SFPD Chief Scott to resign; Yep to serve as interim

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced May 7 that Police Chief William Scott will be resigning. The mayor said that he’ll be replaced on an interim basis by Paul Yep, a former police commander who is currently the city’s public safety czar.

Scott said he has another job lined up.

Scott has another job lined up. He has been tapped to lead the new, in-house Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority public safety department. LA Metro’s board of directors approved its creation last June; once he starts this June, Scott will have until 2029 to bring it online.

“This is an incredible opportunity at this point in my career,” Scott stated in an LA Metro news release.

"How many people can say they have built a public safety operation from the very beginning?" Scott asked. "I’m honored to be back in L.A., but even more honored to have this chance to lead this next chapter for LA Metro. Together, we have an opportunity to create something that reflects the values of this region, supports our frontline teams and earns the trust of the public we serve."

LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins stated, "We heard the community’s call for a leader who is calm under pressure, emotionally intelligent, and politically astute. Someone who can balance enforcement with empathy and collaboration. Chief Scott brings all of that and more. His experience leading reform in San Francisco, coupled with his decades of service in our own neighborhoods with LAPD, make him uniquely qualified to deliver the safe, responsive and equitable security system our riders deserve. This is a defining moment for Metro’s public safety strategy.”

Lurie said that there would be a smooth transition.

“Over roughly the next six weeks, Chief Scott and I will work closely to ensure a close transition that allows the great work of the department to continue,” Lurie said. “In the coming days, we will work with the police commission to kick off the search for a new permanent chief. I won’t get ahead of their work but I have full confidence that we will find a leader who shares their values and commitment to public safety.”

Scott said he will be stepping down “to pursue a new opportunity as a chief in another jurisdiction.”

Scott first became chief in January 2017, appointed by the late then-mayor Ed Lee. He had previously served as a longtime deputy chief with the Los Angeles Police Department. Scott recalled that when he was chosen, the department had just been placed under oversight by the state Department of Justice to help it implement 272 reforms recommended by the federal Department of Justice. This followed a series of controversial officer-involved shootings, including that of Mario Woods in 2015 (the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability found that there’d been unnecessary force in that case), among others, and reports officers exchanged racist and homophobic text messages.

At the height of the police reform movement, Scott was hired to build bridges.

“The mission was clear,” Scott said. “He [Lee] wanted the department to enter a new era of policing and had called upon me to lead the department to do just that. The city had just agreed to engage in an ambitious collaborative reform initiative with the United States Department of Justice that included implementing 272 recommendations.”

In January, the state Justice Department ended its oversight after finding the SFPD was in “substantial compliance.”

Scott has been San Francisco’s longest-serving chief in decades; interim former mayor Mark Farrell and then mayor London Breed kept him on during their administrations. After Lurie was sworn in January 8, speculation began that he wanted a new police chief.

In Scott’s eight years at the helm, the focus of public conversation shifted from reform to increased demands for police presence, particularly after the COVID pandemic lockdowns in 2020. This led not only to the ouster of former district attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022, but also to Lurie’s election last year.

“We accomplished what we set out to do, and made the department better and helped this great city to become safer in the process,” Scott said.

The city oversaw the lowest homicide rate in over 60 years last year, and that trend is continuing this year, and gun violence “has been reduced by approximately 50% in the southeast part of our city where gun violence is the most prevalent," Scott said.

Lurie said Scott had helped bring city departments together in the shared goal of fighting crime.

“The collaboration between our public departments has never been stronger thanks to the partnership between the police department, fire department, the Department of Emergency Management, the sheriff’s office, and the district attorney’s office,” Lurie said. “Chief Scott has been a valuable partner in forging this culture, and we look forward to carrying it on.”

Indeed, Scott called District Attorney Brooke Jenkins his “partner in crime-fighting.”

Jenkins, who was appointed in 2022 after Boudin was recalled, and subsequently elected and reelected in her own right, stated, "Chief Scott’s departure is an overwhelming loss to our city. He is the consummate professional, who for eight years tirelessly devoted his life and career to delivering public safety to San Francisco and promoting responsible reform within the San Francisco Police Department. We have worked together closely for the last three years in the trenches, doing everything we can to turn this city around. Working together, we achieved historic crime reductions, which did not happen overnight but came as a result of years of partnership and hard work between our agencies.”

