come in once it’s too late.”
Lurie also agreed that it’s necessary to have intervention and diversion for young people who are at risk of being involved in violent crime.
“The next generation of San Franciscans who will lead and shape our city, they need our support. We cannot only respond after violence occurs,” Lurie said. “We are making sure officers are not just responding to calls, but are present in the community, building relationships, earning trust, and working alongside residents to prevent violence.”
‘We must be proactive’
The call for a ceasefire was promoted by United Playaz, a San Francisco-based violence prevention organization. The group’s executive director, Rudy Corpuz, said the idea was started by Demetrius Dixon, an inmate locked up in California State Prison Solano on a life sentence.
Corpuz called Dixon at the event so he could share a few words from prison.
“We must be proactive. We must speak up,” Dixon said through the phone. “Let each one of us take on the responsibility of speaking up in the name of our children.”
If the 24-hour ceasefire is successful in San Francisco, Corpuz is hoping that other cities around the Bay Area with relatively high rates of gun violence will also call for ceasefires.
“We have a lot of work to do, but for one day in San Francisco, let’s sit on our hands,” Corpuz said. “This is just a call to action for everybody from all over the city, wherever you at, to stand on business. And if we all do this in 24 hours, then we successful y’all.”
