As District Attorney of San Francisco, Kamala Harris proposed a program for drug dealers that would have allowed criminals to only be charged for selling narcotics on their third arrest.
San Francisco’s chief of police at the time sent an October 24, 2005 letter to Harris declining to participate in the program, “Operation Safe Streets,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Daily Wire.
“This proposal asks us not to arrest, but instead detain and release observed narcotics sales suspects pursuant to Penal Code Section 849(b) P.C. When the same suspect is arrested the third time for narcotics sales, your office would then charge all three counts,” wrote Heather Fong, who served as police chief until 2009.
The revelation comes as Harris attempts to campaign as a tough-on-crime, law-and-order prosecutor, touting her past record and describing herself as someone who “took on perpetrators of all kinds — predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.”
But back in 2005, the police chief warned Harris that her proposed policy would allow narcotics sellers to immediately be released back onto the streets without consequences, encourage dealers to come to San Francisco, potentially increase violent crime in the city, and result in a double standard, “as adults would be released while juveniles would be booked.”
“Additionally, narcotics dealers who sell drugs near a school would be released after only a brief detention,” Fong continued, noting, “Undoubtedly, this would send the wrong message to observant children who unfortunately witness drug dealing activity on a regular basis.”
The chief also warned that the public would not view a “detain and release” program favorably, since neither the community nor the police department are sympathetic to drug dealers who “exploit for profit the weakness of others.” She also noted that it would be bad for officer morale and “counter to what every officer is taught.”
Letter from Heather Fong to Kamala Harris, October 24, 2005.
Letter from Heather Fong to Kamala Harris, October 24, 2005.
Harris’ office told The Daily Journal in April 2006 that the idea behind the proposal was not to allow criminals to get off the hook, but instead help prosecutors build stronger cases against them. The Daily Journal reported that “police have scoffed at the plan.”
“Defense attorneys who regularly represent drug dealers also are pooh poohing Harris’ plan, saying it sounds weird and unworkable,” The Daily Journal’s Dennis Opatrny wrote at the time.
Harris’ criminal division chief, Jeff Ross, reportedly suggested to the police chief at the time that they should move forward with the program despite potential media criticisms.
“It is true that San Francisco is home to some media outlets that may perceive of this program as being too tough on narcotics offenders, because more dealers will wind up behind bars as a result of this approach,” he wrote, adding, “I’m sure you would agree that we must pursue effective enforcement approaches without regard to whether there might be critical media coverage.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.
A report released Wednesday from The Heritage Foundation found that she has always been “soft-on-crime,” though her representations of her record have varied based on her audience or political climate: she has shown support for defunding the police, bail policies that let violent criminals back onto the streets, and did not seek the death penalty in a number of “egregious cases,” according to the report.
Just weeks after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody while an officer knelt on his neck, Harris claimed that it “is outdated and is actually wrong and backward to think that more police officers will create more safety.”
She also promised to end cash bail, expunge some felon records, end federal mandatory minimum sentences, get rid of court-ordered fines, impose more restrictions on cops, and more, according to a memo from her 2020 presidential campaign exposed by the Washington Free Beacon in July.
