San Francisco police pledged at a Board of Supervisors hearing to change how they investigate sex crimes. The department's rape-case clearance rate is 14 percent, about half the national average.
The department plans to introduce a checklist of investigative steps to complete before closing a case or marking it inactive. It also promised better training for sexual assault investigators and patrol officers, who are often the first to meet survivors, and more consistent contact with survivors while their cases are under investigation.
The hearing followed accounts of sexual assault cases being set aside even after rape-kit results identified a suspect. Supervisor Bilal Mahmood questioned why so many cases remained open without active investigation: police figures put that share at 72 percent of 2025 sexual assault cases. Mahmood said a suspect had been identified in about 70 percent of those open cases and asked why they had not been referred to prosecutors.
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