>> the meeting is called to order at 2:09 p.m. is the sheriff's department oversight board meeting. it's now in session. on behalf of the sheriff's department oversight board, we would like to thank the staff of sf gov. tv to provide assistance and provide the broadcast. please stand to resite the "pledge of allegiance". >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

please call the roll, dan. >> clerk: thank you, madam president. >> a a fa mango? >> here. >> carrion. >> here. >> president soo. >> here. >> soo is here. member wechter. >> present. >> we have a quair um. >> is there a motion to execute member palmer. >> so moved. >> is there any opposition. approved unanimously. member palmer is accused. any announcements? >> yes, by instruction of the mayor, remote public comment has been discontinued f.you wish to make a comment, you're welcome to attend in-person to do so. the public is welcome to

address the board for up to two minutes on that line item. there will be general public comment at the end of the meeting within the oversight board. comments are opportunities to speak during public comment period for members in-person by lining up along the far far and approaching the podium when it's free. you'll have two minutes to provide public comment. the first tone will alert you that you have 15 minutes and the second tone will be to alert you that your 2 minutes are up. >> tuz, dan. we have a quite full agenda and i prepared additional documents. the mind was willing but the timeline and body was not. so i would like to continue item 7 and 8, the documents have been provided. i ask that the board members review so we can discuss next month, they're the quarterly 2023 quarterly report for q4 as

well as the 2023 annual report. i've also developed a 2024 priority task force and benchmark timeline for guidance through the rest of the year. and that last document is not set in stone, it's just to guide us along the way and we will be working with our newly appointed inspect or general on particular items that we want to tackle this upcoming year. >> president, i'm sure you considered this i just want to confirm that conditioning the quarterly and annually report is not going to be at issue with any of our deadlines. >> no, we do have a standing meet to go present the quarterly reports in january, although our annual report is not due until march. so i'm going to ask that we do make the report in march and take the january off calendar with the board of supervisors. we do have budget as an issue,

so in february and january and february where we may have special meetings and hearings for our budget. >> thank you. i move to continue. >> do i have a second? >> second. >> dan, can you take the roll call please. >> yes, member a fa ha mango. >> aye. >> aye. >> member brookter. >> aye. >> vice president carrion. >> aye. >> president soo. >> aye. >> soo is aye, member wechter. >> aye. >> the motion passes. lines 7 and 8 will be continued. >> thank you. dan, please call the first agenda item. >> yes, call line number in memorial. the board recognizes and

commemorates oakland police officer tuan lane, at 8:44 am. >> so we wanted to extend our deepest condolences his family and colleagues and close friends. our office department of insurance moved over to oakland right before the pandemic february of 2020, and the bay area is a small community. so our security detail at our office, is just one or two degrees of separation within our bay area family. and one of the security guards offered to me that the community really misses officer lay. he expressed that he loved his job so much that the only way he was not going to do it is if he was severely or killed in the line of duty. he made the ultimate sacrifice and we are glad that the bay area community law enforcement

local state and national came together and suspects were apprehended swift'. so thank you for your service, officer leigh. i'm sorry, public comment on item 1? >> for members that would like to make public comment online item 1 please approach the podium when it is free. there is no public comment. >> next item. review and approve the regular meeting held on december 12, 2023. >> i move to approve. >> second. >> second. >> roll call please. >> going to do public comment first. >> oh sorry, public comment. >> for members of the public

that would like to make public comment for line item 2. approach the podium when it is free. there appears to be no public comment. call on the roll of adoption of minutes, board member al if you ha mango? >> aye. >> aye. wechter. >> aye. >> carrion. >> aye. >> president soo. >> aye. >> member wechter. >> no. >> wechter is no. >> i want to recognize that member duane is now present. and so next item on the agenda? >> calling item 3 announcement on inspect or of hiring of inspect or general. >> so our inaugural inspect or

general is terry wiley and it's been post approximated. he was sworn in by the honorable mayor willie brown on december 20th. affective date of his appointment is january 8th, so we welcome inaugural inspect or terry wiley. >> is there any discussion? >> yeah, i have a question why it was presented without announcing him in advance from the actual event. which is unusual. >> it was announced. >> not in advance. i never received a copy of, simply said that selection inspect or general would be announced on december 20th. >> right. >> so why was it not, his identity inspectors are not announced in the original press release that we had a week before. >> we had a public event and

weigh wanted to people that could attend the public event. and we lined up anything. it was not a mystery, but i think there were some leaks at the press which i deal with. but everything was followed by procedure. >> a ruple remarked that it was unusual. i found it unusual that i did not receive a copy of the press release under the name of the oversight board. i'm not sure why it was not distributed to the members. >> it was publicly posted. i don't know if member carrion was there, vice president carrion was there too to also make remarks and we know that member a fuhaamango is the communication and she was

unable to make it and we had member brookter that was there. >> it was brought to to mia tension when the board of supervisors outnumber the appoint he's on the board was not very good, it made it seem slanted. >> they can contact the board directly and make their public comments. >> and i also think that maybe they may not understand the dynamics, most have worked with each other regardless of who appointed us, really, it's about bringing our particular skill sets to the table and working to make sure that we are moving forward with a mission of this board. so i recognize that some of that political slanting is out there, but i personally don't

think that i interact with supervisor appoint he's than i do of mayors because of that. that to me is a waste of our energy, because it's not fulfilling, excuse me, our mission. i understand the politics and perception but hopefully people can recognize and especially by the fact that we have been able to achieve this incredibly successful recruitment with somebody that is as qualified as our inaugural ig that, you know, that our work is speaking for itself in terms of us being able to reach consensus and us able to reach majority votes in meeting our goals. >> well it did not feel very inclusive to me and others i know, it would have been appropriate to have one member of the board who should be appointed by the board of supervisors at that event and all members should have

receivesed a press release in advance. when other members of the community. i only learned about it because another member from the oversight told me about it. >> that's surprising since we had emails that are not press released. and you're cc on all of them and i find that dis ingenuous you've been part of this process all of this time. and you're part of the emails all of this time. so to be able to say na i didn't get a press release and therefore i had no knowledge, does not seem credible. >> well if i was getting all the emails why didn't i get an email about the press release if it went out to the members of the oversight community which i'm a respected member and leader as a member of the board of directors. i found that puzzling and

others in the oversight community found that puzzling. >> sorry, so we noted some comments in the press made by you. so i think it's dis ingenuous to say that you said that you had no knowledge. i do want to cut this conversation. we are fortunate enough to have the sheriff here, to deal with the disciplinary process with the sheriff's office and we want to be supportive especially now that we're in the budget process. we have taken inventory and know what we need to do to support the sheriff's office and the office of the inspect or general and to make the sheriff's office the best in the country. so if dan, can you call public comment. >> board members of the who would like to make public

comment online 3, please line up along the far wall. as a reminder you have two minutes to give public comment. it appears that there is no public comment. >> thank you, next item on the agenda, dan. >> calling item number 4, sfso under sheriff catherine johnson will appear to give reports on operations, budget and staffing how the oig can help in getting it upgrades for data and reporting. undersheriff johnson. thank you for being here today. >> good afternoon, president and board members, thank you for having me. i'm the undersheriff. thank you for your time today. ifls asked to do a report about discipline. so i'll do a short presentation

and then i'm happy to entertain questions at the end. i'm going to start with vetionz. vetionz start with a complaint. every office of the sheriff is suppose to have a process in place to accept complaints. those can come in in a number of ways. we have a form on our website or you can walk into the office of the police accountability. after na, it's forwarded to the undersheriff in this case, it's me. and is review the investigations and i render a recommended finding. next slide, please. any complaints of serious allegations and they're defined troughs items 1 through 5. use of force causing an actual

injury or death. controlled device referred to as taizer and impact weapon. our investigated by the dpa as well as sexual misconduct, a pattern and a practice of retal occasion towards an inmate or wreckless disregard for the well fair health and wellness of inmates. those are defined bit loa, most recently in communication with the police accountability there was an update to add any investigation of a death in custody unless that death was illness base. that's the most resent update with dpa. next slide please. so the conclusion of the investigation i review it and i have the option of render one of six findings.

