Crypto billionaire offers $9.4 million to overhaul S.F. police tech hub

San Francisco Chronicle​

02-06-2025

A crypto billionaire with a reputation for funding public safety projects San Francisco is asking officials to greenlight a $9.4 million gift to create a new, state-of-the-art technology hub for the city's police force.
The donation, which is made up of funds linked to Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, would relocate San Francisco police's Real-Time Investigations Center, which oversees its work with drones, surveillance cameras and automated license plate readers, from the SoMa Hall of Justice to an office at 315 Montgomery St. in the Financial District.
If approved, the Police Department would sublet the Montgomery Street location for free from Ripple, which paid $2.3 million for the lease through December 2026 but is no longer using the space, according to a proposal ordinance.
The other $7.25 million would come from the San Francisco Police Community Foundation, a charitable organization Larsen set up last year to support local police and crime-fighting initiatives.
Police commissioners are scheduled to discuss the funding proposal Wednesday at their weekly meeting. If they agree to accept the money, the decision would fall on the Board of Supervisors for a final approval.
In a Monday interview, Larsen credited last year's tech advancements with helping a chronically short staffed police force drive down crime rates and keep themselves safe.
'I think we can clearly see what a force-multiplier this is,' he said, noting the city's historically low rates of crime over the last year. 'The number of tools that they have is quite small, and we know that (expanding them) will have an impact.'
Evan Sernoffsky, a spokesperson for the police department, said the gift would 'supercharge' a unit that in 2024 assisted in over 500 arrests and helped drive a 40% drop in auto thefts over a one-year period.
'We cobbled together our current (Real Time Investigations Center) with everything we basically had lying around,' Sernoffsky said. 'Little did we know how effective it would become with just the tools at our disposal.'
In a statement, Mayor Daniel Lurie credited the center for supporting an understaffed department and helping to keep neighborhoods safe.
'With this new facility, the SFPD will have the tools and the technology it needs to take this work to the next level,' Lurie said. 'I want to thank Chris Larsen for his continued dedication to our police officers and the safety of all San Franciscans.'
Both police and other city officials have for months bemoaned deficiencies in housing the department's technological epicenter the Hall of Justice, a crumbling building constructed in 1958 that relies on 1960s-era wiring.
'In its current location, the RTIC has experienced power and internet outages, and plumbing leaks from the ceiling,' the proposal ordinance stated. 'The RTIC is in a windowless room in a concrete structure, which limits cell phone and emergency radio transmission capabilities.'
During a recent press conference at the RTIC's Hall of Justice location, police asked reporters to refrain from charging their equipment in the room's electrical outlets because doing so risked overwhelming the system.
Last year touched off a technological revolution for city police following the passage of Prop. E, an assortment of measures that increased police powers and loosened the amount of oversight surrounding their surveillance technology.
A wave of new equipment was introduced in short order. It included a fleet of officer-piloted drones, hundreds of new automated license plate readers and towering mobile security cameras stationed in crime hotspots.
Many San Franciscans have embraced the advancements as an overdue response to its stubbornly high rate of car break-ins and other property crimes. But the tools remain deeply unpopular with privacy advocates who fear that they're vulnerable to abuses.
The proposed windfall would both relocate the RTIC and expand it; with funds earmarked for purchases included a dozen additional drones and related software, a new video wall and the installation of fiber internet services.