CASH BAIL
Asking suspects in custody to pay cash to be bailed out of jail has been widely criticized as a system of allowing wealthier people release, instead of targeting people who are a risk to public safety. What is your stance on cash bail?
Jenkins says “I actually have not changed the existing policy from what Chesa (Boudin) had.” But, she says, her predecessor was “overly conservative” in deciding when to seek detention of a suspect without bail. Jenkins says “there still has to be a mechanism” for deciding how to keep people in custody. In some cases of people selling or being in possession of fentanyl, “we are filing motions to detain these defendants in custody pretrial,” Jenkins says. “That’s something Chesa was never willing to do, (but) I am.”
Alioto Veronese says requiring cash bail at all is inherently discriminatory to low-income defendants — often people of color. “If you have a million dollars in the bank, and I have ten dollars in the bank, the criminal justice system treats you differently, and that has to stop.” Alioto Veronese claims Jenkins is using cash bail “selectively, to discriminate against people.” He says that since she has been accused of withholding exculpatory evidence in a trial, “you cannot trust this person to be selectively using cash bail against the accused.” He wants to work with state legislators to help develop better alternatives to cash bail.
Hamasaki thinks the concept of cash bail is broadly misunderstood by the public. He supports getting rid of cash bail, and calls Jenkins’ policy “pretty vague.” “I don’t think you can quite call it a policy yet,” he says. He thinks strong management and leadership is needed to implement policies to end cash bail, and he says that’s what sets him apart from the various candidates.
ANTI-ASIAN HATE
Incidents of hate have increased against members of Asian communities in the United States, and San Francisco in particular, in the wake of the pandemic. What can your office do to protect Asian communities?
Jenkins says she is creating a “vulnerable victims unit” in her office, which will task experienced attorneys with responding to violence against Asian communities. Previously, those cases went to the general felonies unit, which Jenkins says is typically staffed by younger attorneys. The change was made because “the Asian community needs to feel like we are doing our best” to hold offenders accountable. Former district attorney candidate Nancy Tung is leading the new unit and helping the office reach out to Asian communities.
Alioto Veronese claims, without providing supporting evidence, that “young African-American kids (are) coming from the East Bay to prey on vulnerable, older Chinese people.” And he criticized Jenkins for not filing more hate crime charges. “She’s not sending the signal to these young thugs that are coming from the East Bay that we’re not going to tolerate this in San Francisco.” While some experts say proving hate crimes can be difficult because the burden of proof is higher, Alioto Veronese says “I do it every day” in civil rights cases.
Hamasaki says the issue “is personal for me,” after he was attacked outside a bar by men yelling anti-Asian epithets when he was in his twenties. When hate crosses over into criminal conduct “we have to prosecute people,” Hamasaki says, while honoring and respecting the victim’s rights. He vows to reinvigorate the victims’ services team of the district attorney’s office and to provide a public face against anti-Asian hate. “I come to it from a different perspective and have the ability to communicate with communities in a way that can reassure people.”
SFPD
During his tenure, former District Attorney Chesa Boudin criticized the low arrest rates of the San Francisco Police Department, while the city’s police union blamed Boudin for low morale. What is your plan to work with the SFPD?
Jenkins doesn’t believe police are “anti-progressive.” “What I do believe is that they had a DA that was antagonistic toward them and who at many turns refused to prosecute crime in this city,” she says. If rank-and-file police ever did disagree with a policy she championed to the point of reaching low morale, or boycotting arrests, Jenkins says she wouldn’t discuss that situation in public. “I will take it to them privately so that we can discuss it” and come to a resolution.
Alioto Veronese wants to take the authority to appoint a police chief away from the mayor, and give that power to the district attorney, because mayors use the chief “as a political toy.” He says he would improve morale by taking away the responsibility of cops to detain someone experiencing a mental health crisis, though it’s unclear if it’s in the purview of the district attorney to do so. Too often, Alioto Veronese says, police officers are considered Swiss Army Knives for social ills — acting as mental health professionals, social workers and more, but with none of the training. Someone experiencing a mental health crisis “is a medical issue.”
