Here’s how much San Francisco tech companies pay for police protection

Call Elon Musk violent crime in san franciscoshocking“He moved the offices of his social media company X Out of town In 2024 due to safety and labor considerations. Other local tech companies have tried to address their security concerns by partnering directly with cops.

Airbnb and Salesforce are among the companies that have contracted for years with San Francisco police to regularly protect their offices, according to public records obtained by WIRED. For example, Airbnb spent approximately $428,443 on having armed, uniformed officers in 2024, the last year for which complete data was received. Salesforce paid approximately $727,907 through a security vendor. Payment amounts are not previously reported.

Salesforce hired police to protect its offices in San Francisco’s tallest building, known as the Salesforce Tower, as well as a nearby building in the city’s busy downtown area. It also spent nearly $41,000 for officers at the 2024 TrailblazerDX conference hosted by the city’s convention center.

The security practices of San Francisco tech companies have received renewed attention in recent weeks following a man’s allegation He threw a Molotov cocktail Towards OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home I tried the battleship To the company headquarters by ramming a chair into the glass doors of the building. Authorities allege the suspect wrote a document critical of AI technologies that identified a target for Altman’s killing and referenced the names of other AI executives. He faces state and federal prosecution but has not yet entered formal pleas.

OpenAI and Anthropic, two leading AI model developers based in San Francisco, were not regular clients of the city’s hire-a-cop program, according to police spokeswoman Allison Maxey.

Salesforce, Anthropic and Airbnb declined to comment. OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.

The contracting program is known locally as 10B and is also… City code section Authorization to do so. Any person, company, or organization that desires additional personnel or equipment “for law enforcement purposes” can request that “such personnel perform such services,” as long as the police chief signs off first. Under the law, companies pay officers the same hourly wages as the city, including overtime. In early 2024, an officer’s regular pay was $135 an hour during the day, while a lieutenant’s pay was nearly $190 at night, according to records.

The software is often used by organizations that host concerts, events, and conferences, as well as by sports teams that need additional security. The biggest spender in 2024 was the San Francisco Giants baseball team, with a bill approaching $1.9 million. That year, at least four National Basketball Association teams paid a collective sum of about $16,500 for a police escort.

Several tech companies used the program once in 2024. Records show OpenAI paid $813.43 for unspecified coverage at the Asian Art Museum, Microsoft has one bill for $1,622.16, and Zoox runs a tab of $838.43. Occasional or one-time clients in previous years have included Affirm, Cruise, Datadog and Fanatics.

Zoox spokeswoman Marissa Whigham said police protected a large off-site gathering of employees and that it was open to using the program again if needed. Microsoft and Affirm declined to comment. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.

The software was used more regularly by houses of worship, office building owners, retail stores and bank branches, including Apple, Bank of America, Best Buy, Bloomingdale’s, Chase, Lululemon and Sephora, records show. Security Industry Specialists paid more than $1.2 million in 2024 for what police records described as cover-ups at three Apple stores, making it the second-largest client of the year.

An estimated 80% of police departments across the country allow officers to work overtime informally or through formal policies like San Francisco’s, according to Survey more than a decade ago Written by Seth Stoughton, faculty director of the University of South Carolina’s Program for Excellence in Policing and Public Safety. Some cities have raised concerns about Conflict of interest and the liability risks imposed by the arrangements. But agencies that allow them say it benefits community relations and officers’ portfolios, the Stoughton survey found.