(Headline USA) A San Francisco mayoral candidate vowed this week to ask the state to send in the National Guard to help deal with the city’s spiraling drug crisis if he is elected, Politico reported Thursday.
Mark Farrell, a venture capitalist who served as interim mayor of San Francisco for six months in 2018 and is challenging Mayor London Breed, said he would declare a state of emergency and ask for an indefinite military presence to help take down fentanyl rings.
“I will partner w/ state/fed leaders to declare a fentanyl state of emergency, request more armed CA National Guard, & implement a bold recovery plan to save lives & close open-air drug markets,” Farrell posted on X.
I will partner w/ state/fed leaders to declare a fentanyl state of emergency, request more armed CA National Guard, & implement a bold recovery plan to save lives & close open-air drug markets.
My opponents are backing failed approaches – check out the differences for yourself: pic.twitter.com/fKUxGZNeGn
— Mark Farrell (@MarkFarrellSF) March 28, 2024
California Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed some National Guard troops and California Highway Patrol officers to the city earlier this year to assist local law enforcement as they try to reign in drug use.
Farrell said he wants armed officers to patrol the city’s notorious Tenderloin district and the area south of the Market, both of which operate as open-air drug markets and where retail theft has spiked.
“I don’t believe that it’s progressive or compassionate to allow a record number of overdose deaths on our streets every single year,” Farrell said.
He said San Francisco’s spiral into rampant drug use, homelessness, and crime motivated him to enter the mayoral race.
“It is really painful to watch the city you love and you grew up in maligned across the globe,” he reportedly explained. “I have watched San Francisco crumble over the last five years since I left City Hall. People don’t feel safe. The condition of our streets has never been worse. And our local economy has collapsed. And we’ve become the butt of jokes across the country.”
Farrell is not the only candidate for mayor who has vowed to get tougher on crime. Daniel Laurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss clothing company, is also challenging Breed, who he said is “asleep at the wheel.”
