In 2005, Kamala Harris, serving as San Francisco’s District Attorney, introduced a controversial plan that would have allowed drug dealers to avoid charges until their third arrest. “Operation Safe Streets” proposed that police detain and release suspects twice before bringing charges on the third offense. The plan, however, was quic kly shut down by then-police chief Heather Fong.
In a letter to Harris dated October 24, 2005, Fong expressed her strong opposition to the proposal, arguing that it would encourage drug dealers to continue operating in San Francisco with little consequence. “This proposal asks us not to arrest, but instead detain and release observed narcotics sales suspects,” Fong wrote, adding that the policy could increase crime and send a dangerous message to children who witness drug deals near schools.
Harris’s office defended the policy, suggesting that it would help prosecutors build stronger cases against drug dealers. However, the plan was widely criticized by police and legal experts. Police officers feared that the policy would harm officer morale and embolden drug dealers, while defense attorneys labeled the plan “weird and unworkable.”
The program was ultimately scrapped, but the issue has resurfaced as Harris campaigns on her record as a law-and-order prosecutor. Critics point to this failed initiative as an example of her soft-on-crime policies that conflict with her tough-on-crime messaging.
