Supervisor London Breed is haunted by the quadruple homicide that rocked her district in January, when four young men riding in a stolen car were gunned down in a drive-by at Page and Laguna streets. Police chalked up the murders to turf warfare between rival gangs, but without surveillance footage or witnesses, the investigative trail has gone cold.
Breed hopes money can speed justice along. She wants the city to reward witnesses whose tips lead to an arrest and conviction of an unsolved homicide that's at least a year old with up to $250,000.
"So many black boys and men I know have been killed, their children have been killed," Breed says. The reward idea "grew out of my frustration, and out of the mothers of victims who want justice."
Although Breed says it's unlikely the city will dip into the fund often, it sends a message that rewards aren't ad hoc, and that "everyone deserves justice."
Over the past six years, the city has averaged about 50 homicides per year. According to FBI data, police made arrests in 60 percent of those cases.
As to whether a big payday will entice witnesses in the remaining 40 percent of cases, Breed says, "These are poor communities, and I know there's a culture of non-snitching. Anyone who comes forward has to be prepared to start a new life somewhere else."
That's a tall order, but "if this legislation takes killers off the street, then that's what we'll do," Breed says.
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