Salesforce founder Marc Benioff appears to be walking back comments he made last week in which he welcomed the deployment of National Guard troops to San Francisco.
In an interview with the New York Times on the eve of his company’s annual three-day “Dreamforce” conference in San Francisco, the billionaire tech baron and philanthropist praised President Donald Trump and suggested the troops could help fight crime.
The statement came in the wake of Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, and his threats to send them to other cities controlled by Democrats, including San Francisco.
Trump justified the deployments under the pretext that the cities themselves can’t manage crime, and to also help with immigration sweeps.
Benioff said San Francisco needs an additional 1,000 officers — above the roughly 1,500 the police department currently has — and that every year he hires hundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to run security at the conference.
His comments about the troops drew a swift rebuke from city leadership, including District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who said on social media that Trump and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “have turned so-called public safety and immigration enforcement into a form of government sponsored violence against U.S. citizens, families, and ethnic groups.”
Jenkins vowed to use the power of her office to protect San Franciscans from law enforcement personnel who “cross the bounds of the law.”
“If you come to San Francisco and illegally harass our residents, use excessive force or cross any other boundaries that the law proscribes, I will not hesitate to do my job and hold you accountable just like I do other violators of the law every single day,” she said.
Mayor Daniel Lurie said crime in the city is down by 30 percent and that he trusts the San Francisco Police Department and the sheriff’s office to keep people safe during the Dreamforce conference and beyond.
“We have work to do, there is no doubt about that. We need more SFPD and that’s why for the first time in seven years we have a net increase in SFPD officers. It’s the first time in 10 years we have a net increase in sheriff’s deputies,” Lurie said. “This city is on the rise. San Francisco’s coming back and I trust my local law enforcement.”
When asked over the weekend about the National Guard coming to his city, Lurie said, “Local law enforcement knows how to police here in San Francisco. They know how to protect our citizens they know how to protect our conference-goers. I trust our local law enforcement.”
On Sunday, Benioff praised Lurie and said the city needs to “explore every possible pathway to create a safer city” but also appeared to soften his stance on the need to deploy troops.
“When I was recently asked about federal resources, my point was this: each year, to make Dreamforce as safe as possible for 50,000 attendees, we add 200 additional law-enforcement professionals — coordinated across city, state, and other partners,” according to his post on social media. “It’s proof that collaboration works and a reminder that the city needs more resources to keep San Franciscans safe year-round.”