they're not sustained, sustained, no finding or just a documentation. for the purpose of this presentation, we're going to focus on a finding of sustained. so finding of sustained is my level, i have determined that there is some misconduct or law by the employee of the department. once that happens, we move into, we end the investigative phase of the disciplinary process and go directly to the discipline and once that happens, the employee for any civil employees and there is a different for versus those who are on probation. they are entitled to a due process hearing which is commonly referred to as skaily hearing and that happens with the sheriff. so they conduct the ploys' has an the opportunity to offer officers factors in mitigation. why or how that happened. they provide a finding and the

sheriff can either, maintain the discipline as it was recommended, reduce it or dismiss it perhaps the, the factors and mitigation that the sheriff dmisd altogether. however, if they sustain the discipline and they receive what are the discipline is, whether it's a written reprimand or suspension or termination. and many think that's the end but it's not. the collective agreement have disciplinary grievances so the employee union can file a grievance which is a way to say they want to go to avenue racing. and then an ar by tore, so while the sheriff can and does

impose discipline regularly, it's up to the arbitror, it whether that's the set. we've had arbitrors have the employee return to work. so that can happen. there is a lot of discussion internally within our office and within the public sphere about our hires and separations and what our staffing is like. we have a significant deefficiently see in our staffing, we are short staffed and we're work to go close that gafp. gap, you'll see in this gap, fiscal year that just closed because the first time that we hired more people than we separated. so we peaked. you'll also notice that this data, shows the significant spike in the number of separations. it should be noted that those

surprisings were from employees that did not meet the covid-19 vaccine requirements and that's why a spike in that. in january 2020, we had a 100 sworn vacancies. in 2023, we had 195 so almost double and it should also be noted that the sheriff support longevity premium to keep our ploys longer while we continue to hire and we're aggressively hiring. thank you. this chart just breaks down by classification and rank where the vacancies exist. as you can see we have 154 vacancies in the deputy sheriff alone. that is the significant greatest vacancy that we have in the department. on boarding websinger have 10

deputies expect to go graduate from the academy. we start withed 12, we're down to 10 and we hired four academy trained people. and then in march, we have another four graduating with four more academy on boarding. so we hope to see some relief with the draft thating is happening with the new staff that is coming on board. next slide, thank you. so budget, so the sheriff's office has just under 3 million dollars budget, huge budget, that is the greatest number of dollars spent. in this particular case, i want to talk about the deficit. we've heard a blot the budget 26 or 29 million over sent. --spent. so i want to break down the actual deficit, these are of as november 30 of last year, so

just six weeks, this includes taking every pot of dollars and putting them together. so we took the money that we had in permanent sal vaoez and work order dollars and what we're spending on overtime we. show significant saves in permanent salaries because we're so short staffed but we show an increase in over siem because. so you when you take all of those dollars and put them in a pool, we have a deficit of about 1.9 million dollars. part of the deficit, there was an error in the calpers, that error totaled about 18.8 million dollars. we have been working to adjust that error, we anticipate by mid-january that number will be down to zero. then we've also looked at what we're spending for apec expenditures were about 1.8 million. and then the expenditure of 3cg

annex it was the small jail shut down several years. we increase in jail oplation and we have one housing unit. when you take the dollars as the city of san francisco has agreed to rei am bus with the apec and adjustment of calpers, we have deficit of 2.9 million. and in order to meet that deficit, we put in reserves 5.8 million dollars. as it stands right now, we're not expect today ask for supplemental and that's been the case for many years. we have not required a supplemental in many many years. le in in case the deficit is overtime spending. a little bit about operations.

so the request about operations was broad not so i picked several areas to talk about. i want to talk about electric monitoring this is within our community programs. we have 4 divisions and within that division we run community programs which is a program within our department that provides services post incarceration. specifically electronic monitoring is a level of supervisions, so an individual is incarcerated and they may request electric monitoring as a level of supervisor. that's what this data shows. so this was taken in june of 2023, and it's called snap data, we looked at everybody that was in our electronic program. and what you have before you is the data before that.

so 138 people, released were charged with a serious or violent offense, it's. another 149 were classified as other felonies or excluded felonies. the vas majority of people are on our electronic are charged with felonies as the data shows. at that time, there were three teem charged with members with electric. lewd acts on a child, robbery and domestic violence. is brings this data up not to scare people but actual data point. there are some people that are charged with significant crimes and it's incumbent of the office of the sheriff to monitor these people. we do that through realtime monitoring, monitoring individuals on electric monitoring. we also realtime interventions

to exclusion airy. somebody may have had a stay away order. we do home checks and compliance checks. the other thing we do is we offer warrants if an individual is not compliant with the order of the court. it's up to the judge if they want to sign that warrant but we do write a evidence. if a judge signs a warrant with we actively go look for the person to return them to secure detention. for last fiscal year, 1323 warrants offered, that's a high number of warrants. of those 167 were still out stand anding 51 relevanteder and 401 were served and individual returned to custody.

this is important because electronic monitoring is a tool to use to release people while they're in the community and many times it's successful and other times it's not. >> would you like us to wait to ask questions. >> totally up to you. >> fuzz have data available of those with serious violence, how many of them actually violated their requirement. >> i don't have that data but i'm happy to get it and forward to you. >> question, which unit which officers serve the warrant and do they have training? >> sure, that's on the next slide. >> thank you. >> the next slide is our deployment into the tenderloin.

there is three goals for that unit, we lose illegal drug use and increase public safety. along with the warrant serves unit and. the reason our unit is primarily tasked with the enforcement piece of compliance to warrants. so their primary task is to switch out individuals and obtain a warrant and return them to secure attention. they get, they have additional equipment, so yes, that all happens and it's primarily by this group. >> are they uniformed? or non uniformed? >> they're in plainclothes, they do wear uniform when they do task assignments. >> i think you mentioned multi agencies, what other agencies do they work with?

