Airbnb dropped $428,443 last year hiring armed San Francisco police officers to guard its headquarters. That’s not pocket change—that’s the salary of two senior engineers. Welcome to the new reality of doing business in SF, where your office security budget now rivals your cloud infrastructure costs.
Corporate Security Becomes Major Line Item
Tech companies are paying premium rates for uniformed officers at $135-190 per hour.
Salesforce outspent everyone, shelling out over $768,000 for SFPD protection at Salesforce Tower and its TrailblazerDX conference, according to city records. That’s serious money for what used to be handled by standard building security. The city’s “10B” program—which allows businesses to hire off-duty uniformed officers at standard city rates with police chief approval—adds up fast when you need round-the-clock coverage for a 61-story skyscraper.
AI Leaders Take Different Security Approach
Despite direct threats, AI companies aren’t regular users of the police-for-hire program.
Here’s the twist: OpenAI and Anthropic, the companies actually building artificial general intelligence and facing manifesto-wielding attackers, barely use the service. OpenAI had one $813 payment for an event at the Asian Art Museum, according to SFPD records. Meanwhile, someone literally threw a Molotov cocktail at CEO Sam Altman’s house and rammed furniture into OpenAI’s lobby. These companies apparently prefer private security over public police moonlighting.
The Great SF Tech Exodus Accelerates
Elon Musk cited “horrific” crime as justification for relocating X’s headquarters.
Musk wasn’t bluffing about San Francisco’s “doom spiral.” X initially moved to San Jose and Palo Alto before consolidating operations in Texas, after years of Musk complaining about street conditions. Other tech companies are testing the waters with minimal 10B usage—Microsoft paid $1,622, Zoox spent $838 for an employee offsite. Even Apple outsources the expense, with Security Industry Specialists paying over $1.2 million to protect three Apple stores.
When Baseball Teams Outspend Tech Giants
The Giants spent $1.9 million on police services, dwarfing most tech expenditures.
The San Francisco Giants top the spending charts at nearly $2 million for game-day security. That puts tech companies’ expenses in perspective—until you realize that USC policing expert Seth Stoughton notes roughly 80% of US police departments allow this moonlighting. The difference? Tech companies have options. They can relocate to Austin or build campuses in safer suburbs. Sports teams stay put and pay up.
