SF SAFE's Work Continues despite COVID Curveballs

Even amid a pandemic, the crucial safety outreach of SF SAFE continues on. Community policing initiatives such as Neighborhood Watch Groups—the crux of our work for the San Francisco community—are an essential component of lowering crime rates and creating a safer city.

So with a precautionary eye toward everyone’s collective health safety, SF SAFE is continuing to offer its services at this unprecedented time. And although COVID-19 has thrown us some operational curveballs, we are adapting with new safety measures so that we can move forward with our community work.

As one example of how we are navigating our COVID-19 world while providing services, we’re holding our aforementioned Neighborhood Watch Groups throughout the city, but in adherence with San Francisco’s health guidelines, we’re limiting attendees to ten people plus one additional person (an SF SAFE staffer) to help coordinate it.

At this time, we’re also asking that only one person per household attend these meetings so that as many different neighbors as possible can access its resources.

Finally, it’s no surprise that we’re also requiring all Neighborhood Watch Group participants to join us in adhering to CDC guidelines by wearing masks and staying socially distant from one another by 6 ft.

Another example of how we’re adjusting to our new reality can be seen in our Residential Security Surveys—where we visit and evaluate the safety of people’s homes and make recommendations for improvement.

During our walkthrough of homes, social distancing and other health protocols are closely followed.

We also ask residents to make one point of contact/escort available to accompany our staff member throughout their home visit. SF SAFE does this not only for the mutual health safety of both parties, but also to streamline the duration of the visit.

In the event that SF SAFE’s visit to a residence includes elevators or stairways, we are careful to use the elevators one person at a time, and the stairs, one landing apart. Again, this practice is with a precautionary eye toward mutual health safety.

But our work goes beyond our Neighborhood Watch Groups and Residential Security Surveys. From business security Zooms, to personal safety presentations, to our SAFE BIKES registration, to our child safety initiatives and so much more—we’re here for the San Francisco community with an array of critical safety resources even at this difficult time.

“We want the San Francisco community to know that SF SAFE is available to them during the pandemic and that we stand ready to lend an assist with our essential safety resources,” said Executive Director Kyra Worthy.

Visit SF SAFE’s website to find out how we can help you—and use this form to request any of our services, most of which are free of charge.

-Kathy Chouteau