>> it depends on what the opposition, sometimes it's with the police department and sometimes probation and u.s. marshal so it depends on the task force. >> does the fret, are they still operational? >> they are, not as heavily as they were maybe 10 or 15 years ago. >> thank you. >> you're very welcome. programs and services. now we move to our custody operations divisions. part of what we do is provide programs and services so when somebody is releases, they have programs. prior to the pandemic, the office of the sheriff was a national model in this area. and we have been striving to get back to that national model but we have incredible services for the incasered rated. and i want to start with the discharge planning. we have case managers that

review data and we look at the highest number of uses of the jail system and try to provide service to see that group so they don't return to scud. and part of the custody, is they work with an incarcerated individual and help them to provide for bridge housing, we have a program called safe passage, safe harbor. this officers individuals cab rides upon release. so they have somebody to go so they don't end up back in an area where they will get involved with an illegal activity. the last fiscal year, we housed 49 people. and part that have is to get them corrected through coordinated entry so there is more perm nal house hading available. we've increased our out of cell time and some of our programs,

road to recovery officers shifts and one family with all up and running. i want to talk a little bit about rsvp and roads and sisters, those are staple programs that have been in affect for decades and they offer services. and the picture you see on the top right is from our cover pod, our pod that deals with veterans and we provide services to veterans to help them as well. the lower picture that you see, i'm going to tie into norbert in a most resent ruling, we were ordered to provide direct sunlight access to the incarcerates population for those who have been in jail a year or longer. and the ways we met the requirement is removing the

loover, and that's what you see so the sun can come in. the difference of meeting the requirement of the court. we believe that we met the court's requirement and we'll see how this, this process advances. so that's the picture on the lower right there. and then the last thing is the i want to talk about the grants. cal aim, we got grant for 680,000. and the second for a million dollars to administrator medical enrollment as part of the post release. we're in the process and we will do that in two parts. the first is for 500,000 and the second for 4.5 million. the reason we're breaking is based on the way that the grant was awarded. this is just an indication of how we seek other venues for funding when we can't find

funding for what we're doing. the next slide talks about employee wellness. we know we have a huge deficit in our employee base and we know people are tired. this is hard work, being a deputy sheriff is hard work. it's difficult work and difficult work and it's rewarding work and we have those that work for us. we applied and awarded a grant from the board directions for 531,000, we issued an rfp and part of those dollars will also be used to stand up down rooms, to create lactation rooms for employees return froming maternity leave. so all of that is in the works because we do a lot of to offer sfses for incarcerates we have to do more to help our employees. this is on that area of helping

our employees more. just some completed projects, some of the things we've taken on. you can research any of our policies, they're on our sheriff's website. we first and primary concern is human life above all. and narcan has been. i have a short video for to you watch at the end here. we had requested for funding for a record management system and we did not receive the funding so we created our own report writing, that our staff created in order to better imagine our reports and produce data from those reports. and we upgraded the data. so we've introduced tabulate use and in order to do that we had to upgrade the wie feiz. --wi-fi.

so the picture on the left for at least 30 years, we had parent-child visits. so the incarcerated parent can visit with their minor child. in this case, we want to make sure that when minor children come to the jail, they don't feel like it's a jail and they're able to have quality time with their incarcerated parent. so what you see here is the final product. and the picture on the right, is the kitchen remodel. this is the incarcerated kitchen for incarcerated people. one is for staff but this one is for the incarcerated population. the standing up of this kitchen will separate and provide food for the incarcerated population. this will go into operation in a couple of weeks.

that will happen within the next few weeks. and just data on what we do. this is last year's data, we received 31 people by the department of narcan. the number of guns removed, 10. our sheriff's patrol unit recovered foern 10,000 contraband items of those four were guns and five airsoft guns and 47 knives. we had over 3 2000 in-person court transports for court appearance. this bridge housing is the number that i spoke about earlier, totaling 189 nights, so people that were released to had a place to stay and a bed to go to.

so just some data about the work of the deputy sheriff. and in the end, is would like to show a short video this is deputy bloom and he talks about what he does everyday. he does foot controls in the areas. --foot patrols. .

department and he talks about what he does everyday. he does foot controls in the areas. --foot patrols. >> the library, we basically keep the liberian and staff safe by eliminating drug use. i started here in 2018 and this

is before we were issued narcan, there was an overdose almost everyday, there was a lot of heroin. then i was ran into a man that was called the narcan angel, he was checking in with me daily because the word on the street is i was aifg a lot of people and when i used narcan with people overdosing from heroin, they would pop right up. the narcan a year later, does not work well. if somebody looks like they're sleeping, we make sure that they're okay. their skin is blue tinge, no chest rise, so we immediately, we give them a shot of narcam, and if that does not work, we give as many narcans as we take. it's tough, it's not my

responsibility to judge anybody, it's just my responsibility to save somebody on my watch. and it feels good, once i've done something. it makes me feel like i'm doing my job. deputy bloom, that's ha*z been with the san francisco for about 28 and a half years. >> so just wanted to close on that video, it's important to show the good work of the deputy sheriff and how impactful we are to saving lives and with that, i'm happy to take any questions. >> member afuhaamango? >> yes, i had a question, it was talking about the different types of, i don't know if it's conclusions, of like the complaints that come in and the findings. >> uh-huh.

>> i think it was like 1 through 6, do you what the percentage of those results are? what gets deemed? >> sure, i do. dpa does issue reports and we have our 2022 report, and i'm happy to send it to you. i don't have that on me. >> okay, thank you. and then also, you mentioned about returning, i don't know if this is the correct word but offending officers, is there a process. >> sure, that's the arbitration process that i spoke of. at the conclusion of the hearing, the sheriff's renders a decision. let's presume for this discussion, that an employee has a sustained find anding he imposed a ten-day suspension. the employee does not agree,

they go to the representative from their collective bargain anding they file a employee grievance, that's the final. so the grievance is the way to put it in writing and say, i don't agree with this and i want to arbitrate the matter. and then an arbitrator, decides. we have to follow what an arbitror says. >> okay. thank you. >> member nguyen, let's go to you. >> he's one of the employers that he works everyday, he represents that. >> member wechter. >> yes, i do have others. i do have questions.

how longevity. >> we do have longevity premiums, they're small in comparison with other reports. they have sought for an increase and the sheriff has long said that he does support an increase in premium to help employees work longer. the way to close the gap is to have employees work longer while we continue to hire aggressively. and the way the employees want to stay longer is if there is a reason and also financial incentive. this is the time for na to happen because city wide negotiations have started and the city and county of san francisco. i don't have a better answer for you than that because that will happen during the process. >> so our longevity is in affect and what are the amount ?z >> one is 5% and 7, i will research and let you know.

>> how does that compare to sfing pd and other law enforcement departments. >> sure, i think that's what the position will be that they want longevity pay for what they receive for their members. >> okay, and going back to the arbitration recollection verse al of disciplinary. do you have any figures on how the number of disciplinary action that's have been reversed by sfsh traitors. >>--arbitraters. >> i don't but i can research. how far back? >> couple of years. >> sure, i will get that information for you as well. >> and then you mentioned the tablets, do you know what they can access on those tablets? >> sure, there is entertainment apps, also seeking to do what

we call direct messaging the ability for the incarcerate today connect with their case or teachers of the program that has yet to be implemented. we have run into difficulties. those are the apps, i can get you a full list as well. >> yes, when member palmer and i went to the jail, one thing expressed is that they don't have the same access information and i checked on the access and they use something like vie a path and i got a list of the things that they can access including the california dmv to renew their license and english as a second language, counseling for alcohol and drug abuse. i want to see if police

department are in par with the sheriff's. >> we deliver a lot of programs in-person, we have a a programs where case providers provide that direct service either in groups or one on one. we may not have those apps but it's because we deliver the services in-person either individual or in group to include independent study or so receive their high school education or ged. >> to receive that counseling on substance without having to come forward and talk about it. >> i will research. >> thank you so much for the presentation, it's great to see the numbers and videos and see the good works. i also think that they provide

information and showing how the sheriff department is out in the community. but i echo what member wechter was eluded to. so to hear that we're providing services for member and women inside, would be great to hear and know what the services are and what organizations we're working on i'm big on prevention as well as not going back. what access and other resource that's are available for them. i did want to hear a little bit you touched on something as we're talking about budgets and understanding that human capitol is people are the most expensive that you have on any business or department. what are we thinking about in terms of recruitment. i mirror we touched on it, but are there any innovative ways,

but to give the people, so we don't have people working 16 hour shifts working three days nays row and exhausting themselves. >> sure. so i want to touch on the drafting and the working three days in a row. we currently have a policy in place where, the actual employees, the employees from artial to artial which is the draft. employees will not be drafted for more than two days from ado to rdo. so that's in place, so currently employees cannot be drafted for more than two days from their day offs. we do recruitment, we have done radio ads and bus ads, however i think the best way to recute

is deputy and word of mouth. talking about how great the job is. barry bloom, the video you just saw. he's proud because he saves lives and he does that everyday. whether you work in our field operations, we make an impactful difference to the people of san francisco and that's the word that we need to get out to make sure people know that this is a great job. it's a regarding job and we can make a difference in people's lives. we have found that. >> okay, now, i appreciate that. i was really having a conversation earlier today, just around workforce development in looking at the next generation, that's coming in and to line of work and thinking about how we get to folks a little bit earlier about some of these opportunities and how is here.

