Carol Mo: Study Shows Need for Safety

The Safety Network, in an effort to engage the community on public safety issues, organized and implemented a comprehensive survey of community perceptions of safety in San Francisco.

In the course of one-month, Safety Network organizers administered approximately 2,400 surveys, making it one of the largest community-driven efforts on public safety. Feeling safe is one of the fundamental elements of having a healthy community, and in the course of administering the survey, our organizers found what is most important to community members is having a feeling of safety and well being in their neighborhood.

Working with Patrick Seid, a fellow community organizer at the Richmond District based Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc., we collectively outreached to about 50 groups, including neighborhood groups, merchant's associations, faith-based groups, schools, homeless people, and community-based organizations to administer the survey.

In the Richmond District residents and merchants completed a total of 314 surveys. Of those, 38 percent were male and 62 percent were female and the average age of survey respondents was 48. For the ethnic breakdown, 57 percent of survey respondents self-identified as Asian, 30 percent Caucasian, 4 percent African American and 9 percent others. Nearly 40.3 percent of Richmond community members reported feeling somewhat unsafe in their neighborhood, with 62 percent of respondents reporting that they had either experienced or had been exposed to some form of unsafe event.

Some of the most frequently witnessed unsafe events were: speeding cars; assault; drug use; robberies and loitering. Others included gun violence, domestic violence, harassment and pedestrian injuries.

The top three places where Richmond respondents felt the least safe were: public transportation (61.1%), neighborhood parks (57%), and on the streets (44.6%). Richmond respondents' opinions on the top factors that contribute to their sense of feeling unsafe in their neighborhoods were traffic and speeding cars, a lack of community and neighbor interaction, dark streets at night, and narrow sidewalks.

Survey participants were also asked to recommend ways to improve safety in their neighborhoods. Richmond District residents' recommendations were: Implementing traffic calming strategies; improving the means of communication among community members, city services, faith-based groups and community based organizations; better lit, cleaner parks and streets.

Overall, nearly 44 percent of San Francisco community members reported feeling somewhat unsafe or unsafe in their neighborhood, with one third reporting they had either experienced or had been exposed to some form of unsafe event.

Summarizing the survey results from all 12 San Francisco districts, public transportation, local parks and the streets were also listed as the main areas in their neighborhoods where people felt unsafe.Ê

San Francisco community members listed the following factors as being the main issues contributing to their feeling unsafe in their neighborhoods: gangs, unemployment, lack of police, the availability of guns, traffic and speeding cars.

Based on our survey, the most unsafe neighborhoods were the Bayview-Hunters Point, Tenderloin and Mission District, where more than 50 percent of respondents said they feel unsafe.ÊIn these areas, community members listed drugs, gangs and unemployment as the main contributing factors to their feeling unsafe.

The following recommendations from San Francisco survey respondents reinforce the need for more services to our neighborhoods, especially in those neighborhoods hardest hit by crime and violence, the Bayview-Hunters Point, Tenderloin and Mission.

First of all, survey respondents placed an emphasis on improving the relationship with police officers. They recommend periodic community town hall meetings with police and City officials; increasing police patrols on bikes, foot and on public transportation; integrating police officers with schools and community centers

Second, survey respondents were able to make a link between positive opportunities for youth and neighborhood safety.ÊThey recommend prioritizing youth development programs in the areas of cultural enhancement, arts, sports and entertainment and by enhancing professional development and employment training.

Additionally, since San Francisco is a city that has a rich history of supporting its diverse communities, survey respondents were consistent in their support of language education and immigration services; services for seniors; promotion of faith-based groups and services to connect families and communities.

The Safety Network believes that everyone has the right to feel safe, and through this community-driven process, the organization aims to directly engage the community in identifying and solving public safety issues on a district and citywide level. Safety Network organizers will be working with community leaders to prioritize recommendations and to develop an action plan.

The National Council of Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) was commissioned to create the survey and provide the data analysis for the report. The Safety Network Program is funded through the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. The full results of the Public Safety Survey are available at www.safetynetwork.org.

For more information about the survey, contact Quintin Mecke at (415) 505-2417 or at qmecke@jcyc.org.

Carol Mo is a Richmond District community organizer at the Safety Network Program based at RAMS.