On the evening of Friday, February 21st, a person experiencing homelessness (PEH) assaulted an Airport Duty Manager in the baggage claim area of Harvey Milk Terminal 1. The Airport Duty Manager was responding to the area after the individual attempted to breach the Boarding Area B security checkpoint only minutes earlier. San Francisco Police Department-Airport Bureau (SFPD-AB) officers responded and arrested the individual.
While events of this nature are rare, they underscore the challenges homelessness can pose for our Airport. These issues are far from new, but we remain committed to implementing every measure we can to mitigate this issue and protect employees and passengers. These include the following:
- Establishment of business hours of service that restrict our facilities only to people with a business or operational reason to be here during overnight hours. This means that individuals at the Airport during the overnight hours who do not meet these criteria are subject to trespass.
- Launch of the SFO Ambassadors program to enhance safety and security for staff, tenants, and employees. The SFO Ambassadors are a group of retired SFPD officers who work at SFO during the main travel hours. They walk the terminals pre-security interacting with tenants, passengers, and persons experiencing homelessness.
- Launch of the SFO Ambassadors Escort Program to enhance the safety and security of employees during late-night and early-morning hours by providing access to SFPD Ambassadors who can be dispatched to escort employees to and from the terminals and parking garages and lots within the Airport complex from 10:00pm to 6:00am.
- Coordination with multiple law enforcement agencies, including BART Police, to mitigate the use of public transit without a fare to SFO, including persons experiencing homelessness.
- Continued development of resources for persons experiencing homelessness to ensure these individuals get access to the support they need most.
We remain focused and committed on this topic to ensure the safety and security of our employees and passengers.
As always, we encourage you to promptly report suspicious behavior by calling or texting 911 for emergencies or (650) 876-2424 for non-emergencies.
If you see something, say something.