Lawmakers and former top cops in California claim that Kamala Harris’ new campaign ads, which portray her as “tough” on drug trafficking, are inconsistent with her past as a prosecutor when she advocated not charging dealers until their third arrest.
Harris made a policy proposal in 2005 while she was the San Francisco District Attorney that stated that drug dealers would only be prosecuted if they were caught selling narcotics the third time.
Pushback to Policy
The plan only came to an end when the city’s police chief Heather Fong pushed back to stop it, which caused a scandal.
Therefore, California lawmakers and senior police officers who served during Harris’ tenure decided to speak up and challenge the candidate when the Harris presidential campaign released an advertisement on August 7.
“Completely Reinvent Reality”
The ad touts her record as a “tough” prosecutor who “took on drug cartels” and “spent decades fighting violent crime.”
GOP congressman Kevin Kiley stated, “The campaign is attempting to completely reinvent reality. Those of us who have actually lived in California – in particular in San Francisco where she was DA but Los Angeles as well – know all too well what the reality was.”
“Progressive Prosecutor”
Kiley went on to say, “She was a champion of San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy, she wanted drug dealers to go without being prosecuted until the third attempt, and she herself said in her own book that she was a progressive prosecutor.”
“The more the American people learn about what her actual record was, they’re going to see this campaign rhetoric for the facade that it is.”
Police Response
At the time, Kevin Cashman was Deputy Chief of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD).
He stated that he and his colleagues were “shocked” by the proposal that DA Harris made in 2005, “We immediately saw that it would not be effective for our mission of keeping San Francisco safe.”
“Catch and Release”
Cashman went on to state, “The District Attorney called the strategy she recommended Operation Safe Streets.”
He continued by saying, “We in the police department called it Catch and Release, because we would have to catch them, identify them, and then release them back in the community without any action taken.”
“Commuter Criminals”
“We saw that if we implemented that, we would be overrun by commuter criminals,” according to the statement with Cashman, “if word got out that you can come to San Francisco and deal drugs without consequence.”
Cashman said that he believed the policy would result in an increase in officers putting themselves in danger for no reason.
“Not Consistent with the Facts”
Cashman stated, “Making narcotics arrests in San Francisco is one of the most dangerous things an officer can do. We’ve had officers killed in the line of duty attempting to make drug arrests. The DA wanted us to release those drug dealers after making narcotics arrests.”
Cashman claimed that the newest advertisement for Harris’ campaign portrays her as “tough” on crime and is “not consistent with the facts.”
“Adverse Effects”
Cashman said, “Kamala Harris was the most liberal and progressive district attorney I worked with in over 30 years in the SFPD.”
Cashman’s then-boss, SFPD Chief Fong, outlined the “adverse effects” she believed the proposed policy would cause in a letter to Harris in October 2005. The top cop wrote that “News of such a program would travel quickly within the drug community.”
“Send the Wrong Message”
Fong went on to state, “If out of town dealers learn that they can sell drugs without consequences in San Francisco, we will probably see an influx of sales and the associated crimes that come with that.”
“Narcotics dealers who sell drugs near a school would be released after only a brief detention. Undoubtedly, this would send the wrong message to observant children who unfortunately witness drug-dealing activity on a regular basis.”
“Bad for Morale”
Fong stated, “Officers routinely go into harm’s way to make these arrests and believe that sufficient probable cause and evidence exists for the complaint. In short, such a program could be bad for morale and counter to what every officer is taught.”
Cashman stated that despite the Chief’s letter, employees in Harris’ DA office attempted to persuade police leaders to agree to the policy one more time, but were unsuccessful and gave up.
“She Was an Outlier”
John McGinness, who served as president of the California Peace Officers Association in 2008 and was the Sacramento County Sheriff from 2004 to 2010, stated that Harris’ new campaign advertisement “does not comport with the truth in any way shape or form.”
McGinness stated, “She was an outlier insofar as she seemed to embrace a hands off approach with regards to enforcing the law.”
As San Francisco DA, Harris has come under fire for other allegedly soft-on-crime policies.