Jenkins continued, "The progress we have made is fragile, and we cannot afford any extended period of instability within the SFPD, at a time when public safety remains a top concern citywide. The future of our city’s recovery depends upon our ability to continue to make progress with public safety improvements. ... The San Francisco District Attorney’s office will continue to do everything we can to partner with Mayor Lurie and Interim Chief Yep as they work to stabilize the Police Department and keep us moving in the right direction."

Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey – who before Breed appointed him to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 was the SFPD’s head of communications – issued a statement.

“It was among the great honors of my career to serve in the San Francisco Police Department under Chief Bill Scott’s leadership – through COVID-19, the murder of George Floyd, the recall of a sitting D.A., and an unprecedented short-staffing crisis – and yet watch SFPD emerge as the nation’s role model for 21st century police reform,” Dorsey stated. “Bill Scott has been an accomplished reformer and extraordinary leader. On the occasion of his announced retirement today, I’m incredibly grateful for his friendship and his service to our city, and I wish him the very best on his career’s next chapter.”

Gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman stated Scott "never lost his cool nor his commitment to implementing meaningful reform" despite "a period of unprecedented turbulence for policing in the United States and locally."

"Just yesterday, the Board of Supervisors held a hearing to review the substantial progress the department has made on its Collaborative Reform Initiative, even as we have seen significant decreases in crime in the city and a renewed departmental commitment to making our public spaces safe and usable for all residents and visitors," Mandelman stated May 7. "San Francisco has been fortunate to have Bill Scott leading SFPD during a uniquely challenging time. I wish him the very, very best in his future endeavors."

San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto gave his “heartfelt congratulations” in a statement of his own.

“Scott has been an unwavering champion of social reform and change in law enforcement, even amongst dissenting voices, blazing a trail many would not have dared to take,” he stated. “As sheriff, the chief and I have navigated the public safety challenges of the COVID pandemic, the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing, and a fentanyl epidemic, which has forged a stronger connection between our sister agencies as we worked to keep our city safe.”

As his remarks ended, Scott teared up and thanked his wife. Born in Alabama and a longtime veteran of the LAPD, Scott said when the job opportunity came up, she reminded him he’d always wanted to live in the City by the Bay.

Lurie announced Yep would be returning to the SFPD on Monday to begin working side by side with Scott. Yep has been the mayor’s chief of public safety since January, when Lurie restructured the mayor’s office to have four policy chiefs. (The other three areas are housing and economic development; infrastructure, climate and mobility; and public health and wellbeing.)

Yep, born and raised in San Francisco and a former SFPD commander, has in the past served as the commanding officer for Richmond, Central and Northern stations, and the staff services division.

Lurie did not say who would be replacing Yep as his public safety chief.

Yep said of Scott, “I can personally testify to the strength of his character and the depth of his dedication to his department.”

“I have always worked to build bridges between law enforcement and our communities,” Yep continued. “My north star has always been the safety of our neighborhoods. That remains true as I step into this role.”

The San Francisco Standard reported January 6 that Yep was abruptly reassigned from central station to an internal police headquarters job after he was accused in a San Mateo County civil lawsuit of driving under the influence in a city-owned vehicle, rear-ending a car in Burlingame, and attempting to intimidate another motorist. The case ended in a settlement in 2020. The department claimed Yep was moved due to a “periodical rotation among district captains,” and denied it was for disciplinary reasons. This was not addressed at the May 7 City Hall announcement.

Yep said that it’s an “honor to serve as interim police chief at such an exciting time for this department and for this city,” and that his goal will be to implement “Lurie’s vision for a safe and thriving city.”

District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton recognized Scott for his tenure at the April 15 Board of Supervisors meeting.

Walton honored Scott “for his extraordinary service, courageous leadership, and unwavering commitment to building a safer, more just San Francisco,” a news release from his office stated.

“I want to thank Chief Scott for his service to our city and for staying committed to the hard work of reform,” stated Walton. “Even when the national conversation shifted, Chief Scott remained focused on building a department that is more accountable to the people it serves. That work isn’t finished, but it matters that we’ve made progress—and that he's helped lay the foundation.”


Updated, 5/7/25: This article has been updated with comments from DA Brooke Jenkins, Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, and an update on Chief Scott's new job.