>> sure we have, we've done a lot of research and talk internally about how we improve our numbers. and the generation i came in on, would not come in. we just won't see those numbers probably for another generation. buzz we know that people coming into the workforce really learn from social media. really learn from a quick contact, really learn about the department from something very easy that they can see and read. we've done recruitment and hugely successful. we post quite a bit on our website and social media accounts. >> vice president carrion. >> i asked a question but i want to echo what board member wechter said, what the programs look like. that would be helpful and thank

you for your time here. taking away from the work that you're needed to do. when people are using those the tablets, are they recorded the communication between case managers. i know that jail calls are recorded, right? are the tablets being recorded? is there some kind of more of a privacy with the tablet or less? or same expectations. >> great question, i just want to touch on the jail calls. jail calls has an announcement, before the line connects, they are advised that the call is being monitored or recorded. and any individual is excluded. for example calls from attorneys, from the office of public defender are not recorded. in terms of the data on the

tablets, nobody has asked and i have not researched i will find out and let you know. and i will include that in the packet that i submit to the board as part of the requested data. >> and i do believe that. we've had multiple presentations, right? from the sheriff's and i believe that we have been presented some of that information. but i will be frank as somebody that is not working day in and day out, it's important that we articulate in its full understanding and, because also assuming that there is changes to that. >> i don't want to give credit

credit for the past presentation that the sheriff's has done in where the sheriff has provided that information beforehand. i want to recognize that work. so if you're right there, you're like i remember that. >> i appreciate that. i just want to really call out, our director, she does phenomenal work. thank you for that i appreciate that. thank you vice president carrion. that was just a comprehensive report, and i'm sorry, i kept on saying, can you talk about that. that's how the report grew. you saved us from some of the questions. it's good for the public to know the breath of the, some

suggest it's just the courts and buildings but it's on the ground and really saving lives. i also want to remind the public that everything in our meetings has been archived and it's in our website. and i want to remind our members that we can look back at minutes and detailed presentations and most of the presentation are in-person presentation are delivered to our commission secretary dan and it's posted on our website. so i wanted to know about the current cost of the academy training? and then, is know that our hiring time with our city takes a while. we've been through the process of getting an inspect or general that is non civil service. do you have an idea of the loss to other jurisdictions because our hiring process is lengthier than some of the other jurisdictions? >> so to the first point, i do have those numbers, i submitted

during the last budget cycle. i'll include it in the packet, in terms of knowing how many people go to a different agency, because another agency offered them a job first. i don't know that we maintain in that fashion. from start to finish for each time we test. so say for example we had 100 applicants. so that data we domain tain but in terms of who left to go to another agency, i don't know how to track that data. >> and then about the current employees who leave for other jurisdictions, do you do exit interviews to find out. >> we do exit interviews if the person wants to participate but we do track data, i'll get that to you. >> thank you, and in terms of disciplinary action, if it's not really serious is there a plan for corrective actions?

for newer deputies who actually show promise but don't have the experience? >> that's a great question. so we do, we work very hard to provide training rather than imposing discipline on the front end. it's hugely important to teach new employees what in job is about? we've taken uphold the constitutions. when you raise your hand and take an oath, it's special. so the pass academy to pass the board of direction corrections, it's meaningful and costly. so we want to help employees along. we do offer collective measures, it could be a conversation, it could be a written counseling. it could be a mediation, so there is a number of different programs that we use on a regular basis. >> and what else can i ask you

about? so, i was going to ask you reitying the organization that we partner with, we would like to invite them to speak. next month, we're having the public defender, so we want to know about the organizations and we had nick from present legal services. so the only kind in the nation which is pretty impressive. so we wanted to figure out how we dove tail more to find out, prevention, but somebody who is in there to prevent recidivism so we can be more successful on that. >> i'll include that in my packet. >> and we note that you have recruited. >> we have! i'm very excited that patrick is here, i told him at least a dozen times.

>> we look down the road to inviting him and see how we can be supportive of the budget. >> i think that's great, i appreciate that very much. >> thank you very much and if there are no questions, we will let you go back to your busy day. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. so is there public comment on this agenda item? >> for members that would like to make public comment for line number 41234 please line up along the wall and approach the podium when it is free. it appears there is no public comment. >> so dan, the next agenda item? >> calling line item number 5. the department of police accountability presentation. alexandra direct of mediation

of dpa, will appear to give a presentation. >> thank you for being here aly, so i want to tell the viewers there is a rhyme and reason for how we're calling. down the line, we'll see what we want to delve into but it's good to get. >> great, thank you for putting that into context. just a tiny housekeeping manner, i think dan is my technical assistant, so wonderful. thank you all so much for having me today. i'm aly, schulthies, and i'm the director of mediation.

i'm so proud of our ma'am. i'm a recovering lawyer, graduated from what was hastings back in the 90s, after some time practicing civil law and raising a family, i became certified as a mediator in 2015 , harmonious of mediation to the adversary process. i actually started volunteering as a mediator with the occ. soy came in as a participant and loved it so much and ended up working as a investigator and senior and investigator and now as director of mediation.

i'm continuing with education and dispute resolution types of education, just completed a class in restorive, so always interested in what is happening and what is new and how we can brings that to our program and how that can inform the things that we do. so i want today give you a little history of our mediation program, it's been longer than people think, it's been around since 1995, that's when it was formerly established t.used to be called the office of citizens complaints o.c. c, so it went under that name. for quite a long period in early to late 2000, it was headed by a woman donna salazar that was employed by a

nonprofit organization that some of you may be familiar with, they provide mediation and all kinds of civil disputes, they have all sorts of programs in the city, a really great organizations. donna recruited a lot of her colleagues from community boards to be mediator with the occ programs and many are still volunteers and fantastic mediater. in 2018, paul henderson took over as the directer of what was then, known as the dpa still known still now known as the dpa. now that's me.

the former occ mediator that's now moved into that role. some of this is a little related to that. where does mediation fit in in our process? it is an alternative to the investigative process. it's a way to resolve results. what we do is we set up in-person or virtual meetings with sfpd or whoever the complaintant may be in a calm,

safe productive manner. between the officers and the public. it's to help improve and it's to softer conversations where the reports are free in a calm and productive environment. i spoke a little bit about how i was a mediator. we are incredibly lucky to have a variety of unpaid volunteers who are highly skilled and, well trained and have.