Hamasaki says that as a police commissioner, he saw officers fail to enforce the law many times. He recounts conversations with residents “who saw car break-ins (or) more serious garage burglaries. “They were told, ‘Oh well, the district attorney’s not going to do anything, so why bother taking a report?’ That’s a policy violation and a failure.” Hamasaki says if he encountered a police force unwilling to make arrests, he’d work with the police commission “to ensure that the culture is changed.”
POLICE MISCONDUCT
Last year, a San Francisco police officer was charged in a homicide for the first time in city history. That case has now been delayed to December. Will your office pursue that case, and others, against San Francisco police?
Jenkins says she would not talk about any pending cases “because it would be inappropriate to do so.” However, she says, “the law is the law,” and crimes should be charged regardless of who committed them. “If a cop violates the law in a manner that is brought to us and that we feel we can prosecute beyond a reasonable doubt, then that’s what we’ll do.” Jenkins says police violence has affected her own family: Growing up, she heard her grandmother talk about how one of Jenkins’ great uncles was killed in police custody. “If a cop has broken the law, they will be prosecuted,” she says.
Alioto Veronese says “I will take full responsibility for every bad cop in this city, and I will make sure that if we have bad cops, that they immediately are removed from the streets.” When asked about pending cases against police accused of misconduct, Alioto Veronese predicts that, “all of those cases go away after the election,” should Jenkins win. He says, “she will support the police in a way that I think is unethical.”
Hamasaki wouldn’t comment directly on prosecution strategies for specific cases, but says police misconduct cases undermine the very foundation of the criminal justice system. “If police are allowed to break the law, how can they be trusted to enforce it?” He plans on pursuing police misconduct and violence cases “with the full authority of the district attorney’s office.” He accuses Jenkins of pausing police misconduct prosecutions from moving forward in order to prevent evidence from becoming public that could increase public pressure for such prosecutions.
EXPERIENCE
What experiences do you think make you most qualified to be district attorney?
Jenkins thinks voters should back her because she has the most experience as a prosecutor, and is “the one person who is committed to balancing the interests of the need to reform and (the need to) improve inequities within the system,” vowing to be a champion for victims of crime. “I think the majority of the city has reached a point of feeling fed up with the state of things, and the status quo is not working anymore,” she says. In her first seven weeks in office she says she’s made “significant strides in helping to restore things.”
Alioto Veronese says his 22 years as a civil rights attorney, time on the police commission, three-year stint as a San Francisco police officer, and career as an investigator in former San Francisco District Attorney Terrance Hallinan’s office, all prepared him to serve as district attorney. “At the time, I wasn’t as progressive as Hallinan, when, if you remember, he was the ultimate progressive DA,” Alioto Veronese says. Hallinan started some of the first diversion programs for offenders. Alioto Veronese initially opposed the diversion programs but now believes in that work, saying “I’ve come such a long way.”
Hamasaki believes his 14 years as an attorney and “broad experience within the law” gives him a strong foundation to be the next district attorney. He also touted his time on the San Francisco Police Commission as valuable experience in terms of interacting with San Francisco’s criminal justice system. Responding to Jenkins’ critique that he lacks prosecutorial experience, he says that would be important “if they were hiring a line prosecutor,” but that the district attorney’s office is “a job opening for a leader.” Hamasaki says he has that experience from the American Bar Association and experience in criminal litigation.
Key Supporters
Brooke Jenkins
- London Breed, mayor, San Francisco
- Matt Dorsey, supervisor, San Francisco
- Scott Wiener, state senator
- Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democatic Club
- Edwin M. Lee Asian Pacific Democratic Club
Joe Alioto Veronese
- LiUNA! Laborers’ Local 261
- Operating Engineers Local 3
- San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council
- San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798
- UA Local 38, Plumbers & Pipefitters
John Hamasaki
- Tom Ammiano, former state Assembly member
- Angela Chan, former police commissioner, San Francisco
- Matt Gonzalez, former supervisor, San Francisco
- Mark Leno, former state senator
- Dean Preston, supervisor, San Francisco
