A few weeks ago we learned that authorities were advising workers to work from home rather than come to the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building which was constantly surrounded by drug dealers and addicts. Today the SF Standard has a follow-up story going into more detail about what workers at the building were dealing with prior to that announcement.

The block where the building sits recorded 525 drug-related incidents over the past 12 months, according to city data…

In just the last few months, federal employees have had knives pulled on them three times, and one person was chased with a hammer, according to an employee who did not want to be named because she was not authorized to speak on behalf of her agency. 

Such incidents are more rare than the bloody sidewalks, human feces and drug use many workers see daily, she added.

“It’s definitely a sign of a bigger problem,” she said. “Sometimes, I come home and cry after seeing what I see.”

On August 13, about a week after workers were advised to stay home for their own safety, a body was found outside on the sidewalk. Apparently this was the result of an overdose, not a murder. Still, you can see why coming in to work at the building would be unnerving.

Since then some changes have been made to improve security at the site. Somewhat ironically, the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building is now protected by a tall fence and the constant presence of federal officers. Here’s the new fence:

San Francisco has decided to "build the wall" around the federal building to keep dealers and users away, but the current injunction on homeless sweeps prevents the city from moving encampments. The radicals are bringing fascism to the city. pic.twitter.com/VeNCPEwvpp

— T Wolf 🌁 (@Twolfrecovery) September 2, 2023

And here’s an additional wall of federal police vehicles that is apparently a common occurrence now. I count ten vehicles in this video:

Federal police seen outside San Francisco federal building. Resident says this has become a common sight in recent days @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/0xgxx1sDTf

— Betty Yu (@bett_yu) September 7, 2023

In the area where the fencing went up there has been an obvious improvement. Someone should tell the Biden administration. Maybe there are other places in the country where we could deploy this new fence technology.

New fences have been installed outside the San Francisco federal building

Fencing has been placed around some concrete benches where users and dealers normally congregate. Last month, many employees were told to work remotely due to safety concerns. @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/tvV7UJc3dv

— Betty Yu (@bett_yu) September 2, 2023

This local news report features an interview with a homeless woman who says “San Francisco is, like, known for the drug trade.” Indeed it is which is part of the problem.

But maybe the real lesson here is that when there’s a problem the city actually wants to fix, they knows how to fix it. You add fences, you add police and you make arrests of people using and dealing drugs. It works because drug addicts are, above all, lazy. They don’t want to waste time and energy being hassled by cops when they could be getting high.

At the same time this is happening, the mayor and police chief are under pressure from activists and city council members who say arresting users accomplishes nothing. That’s true if your only metric for success is getting addicts into treatment:

Two people have entered drug treatment through a new initiative that San Francisco police launched in late May to arrest people suspected of using drugs in public.

The initiative, which launched alongside a number of local, state and federal law enforcement efforts targeting the city’s open-air drug markets, has resulted in the arrest of 476 people who were suspected of using drugs or being under the influence of drugs in public…

“I know that’s a small number, but we started at zero,” [Police Chief] Scott said at a San Francisco Police Commission meeting on Wednesday. “You’ll never hear me say that arresting folks will solve addiction, but these are still crimes.”

Drugs are being taken off the street and addicts are being arrested and could face charges for illegal activity. That ought to count for something but in San Francisco it’s not clear that it does. If the addicts aren’t signing up for voluntary treatment this will be labeled a failure. The only goal that matters (to the activists) is serving the needs of the addicts. Making the streets safer for everyone else by punishing lawbreakers means nothing. And that’s why open air drug markets frequented by homeless addicts and drug tourists from other areas are so common in the city.