they don't have suggestions to either of those agencies. currently we have about 25 on our panel. they're unpaid, at least a 40-hour certification training in mediation which in california is sort of the standard for being hold yourself out as a mediator. they come from a variety of back grounds some social workers, some have attorneys. all over the boards so they bring a lot of perspective and skill set to the job. in order to avoid any conflict of interest, we have

restrictions on who can volunteer, they cannot be a current or former member of sfpd, not being part of criminal practice as a lawyer. i will not read everything on here, but you can see that we have limitations so we can avoid any conflict. so thed critical features of our program, this is a non disciplinary alternative to the investigative process. so i think i had said a few moments ago, this was an alternative. this is kind of off-road from the investigative process. at the end of the mediation, we don't make a determination as to fault, no fault, we make no

recommendations regarding discipline. we consider the heavy different thing to have bnl conducted. so once the mediation is done, the case is closed. it's a voluntary process, nobody is coerced in the process. if a complaintant wants to and the officer does not want to, it does not go forward. we have to have folks who want to be there and fully engaged. some require settlement agreement, we don't. in fact, we don't really require anything.

we require that the parties show up. and sometimes there are apologies, sometimes there are robust discussions, usually there are robust discussions. sometimes there is information chair that can be useful. but we don't guarantee that anything is going to happen and we don't require that a settlement agreement be created or signed off on. really the item behind this is, it's a forum, in a calm place, with skilled mediators. where we can bring the party together and have them see each other as humans and talk about their perspectives. they may walk away not agreeing

but at least each had an opportunity to sit and fully listen to the other person. and each had the opportunity to express themselves. giving them the opportunity to express themselves is so important and sometimes all people really want and this is a forum that does allow that and every one's full attention is on them. we also have interrupting services. there is some dim nations on the weighings of cases that can be mediated. 9 more, the easiest to say this is the more complicated like officer involved shooting that dpa is involved with, those are not the things that we have the ability to mediate.

for our program, there are more than. such as conduct on becoming an officer, that could be rudeness, a person feeling that they were disrespected that type of thing can easily be candidate for mediation. negative duty, maybe paperwork was not filled out. our type of case on one complaintant and one incident, that is the easiest one to do. of course if nrr --if there is couple of officers, we can do that. the more complex in terms of legal issue, maybe

constitutional violations, allegations and things like that. our program does not the band with to handle those. they're all serious of course but these are less complex cases that we're talking about. so the complaintant has to deal with the fact that the complaintant is there to participate in this. this is not way to get information for a future lawsuit, they're in good faith. for the officer, it's a little more complicated in the sense that we have restrictions, you cannot get complaints filed against you everyday and mediate them all.

if you've had, against that officer, a certain number of time has to pass. i stole from baltczar. >> it's very pretty. >> it's very pretty. but you can see there in the top middle, the blues section, i want to orient where mediation is in this process. so it does not go through the investigative process, it does not go through, we don't make discipline recommendations. to mediation if appropriate and

it ends there as well. that is something that every one signs on. we don't make a guarantee as to what is going to happen. once it has mediated, that's the end of the road. i think i have that coming up.

>> well, i i think it's this slide and i'll talk about it a little bit more. this is how it works. so the complaint would be filed again, that's advice a this person can come into the office and email us et cetera. the intake investigator whoever is on intake or taking cases that particular day. will interview and get a sense of what that case is about. and take a recorded statement and from that complaintant and hopefully, if appropriate bring up the concept of mediation. tell the complaintant and see if they're interested at all. then work within a team model. the team is comprised with a

investigator and a team attorney. then that team, will look at the case, they look at all of that investigator's cases to make sure that they're all, this is how we want to proceed with this particular case and make sure everybody is on the same page. so say the investigator says, i've identified this case, the complaintant express some sort of interest, i would like to refer it to mediation. that team, consisting of senior investigator and attorney, will make the determination if it should be referred to me. and i get people to agree to participate or gauge whether they're interested and sort of see their eligibility and so on. and yeah, i think i completed that little process.

all right, the objective, these are similar to our mission but one of our main objective is to improve the relationship between community members and sfpd. as i said before, you get people together and get them to be human beings not representations of something else. we are trying to foster conversations. we have third party mediator and we're trying to impact the attitudes, the understanding and behavioral of officer and community member. often times, the community member will leave saying, oh wow, i didn't know that was what they were suppose to do.

i'm glad that officer explained that process to me. often times we have an officer going, i didn't really think of it that way. or that was a hectic situation. i didn't realize that the way i said, hey, buzz off, was so impactful. so there is a way to think about that with their future and behavior and the way they're interacting. this last subjective is different from the investigation. it allows the parties to resolve the differences themselves. rather than depend upon the judgment of others.

what i mean here is the investigative process is fantastic. but because of confidential laws associated with law enforcement associated with law enforcement records. when a complaintant files a complaint after they're given a statement, there is little involvement that the complaintant has with the rest of the process. the investigator takes it and does a fantastic job running through the process. but that complaintant who, understandably thinks about that case as theirs, you know, is not a part of the interviews with the officers, right. is not part of watching any body worn camera and not part of reviewing any materials. in the mediation, we don't watch body worn cameras but we do have a complaintant and the

officer there together and the complaintant can ask whatever he or she wants. and they really can participate in a way that is meaningfully different than how they can safe in an investigation. so it's a way to feel empowered in that way and we think that that's really important. the participants, we do an exit survey at the end of mediation. of course we with covid we changed entirely to online. we are now in a hybrid model, so we use either in person or online. and sometimes we do double hybrid, we do whatever works, whatever works to get people together in a comfortable way.

we have the officers are, almost always, 93% of the participants say they were satisfied or very satisfied. that's everybody. complaints as i said before, they had an opportunity to listen to them, always a good thing. they have an opportunity to meet members of the and explain something na happened that they didn't have a chance to explain in the heat of the moment. so these are quotes from the folks. some say that the mediator do a

great job to express themselves. this is again, we can go to the next slide. the case is referred to the mediation, it's the lower left circle. then the mediation team, me reviews the case. then, i will contact the complaintant and the officer to see if they're interested. if they're not interested, then we do go back to investigation. it's just done. if they are interested, we schedule a mediation. we have a mediation by person virtually some hybrid.

this next diagram is to show, i think eric used this for his presentation. i'm always available to answer anything later but i'm happy to answer questions now as well. i also realize that your name

was misspelled. >> it does not follow any grammar rules. >> ms. afuhaamango, do you have any questions? >> yes, i do have a few questions. and i also want to say this, just speaking from my own personal view point with the system as it stands, it's so unfair and i love that there is an alternative avenue to reconcile with the two parties. >> thank you. point of clarification, what happens when a complaint happens, it either goes to one of those two routes? they will never be an instance where it would not go to either?

>> there is not. i mean, i have all sorts of ideas about third ways, but as of now, there is no other way. it would go to investigation or mediation, those are the only two routes that we currently have available. >> that's great. and then the second point just to clarify, maybe you mentioned this h when you're talk about thing safe space for the two parties to express themselves, it happens, meaning, whatever they say in that space. >> thank you for asking that, i didn't emphasize that, everything is confidential and really the confidentiality is about using that for future proceeding. everybody signs confidential agreements before the session

starts and the mediators or i go over that again, at the beginning just to make sure that everybody is on the same page. we don't typically have an issue but it's important for us to make sure that everybody take that seriously so that people are of course free to speak openly and they don't have that fear, and that's on both sides really. so they don't have that fear that something they say is going to get them in trouble or come back to haunt them, yeah. >> thanks, member nguyen. >> thank you, regarding the settlement, what is the criteria that you're going to include that. >> our program does not require settle agreements and we don't really, to be honest, i've never been in one where somebody has wanted to have one

just because we don't present it as an option. part of the difficult is to somebody has to mon or that agreement is being adhered to. we don't, as this is, i'm the entire department, we don't have the resources. and i don't think it would require anyway. >> member wechter. >> thank you very much. i worked at dpa for 18 years and worked closely with donna salazar who was a good friend.

