San Francisco Officials Clash Over Controversial Drug Enforcement Policy

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott faced questioning from police commissioners over the mayor's promise to arrest drug users and dealers through a recently announced unified command center. The center, called the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center, was established to crack down on "open-air drug markets," including arresting people publicly using drugs. The police department showed no signs of reversing course, but the Police Commission is experimenting with programs that might, including CART (the Compassionate Alternative Response Team), a non-police alternative program that would allow mental health and social workers, not officers, to respond to certain 911 and 311 calls.