A month after an antisemitic attack hit San Francisco’s Marina District and a Jewish store owner’s building was vandalized with personal attacks in a separate case, the city’s Jewish leaders and allies are reassuring community members that their safety is on all of their minds.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Capt. Amy Hurwitz from the San Francisco Police Department’s Ingleside Station joined a Monday briefing with the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, the American Jewish Committee, and the Jewish Community Relations Council that focused on the roles that law enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office play in responding to antisemitic incidents — and how residents can help.
“It is so vitally important that people call in and report what is happening. See something, say something, so that then we have evidence that we need in the future should something happen then,” Jenkins said at the briefing.
The briefing comes about a month after the attack in the Marina District, where a man was beaten in an alleged hate crime motivated by antisemitism, Jenkins’ office previously said. A separate case happened when Manny’s, a Jewish-owned cafe and social gathering space in the Mission District, was vandalized and windows broken days before.
Under state law, it is a hate crime if an individual is targeted because of certain actual or perceived characteristics, including nationality, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, and religion.
In 2024, hate crimes against Jewish communities rose in California, according to a Hate Crime Report from state Attorney General Rob Bonta. It was a 7.3% increase from the previous year.
Even in cases where community members are not sure if something rises to the level of a hate crime, Jenkins and Hurwitz, who is also the SFPD chief’s liaison to the Jewish community, both encouraged community members to call the Police Department.
“It is so vitally important that people call in and report what is happening. See something, say something, so that then we have evidence that we need in the future should something happen then.” Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco District Attorney
In cases where there is not an immediate threat to someone’s life or property, Hurwitz said it was best to call SFPD’s non-emergency line.
“We need to really bring that information in because really no police department is going to do anything if they don’t have a report,” Hurwitz said.
Community members can call the SFPD non-emergency line at (415) 553-0123 in the event there is no immediate threat to someone’s life or property, or call 911 in an emergency situation. The direct line to the department’s dispatch is (415) 553-8090.