“I think they were trying to be cute by putting that out there,” said Safaí, a candidate in the November mayoral race. “I think that because this is an election year, the mayor is worrying about being reelected, [and] she put out this press release. In reality, this has not been a priority.”
Safaí this summer requested SFPD data on sideshow enforcement. On July 1, the department sent him a letter saying it had impounded five vehicles for sideshow driving in the first half of 2024. Safaí publicly criticized that figure, saying the department hadn’t done enough to address sideshows.
So he was puzzled to see last week’s press release announcing 67 seizures, he said. As it turns out, police had seized just three more sideshow-related vehicles since July.