and you did a great job explaining it. we have a mediator and we promote it as strong as we can. as equals which is great. few questions. as the 7 percent that were not satisfied, what reasons did they give? >> yes, i will say, there are cases where people just aren't satisfied, and what they're really not satisfied about is there is nothing that can really be done. these are complaints that are valid, it's frustrated, it's

not that the officer did anything wrong. for example, we have immediate ated a number of cases that have unhoused population. and some feeling frustrated about calling the police and unhoused folks are still there, something like that. it's more complicated so we can talk about that in the mediation but ultimately is the encampment outside of somebody's house gone at the end? no, it's not. so there have been cased like that where people are frustrated that the underlying

issue is not resolved and sometimes those are larger policy issues that volve a lot of other agencies as well. that has been the case in many situations with the 7%. otherwise, we can remember one scenario where the complaintant did not feel like the officer was, just didn't really feel the officer, not that he did do anything, but she didn't connect with him and she didn't feel like he was owning up to what he had done, that's rare but that's an example of something that happened. >> two more questions, in regard of team's straining of mediation.

assuming the complaintant is agreable and officer are agreeable and they qualify because of factors. when i was there, many occasions, a fair number typically involving traffic stops, they felt they didn't deserve the ticket, they want today mediator. but it failed, and sustained that allegation and count that as a sustained case. is that still happening? >> i guess the best thing i can say is it's a case by case basis it depends on the team on whether or not it could proceed or not. i understand what you're saying

and there could be ways that the mediation process can be forwarded. i'm a big proponent as of moving as many cases into mediation. so when i do know about cases like that, i throw that perspective in but ultimately, it is a team by team and if there is real, disagreement it can go up the chain of management to make a final decision. >> then after donna salazar retired, did hal have any experience managing the program? >> i know na, ms. alsle had worked with other programs with the ag's office but i'm not sure precisely of her

background in mediation. >> and do you know whether the number of mediation decreases or increases? >> you know, i don't i don't know, i can get that information. donna had a well-oiled machine to ensure, she created the program. is know that she had a number of mediations going. i know that they had made some changes to some of the protocol when sharon came in. >> i would like to focus on what is on for our board for since we're pressed for time today and what is on agenda. i wanted to move on to member

brookter and his questions. >> thank you for that. thank you for the presentation and really no questions, really familiar with dpa on my time with the police commission. so i had an opportunity to sit through what you shared. as we bring in our ieg and even with my colleagues. in what was the key take away that we took from this, and communication, communication, communication. so i saw that in here and i think it's a good thing when you can bring folks together. and we can communication and have some of the difficult communications and create a space for us to do it, thank you. >> thank you. >> vice president carrion. >> yes. thank you for all of your work and thank you for being well-oiled-women department, i

had a lot of experience with mitigation and litigation and all court of areas and i think that, depending on the mediator, it can be inxraedably positive and fruitful process. if mediation does not work, it goes back into. so when i hear about the 7%, i understand the example like this is, there really is no remedy but are there exemptions that you thought in the process, this officer may need to be investigated. there should be an exception for this case because as i'm sitting here, there is conduct that really should go back into this system? or not system, but into the

process of complaint investigation process. >> sure, sure. i hear your concern and i think that our mediation model is different than a lot of other mediation models. and to the point of the skill of the mediator, i will say without reservation that our mediator are incredibly skills, amazing to observe. having said that, i will also say that sometimes they barely need to do anything because what really the power of this program is to put them in the room together. we use a comediation model, so we have two mediator at each

mediation, we have a calm environment two people together and we say, we have an hour here, we don't have anything else to do, this is what we're doing. and the people themselves, we always start with the complaintant, the complaintant tells his or her story and gets it out and feels listened to and feels heard, the officer responds and sometimes, they are off and runing, they're communicating, going back and forth and the mediator, frankly are just there, you know. kind of waiting. >> facilitating the sfrtion. >> exactly. we have we can focus and make sure that we have productive session.

we don't, there has been times, i think there have been some times when the case has been investigated and at the end the complaintant still feels frustrated. and we have sent it back for remediation. it's unfair, it's a resource issue, it's already gone through the whole process and send it to be redone. i have never been in a mediation where i thought, oh this officer needs to be sustained. that's just never happened. now this is going off the rails, i have personally, never had that experience. we already made the offer in agreement to the officer, if he or she agrees to participate, this is a non disciplinary

format. so it could be, now we say, oh, psych, you're going to be investigated. that's not to say that i'm not open of other ways of thinking about things. but in that case, i don't think we would recommend. where the disciplinary could be imposed for the sake of integrity and what we bargained for. >> i have to say as a trial i t folks would be able to communicate a little bit better and understand each other, i would not have a job. [laughter] that's what my job consist of.

lots of people don't want to communicate, you're well employed for many years to go. >> so, when you said, that you don't take out certain cases constitutional cases, is that saying, basically, you don't take excessive force of use all of those cases? >> yeah. >> it's a great point and constitutional cases would be like 4th amendment, but also, forced issue typically for not mediating force issues. >> ally your voice is so calming. >> yesle >> i--yes. >> your law school was just

renamed. i wanted to ask a little bit about your language lines so having been the commission and worked with women who are victims of domestic violence or human trafficking, i'm always struck by that we think that it sounds great, like we have a language line but so many is communicated through body language. so now with zoom and other face time, do you engage in video interpretation programs? >> it's a great point and a great question. and unfortunately, our current situation is that we have literally aligned. so an old fashion telephone line, so we patch them in verbally only. i would love to get access even a zoom type situation or

in-person, of course would be even the gold standard. i completely recognize the need for, you know, we obviously need to have the resources available for people where english is not their first language. and what we do have right now is just the telephone. >> most of the law enforcement officers carry pocket cards to make sure that their contacting a language, if they realize that the person they stopped or victim is not english pro efficiently. >> right. >> so the other part, as vice president carrion pointed out, it's about communication and listening and the other person feeling like that they're being

heard. and i just heard that attention span has been reduced to 47 seconds from 2 minutes. so with interpersonal skills and i think about in a generation that i grew up in, large extended family, if you didn't behave, your older cousins would pummel you. just to listen and be respectful of each other. do you offer training and then, with that, with your mediation, do you category things and lessons learned so that you can go and tell officers, you know what, and becoming of an officer if you just waited an extra second for the person to feel that they were able to explain that situation. that that may have prevented this from happening? >> we don't currently have something like that. but it's a fantastic idea. i do go around to the stations

and remind officers about mediation remind them that they can actually request mediation. they think that it has to be requested bit complaintant but that's not true. we do about the general things that come up. but i don't necessarily go and tell them about those issues. >> i see enough on next door where i feel like there is a bad perception, i made a call and the person did not show up. and often times i say participate in your monthly captain meetings. i'm nobody special but if somebody happens, and i'm engaged, i'm able to call the stations.

