Elon Musk called violent crime in San Francisco “horrific” and moved the offices of his social media business X outside the city in 2024 because of safety and business considerations. Other local tech companies have attempted to address their security concerns by partnering directly with cops.
Airbnb and Salesforce are among businesses that for years have contracted San Francisco police to protect their offices on a regular basis, according to public records obtained by WIRED. Airbnb, for example, spent roughly $428,443 for the presence of uniformed, armed officers in 2024, the most recent year for which complete data was received. Salesforce shelled out about $727,907 through a security vendor. The payment amounts have not been previously reported.
Salesforce hired police to protect its offices in San Francisco’s tallest structure, known as Salesforce Tower, as well as a nearby building in the city’s busy downtown area. It also spent nearly $41,000 for officers at its TrailblazerDX 2024 conference hosted at the city’s convention center.
The security practices of tech companies in San Francisco have received renewed attention in recent weeks after a man allegedly threw a molotov cocktail toward the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and tried to barge into the company’s headquarters by ramming a chair into the building’s glass doors. Authorities allege the suspect wrote a document criticizing AI technologies that outlined a goal to kill Altman and referenced the names of other AI executives. He is facing state and federal prosecution but hasn’t entered formal pleas yet.
OpenAI and Anthropic, the two leading generative AI model developers based in San Francisco, have not been regular customers of the city rent-a-cop program, according to police spokesperson Allison Maxie.
Salesforce, Anthropic, and Airbnb declined to comment. OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.
The contracting program is known locally as 10B, which is also the section of the city code authorizing it. Any person, company, or organization that desires extra personnel or equipment for “law enforcement purposes” can request “such personnel to perform such services,” as long as the police chief signs off on it first. Under the law, companies pay the same hourly rates for officers that the city would, including overtime. In early 2024, the rate for a standard officer was $135 an hour during the day, while a lieutenant fetched up to nearly $190 at night, records show.
The program is often used by organizations hosting concerts, events, and conferences, as well as by sports teams that need additional security. The largest 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 police escorts.
Several tech companies used the program on one-off bases in 2024. Records list OpenAI as paying $813.43 for unspecified coverage at the Asian Art Museum, Microsoft having a single bill of $1,622.16, and Zoox running a tab of $838.43. Occasional or one-time customers in prior years have included Affirm, Cruise, Datadog, and Fanatics.
Zoox spokesperson Marisa Wiggam said police protected a large offsite gathering for employees and that it is open to using the program again if a need arises. Microsoft and Affirm declined to comment. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.
The program has been used more regularly by houses of worship, office building landlords, retail stores, and bank branches, including Apple, Bank of America, Best Buy, Bloomingdale’s, Chase, Lululemon, and Sephora, records show. The firm Security Industry Specialists paid over $1.2 million in 2024 for what police records described as coverage at three Apple stores, making it the year’s second-largest customer.
An estimated 80 percent of police departments across the country allow moonlighting by officers informally or through formal policies like San Francisco’s, according to a survey from over a decade ago by Seth Stoughton, faculty director of the University of South Carolina’s Excellence in Policing & Public Safety Program. Some cities have raised concerns about the conflicts of interest and liability risks posed by the arrangements. But agencies that permit them say they benefit community relations and officers’ wallets, Stoughton’s survey found.
