San Francisco police officers and sheriff's deputies arrested nearly 90 people and seized more than a pound of narcotics during a Wednesday night enforcement operation at Jefferson Square Park, according to police.
The operation was carried out "in response to many community complaints of criminal and drug-related activity" in the park, police said.
"Drug-related activity will never be tolerated in Jefferson Square or any other part of the city," police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement. "Our officers will be out in force conducting operations just like these all over the city. I want to thank our hard-working officers and all the partner agencies that assisted in this effort."
Scott said 86 people were arrested for drug possession and drug sales, and authorities seized over 550 grams of fentanyl and cocaine-based narcotics.
Neighborhood residents said the park has become rowdy and dangerous over the last couple months.
"I think it's great that the city is finally doing something about it, to save the park and the people that live in the neighborhood," resident Sebastian Luke said.
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According to one resident named Max, unhoused people have been in the park for years and they usually keep to themselves, but recently he began spotting drug paraphernalia in the park and realized it was from all the activity that was happening at night.
"I'm concerned with my dog because I don't know what they're dropping, and he likes looking for everything, he likes sniffing, he likes picking things up," Max said.
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Residents said they're happy about the raid and that more will happen, if necessary. But they also said they're worried about where the people who were arrested will go to next.
Residents said the park started getting more busy at night when the city started clearing out Willow Street in the Tenderloin, adding that it became even more intense when the city started clearing out Sixth Street a couple weeks ago.
That's something Scott is well aware of.
"We are going to do our job," he said. "We're going to make sure that we don't take a problem from one neighborhood and plant it in another neighborhood."
