Courts Ignoring Thousands Of Quality-Of-Life Offenses In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Even though police in San Francisco have issued thousands of citations for quality-of-life offenses, like sleeping in parks, urinating on the sidewalk, or being drunk in public - the courts are ignoring those citations.

For the last year, Superior Court judges who hear those case have stopped issuing warrants for no-show defendants, KCBS and Chronicle Insider Phil Matier reported in Monday's Matier and Ross Column.

In the one court where quality-of-life citations are heard, the judge has discharged all 64,000 outstanding warrants issues from 2011 to late 2015.  Without a warrant there is no way for police to detain someone who may have skipped out on their court appearance.

A spokeswoman for the Superior Court says the decision to dismiss the warrants was largely based on the recognition that the fines, which start at $200 and grow to $500 would never get paid.