more important than not, please save and say thank you, positive reenforcement really helps. >> it's a great idea, i think communication is critical and the more that we can do, the more that we can be reminded that you know, people are out there trying to do the best they can. i think it's a really positive for way forward. >> and you know, vice president carrion, pretty brought to mind one, as attorneys, we do bring it back to the system. i also had a number of experience as a public arbitrator for resolution that became thinra and we had a complaintant we do securities as well as issues and we found

the conduct so agrecious, we stuck the complaintant with the fees and everything else. he was doing things on his own and he was doing the trading and it was not, you know, direct the broker to do. i feel like maybe there may be an avenue. and so, also doing enforcement actions for the department of insurance. >> i wanted to add a comment, to have a safe and constructive space to be critical of lawsuit where they may not necessarily feel safe saying these things to officer when they're on the

street because of who they are and life experiences all of that, and it's an opportunity to have an officer be educate beside a different perspective and about how, you the way that they interact. because know, folks don't know that we're on the commissions what we do things, they just see who i am. i have had an situations and officers and deputy where i'm, i told them something about themselves, let me tell you. but i, i think that's really valuable for officers to be able to listen directly. >> i'm amazed by the poise and the strength of some of the complaintants who participate

for being able for being very direct, they don't get into yelling matches but very direct about their criticisms and their frustrations. it's a great environment for people to talk about. >> just in general for law enforcement, for general communities and people who have had repeated negative interactions, if they come from a community where they're feeling like they don't they're not hurt. it would be nice to have some general findings and it can be a mutual learning experience. >> that's great, thank you for that feedback. >> thank you so much. we have to get to budget which is so important for all of us. >> thank you so much. if anybody wants to discuss mediation anytime, i'm always available. >> i appreciate your time

examine comprehensive presentation. thank you. >> thank you. >> do we have any public comment on this presentation? >> for members of the public that would like to make public comment for line item 5, dpa presentation, please approach the podium when it is free. it appears we have no public comment. >> next agenda item, please. >> line item number 6, sda-oig and sdob budget item. nicole armstrong, coo will have presentation. >> it seems like only yesterday we were discussing it. >> i know it comes up every year. >> and now we have fewer dollars to work with. >> yes, that's the case but that's the case across the city. we're facing a large, deficit this year for the city. this is the city is trying to

make up the cuts where they can, and it's all the general funding department. dpa, sda and all the rest of us. so i'm going to give you, i just have some numbers and i want to answer questions, the six-month report is due next week. so we're still working on some of the data so it's still in fluctuate and the big report will be at the end of january and beginning of february. i have a little bit of numbers to give you but we're looking at the forecast and what is going in the future. >> and while it's top of line, so you can point out particular dates where we may schedule a special meetings to have a hearing. >> we're going to do as much. we're going to make sure that we have one at least here at the beginning of february. the other one just has to be the public one where we ask the

public for information about it for dpa, we're going to schedule at the library. so that way, we can get as many people to join. i'm going to talk to the ig to see how he wants to do it. but i will offer and let him know if he wants to join us at the library, he's more than welcome to. we started on monday, i have not been able to brief him about the budget or any of the information. i can tell you that we did have a mid-year budget cut. the budget cut included some positions that they had to give up because they had a number of empty positions and 60,000, so it's becoming a piece meal and each of the departments have been asked in addition to the mid-year budget cuts to do additional cut for next budget. so a 10% for the first, and

then an additional contingency after that. so, these are going to be should very very hard times for sda because most of the budget will go to filling positions. you will notice when you look at the budget books, it looks like sda have larger positions available but there is not any money to support those. so part of any discussion with the ig is identifying what positions to fill and what funding is actually available, it's not just funding, it's going to be the fringe benefits and also operational costs. and then of course they ask for additional funding that we can do in the future. but i can tell you that because of the efforts, that dpa team has done. i think we saved a significant of amount of money. on day one, ig is going to be able to go in and i made sure that the desk is up.

he has a workspace and he's going to have the systems, he's got a cell phone, all of these things are up running for him. within the sda system for him to walk in the door the first day. and we're really excited to help him out. and, dpa is going to continue to support no matter what. so i can give you some numbers, i can give you things but it's going to change because what is going to come out for the next week once we have these things figured out. as of right now, there will be some significant money left over but that's because, there is no positions filled. most of the budget, you have one position, and then you're going to have the ig. but the ig is starting six months in, that's six months of

salary saifks, that will be because you have a years of salary. they also have some savings because of that, so we do have extra none this year. i'm not anticipating having extra money next year. we laokds at hiring total 5 position that's comes out 1.2 million dollars out of 1.8 million dollars budget plus additional budgets, so that's going to be $400,000 or $300,000 operational costs that they can use to do their op raisesing. as you can see, the money is shrinking very rapidly and we're trying to use it for the development of the program and dpa will continue to support it for as much as we need for what we can do. >> so, when you say dpa will continue to support it, does

that mean that no complaints will kind of be delayed, they will be continued in the process? and they will be timely addressed? is that, i just want to clarify so that the public understand that if they complain right now because there is a transition. >> there is going to be a whole transition plan in place. dpa is taking complaints, i think we received them on a daily basis. our team is dedicated to doing those. we're not missing any of the deadlines, all items republic sent to the sheriff's on time and dpa will continue to do that in the future until they're ready to take over and go forward. >> thank you.

>> we have a work order with sda which is reviewed by ig but if we're doing work for them, then we get paid for that work that we applied. so like our investigates, billing on those items but it's a work order that is with the ig and will be talked about next week. >> thank you. >> and will those payments be renegotiated are they standing because there is the memorandum. >> it will be discussed about what the work that they still need. and dpa will do whatever they need, they're also balancing what they need as well. >> in the budget there are certain position that's are in

the books but there is funding for some of them. >> so which position right side funding for the fiscal year undering june 30th? >> so it's more about how much money is available to do that. it's not like a direct line to line item, it's large amount of monies and identifying what positions can be filled. and it will be up to the ig to decide, some positions will cost more and some less. some positions are not available if it was used for attrition to cover the other cuts that were available. >> i think you mentioned a figure earlier about what the budget cut for sda is, can you repeat that, i didn't catch it. >> it was 60,000, the mid--year cut and two positions. >> and how many will be reduced? >> it's going to be 330,000. >> 330, so what level

discretion will the ig have about how to implement those cuts? >> both, ig is in charge of their department they will be doing whatever they need to do with to identify the funding. >> to, do they have a full discretion where to take the money from? >> that's correct? >> okay. >> do you have any questions? >> no questions, right now. but thank you for the presentation. >> uh-huh. >> member wechter. --member brookter. >> none now. >> we'll be back. >> thank you for your on going support and also dpa in general. i know how hard this has been. you made the past year, very easy on us. and we're just happy to have an ig board to work with you. i expect the transition period to be at least, i think i've been saying it a lot, at least

a year to 18 months and depending on which positions might be civil service or not civil service for the investigates mostly civil service so the timeline is to get more investigators on board. >> we'll follow through the process that the city requires and follow all the guidelines and we will continue to support as best as we can. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> do we have any public comment on this line item? >> for members of the public that would like to make public comment for line item 6, please line up the far wall and approach the podium. appears to be no public comment. >> okay. so next item on the agenda. >> item 7 and 8 were continued, calling line item 9 future agenda items, discussion items. >> so colleagues, we had a

laundry list that dan kept for us on future agenda items that was in our november agenda. so i tried to incorporate that into our 2024 timeline task and benchmarks. and it mirrors what we did in searching for inspect or general. i like that member afuhaamango said, what are our targets. so i ask that you study that particular document as well as review the quarter q4 report and our annual report. they are just drafts. i ask that you reviewed your biography we probably need to update our biography. and we're going to have that do

to the board of supervisors and department of sheriff in march. so i'm going to ask member afuhaamango to help us make it look nice. i had scheduled a board photo in march, but we may want to do it sooner, next month. i would like to request to tha* any request of our sheriff's office or any for information, actually go through dan. we need to have a more coordinated approach, so chief chu, does not have to go through. and also things like jail visits, that it's more efficient if more of our members, if 3 of our members can go at the same time. and i think it's important to have three members at the same time, so if there is any difference, at least there is three people to verify and any

