Four years after the passage of San Francisco’s surveillance ordinance by a vote of 10-1, SF mayor London Breed is threatening to ask city voters to gut it via ballot inititative. Breed’s proposed ordinance would, among other things, allow surveillance tech like drones which are not currently used by the SF Police, to be adopted for a year before the city’s Board of Supervisors could approve, disapprove or adopt a use policy. The new year-long free zone could also apply to the killer robots, whose deployment last year was halted by the Board of Supervisors.
The Board of Supervisors seems unlikely to collaborate in putting the initiative on the ballot, so Breed’s path to San Francisco voters would likely be through paid ballot signature collection firms.
Press coverage of the proposed Breed ballot measure is below.
KTVU: SF Mayor Wants To Expand Police Powers Via Ballot Measure
SFIst: Mayor Breed Announces Ballot Measure To Reduce Police Paperwork
KRON: SF Mayor Introduces Measure To Give Police More Power
SF Standard: Car Chases, Cameras and Drones
ABC-7: Mayor Breed Supports Safer San Francisco Ballot Measure to Boost Police
NBC- Bay Area: Breed Introduces Measure to Ease Restrictions on Police
48 Hills: Breed’s Measure is a Sweeping Move to Undermine Civilian Oversight