Born and raised in San Francisco, Chief Derrick Lew joined the department in 2003, inspired to serve his community in the wake of September 11, 2001. Appointed by Mayor Daniel Lurie in December 2025, Chief Lew brings a clear-eyed perspective to the role. His priorities are straightforward: recruit more officers, address the City's drug crisis with urgency, improve street conditions, and ensure San Francisco remains one of America's safest big cities.
Chief Lew, the grandson of Chinese immigrants whose children were born in local San Francisco hospitals, has a profound appreciation for the opportunities the city has afforded his family. With this in mind, he is committed to promoting public safety in San Francisco and ensuring its citizens can thrive.
In over two decades of service, Chief Lew has held critical roles while working across San Francisco's most diverse neighborhoods—including Ingleside, Mission, Bayview, and Central Stations. His path has taken him through some of the department's most challenging assignments, including leading narcotics and illegal firearms investigations, developing and directing the Crime Gun Investigations Center, commanding the city's coordinated response to open-air drug markets as head of the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center, and, most recently, overseeing patrol operations throughout the City.
Chief Lew attended San Francisco’s St. Ignatius College Preparatory, holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Boston University, and is a graduate of the 286th Session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy. He has also completed executive education programs at the University of Virginia.