Cops on Trump 2.0: Vibes are good for policing

While most of San Francisco is disappointed by Donald Trump’s reelection, there is excitement for a second term among law enforcement hoping for a new era of trust and tough-on-crime policies.

This optimism comes after California voters passed Prop. 36, which re-escalates many low-level property and drug crimes from misdemeanors to felonies, and after voters in Alameda County recalled progressive District Attorney Pamela Price, echoing the 2022 recall of Chesa Boudin in San Francisco. There’s a sense among law enforcement that San Francisco, and California in general, has taken a step to the right on policing, despite falling crime rates in the city. 

The Standard talked with more than a dozen current and former law enforcement officials — most spoke anonymously for fear of professional consequences — who said the feeling among the ranks is that recruiting numbers will rise, arrests will more easily lead to convictions, and there will be less “defund”-era criticism. By and large, law enforcement is loving it. 

“The excitement on their part was overwhelming,” said one former top officer who was aghast at Trump’s victory. 

That sentiment was echoed by tough-on-crime District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, whose reelection last week sent a message about a shift in public opinion around policing. After the election, Jenkins tweeted that the Democratic Party must “take a tougher approach on crime while Californians & Americans are demanding public safety as a fundamental right.”

The San Francisco Police Department and sheriff’s office have been short-staffed in recent years — the SFPD by about 500 — and some hope the change of tone will encourage more people to become cops. 

“I recognize President Trump’s strong support for law enforcement as a positive step in boosting morale and encouraging more individuals to join our profession,” said Ken Lomba, president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association.

The SFPD and Police Officers Association did not respond to a request for comment.

“In general, law enforcement was for Trump and feel they will receive the support and funding they need,” said Tony Montoya, former head of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. Montoya noted that many police also cheered the passage of Prop. 36. 

Trump’s reelection and the California results were the final nail in the coffin for police reform, some law enforcement officials say. Over the past seven years, San Francisco police have been undergoing a reform effort that includes new tactics meant to reduce fatal shootings and policies that reduce racially biased policing. 

“After looking at the local and national results, clearly the ‘defund the police’ movement has failed,” said a former officer.

Another former officer said many of his colleagues think the election signals a return to a tough-on-crime approach — meaning police can work without feeling like every action will result in an investigation by the department or the city’s watchdog agency. This sentiment comes despite the fact that the Police Commission — the policy-making body for the SFPD — hasn’t changed its mandate or lost any of its powers. Earlier this year the commission even passed a ban on pretext stops, which the police union continues to fight.

While this might sound like “vibes-based policing,” the SFPD has responded to vibes before: During the pandemic, just after the peak of the defund movement, officers were accused of purposely shirking their duties in an unofficial work stoppage in response to the attacks on their profession.

Expect the SFPD to work more closely with federal law enforcement, one former officer said. The department already has officers on federal task forces, but the city could see local police working more closely with the DEA or FBI on drug and other criminal cases. Some officers are excited about collaborating with federal law enforcement because there are harsher sentences in federal court and a higher rate of convictions.  

Local law enforcement already coordinates with federal intelligence centers like the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, and that kind of cooperation could increase under the Trump administration, said a former prosecutor. Those partnerships could offer police a way of getting around local laws that ban technology such as facial recognition. 

The district attorney’s office has recently been accused of coordinating the deportation of drug dealers, which some say violates sanctuary city laws. The D.A.’s office denies this, arguing that allowing one of its prosecutors to be deputized by the U.S. attorney’s office to work drug cases is not in conflict with local sanctuary laws. 

That said, during the first Trump term, local law enforcement refused federal cooperation: In 2017, the SFPD pulled out of an FBI anti-terrorism task force, fearing its officers would be used in a way that violates city laws barring surveillance of people who are exercising their constitutional rights. 

Not all officers were happy about the election. Some are concerned about the trickle-down effect of Trump’s policies and approach to civil liberties in San Francisco. 

“I’m sure all the Trumpers are very happy,” said a current officer who estimated that 95% of his colleagues are Trump supporters. “I’m disgusted.”

Another officer, who backed neither Trump nor Kamala Harris, said the split among the department is fairly even. “We have zealots here, and we got people who hated Trump and refused to vote for him,” he said. “I think it’s right down the middle.” 

Studies show that U.S. police are more likely to be Republicans than Democrats.

Another former officer, who backed Harris, said he warned colleagues who “drank the Kool-Aid” of the potential dangers of a second Trump term. 

Boudin, the former D.A., is bullish about the city’s ability to stand up to the Trump administration. 

“Trump and his agenda do not represent San Francisco values. For example, mandatory stop-and-frisk laws are discriminatory, and undermine community trust in law enforcement,” he wrote to The Standard. “I’m confident that our new mayor, our elected officials, and our civic society will create and defend guardrails on law enforcement that balance justice and safety far more effectively than the Trump agenda.”

On one of the Trump administration’s hottest issues, immigration, law enforcement officials from Jenkins to the sheriff said they expect police to live up to San Francisco laws that bar them from cooperating with federal immigration officials.

Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said he will continue to follow local sanctuary laws. 

“The Sheriff’s Office will not be turning anyone in our custody over to federal immigration agents solely based on an administrative warrant from the Department of Homeland Security. We will, however, adhere to a criminal warrant signed by a judge,” he said in a statement. 

But one former San Francisco police officer worried about what many in law enforcement might do if the federal government oversteps the Constitution. 

“That’s the big question,” said the former officer.