San Francisco’s police commission on Wednesday approved an ordinance to accept a multimillion-dollar donation from a tech billionaire.
Crypto executive Chris Larsen, an angel investor who helped develop Ripple software, offered a $9.4 million upgrade to SFPD's crime-fighting technology. He said the donation is intended to improve SFPD's technology and surveillance capabilities.
Watch NBC Bay Area News free wherever you are
WATCH HEREA new location for the department's Real-Time Investigation Center also would be included at a vacant office at 315 Montgomery St., in the heart of the financial district. It's a space Ripple currently leases but is no longer using.
San Francisco police commissioners on Wednesday voted to accept Larsen's gift. Larsen is a San Francisco native who also created and funded the SF Police Community Fund.
Mayor Daniel Lurie, who has helped raised almost $38 million in private funding for the city’s future budget proposals, supports the improvements Larsen's proposed donation would make.
"RTIC has already supported hundreds of arrests, with crime down 30% citywide, and with this new facility, the SFPD will have the tools and the technology it needs to take this work to the next level and help our officers keep our street safe," Lurie said in a statement.
If the police commission approves the proposed gift, San Francisco supervisors would then have the final say.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news with the Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
SIGN UP 