request for agenda items, idealy three weeks in advance. we already had the list of future agenda items, but what, is not helpful is to have request the day before the agenda is due to be posted because, there is not time to vet through particular materials or think things out and then, it also puts an extra strain on our secretary dan, because he's got a things to coordinate and often times it may be room issues and additional it issues. and so i think, vice president carrion, you had additional comments. >> yeah, i do. we have established, right, every one, here has established we voted on our priorities. we have identified what they are. and i think that let's stick, i think our priorities are going to be working through this process as we learn from our

new ig of what, he sees, as being things that need to be addressed more or some pitfalls or all of those things. so i think it's really important when making these requests when sending them to dan, as president and vice president, that we should review those requests and be able to vet them and say, are these within the priorities that we voted on? and if not, they should be brought to the board, as a future agenda items, and then the board decides, you know what, this should be another priority, right? terrestrial rather than having 15 emails to the sheriff for this, 15 emails to dp a for this, it does not serve the people that are trying to do the work. so i would like to propose that not only do we send any

requests through dan which i know, dan is working so hard and you know, we thank all the people that present all the time, but dan is here day in and day out, so thank you dan for all the work you do. but that we also as vice president and president, we get an opportunity to ensure that they're in line with what the entire board has decided our priorities to be. so i would like to make a formal motion that that would be the process moving forward and that, three, if you have a request of the sheriffs, we received that they need at least three weeks. send it three weeks before you want the presentation, myself and president soo will review them. check off that they're in the priority list. if they're not in the priority list, we can get back to the sender and say, this is something that you may want to bring up to the entire board to

see if they want to make this to add it to our priority list. i think that this will streamline the process. and i think that also goes into the heart of us working together as a board. where it's not just one individual acting by themselves, it's that we are going to be moving forward on the things that each and every one of us had a say on and agreed to. so i would like to make a formal motion to move forward but, interested in perspectives and thoughts and you know, suggestions of how you think it can be improved or if you have a different strategy, this is an idea that i was going through, of how we can be efficient and also recognize what the board has decided as

priority. >> i agree that the city attorney commented, not one member can act for the whole member, we have to talk about the issues. and be in agreement in a majority. so i department agree with that. >> i don't recall us voting on priorities? >> yeah, we didn't vote. >> me either. >> so that was going to be my only discussion. i'm all for it, in agreement. should be stream lined, it should be efficient and i'm all about systems. but i don't think, i think this was the beginning of our creating our priorities is we were going to pull together all the things that we have put under future agenda items and find where the common threats were so share those were the priorities. that's the only thing that we had not agreed upon our priorities. >> so i don't think vice president carrion, if i can

amend your motion to make it for of a process. i did take the priority list and put things in a particular order. you'll note that, from day oncinger i asked about jail health and way it's way back in april, like a year later. and then we're gaining ground on being more community oriented. so that's listed there. but i think in terms of process, you know, i think maybe we do need to make a motion, because we tried to do it informally it has not been successful. but all requests go through dan that includes requests of reports from other agencies, supporting agencies and agenda items as well. >> if my memory serves me correct, we were asked by madam president to submit our priorities. >> yes.

>> that's what the start. >> how we suggested it. >> and being able at what was sent to dan and find the common treads. >> i would accept that friendly amendment for the process. i would then suggest that the future item for next month, that it not be only a discussion but discussion and potential action item. so that way we can establish, we can gak to these priorities and consider what is it as a board to select maybe our top five based on the preliminary, the work that has already been done. >> and then. thank you for reminding of that. >> and then, i would ask that, i would ask that as we reviewed since we continued, and i apologize, i told dan the mind was willing but the body and

mind restraints were. i didn't expect a decision today. to review the q4 report to see where we're going and the timeline and benchmarks. we're getting more information on, and budget still top of mind, but next month and member afuhaamango has asked for a presentation from the defenders office. i have spoken to defender and some of the organizations and member if you would help out, if you have organizations who would like to present. and then, we that the following month or moved it to march, so jail house is not a full year. so that may take some time and i need to go through chief yu to make that requests. and the following the to is respective of the deputy and member nguyen had asked about

the on going process. working conditions and safety, and so we can talk who may want to present and maybe it's the union had, and also, you spoke about report writing. so i know that, the undersheriff had mentioned about report writing to make it more efficient. then we move into may, we may have an opportune time to have a town hall. and i'm a proponent of joint commission meetings and the human rights commission may be a good commission to join with us. and the san francisco jail coalition justice with that. and we go into june and more budget i. t. and the

intersection of office and inspect or needs. and july is all about reporting, we may not have time for a presentation. you've already noted that i lifted additional hours of board training, that took a lot of coordination and expense. the cost has gone up 3 2000 in a year. so we had 20 hours of training. we were looking ambitiously to 80 hours. we had a year of training, i think we had more training and the depending on budget and what particular topics we think are more urgents, look at you general council of what you think we might be most jermaine for us for us to training in the presence. and then in august, we'll, we'll get the prosecutorors, i think somebody mentioned prosecutors and victim services.

and then we get to september. so part of the charter is to use force policy. and by time, we're looking at october and community events, quarterly reports and then november, december, i've left it open and we may reflect and review what is going to happen in the next year, whoever will be president, vice president to move the ball forward. but, the use of force policy review and recommendations is, listed in the charter. and i forgot to mention one crucial part, november meeting, i was elected to work with deputy city attorney on language amendments for our charter section and possible revision sxz getting a board of supervisor sponsor. that deadline is coming up so i want to remind board members to

make your submissions, because the deadline is may for november ballot, which means we should be working on it now. so that we can, not only discuss but finalize language and have it vetted by the city attorney's office, have a particular sponsor and get it done before may. >> great, thank you for all of that work. and the thought that went into it, right. that's a lot of thought, work product. so then, i would revise or change my amendment to say, i move that, that all commissioners provide any requests for the sheriff or for dpa three weeks in advance to the requested presentation. >> as well as agenda items. >> as well as agenda items, at a minimum 3 weeks.

not this morning, not yesterday, three weeks. since na we've already had our partners let us know the challenges and you know, i think, they want to do a good job, we want to support them in doing a good job. >> i just want to clarify. if i wanted a property from the sheriff's office and i submit three weeks in advance, i shoot it to you guys. >> to dan. >> and then dan, and then he, we vet it, we see if it's available. it will may not be for the next agenda item but at least we've had it way in advance. >> if i can jump in, the president and they cult with the v.p., that's what we want to have the time to do is to reach out and ask the sheriff, hey, this is the request that's been reached out.

because we can't have every single request that is not in agenda form. for example, the sheriff is getting independent emails can you tell me how many reports for this, or are we getting this kind of report for this, right, then you know, we should schedule it at a time that they're going to be doing a report. that should be part of the agenda. >> uh-oh. >> that would be part of the agenda. i think, the main concern is not having commissioners, independently ask the sheriff for a thing a day or two before, and then expecting them to prepare something. it's not meant to curve the

requests, it's meant to make sure that the requests are in a timely manner. >> exactly. >> but also coordinator, if chief chu, does not get the coordination, it's better to funnel the communication and say, this is what the board decided. if it's something of urgency, we'll bring it to the board. but we need to have it in advance. that may have sensitive information, that we vaelz the identity of deputy.

>> the rule has basically regarding agenda items, all items must be submitted before the close of business. and i know this was listed as possible action but you were amending your rules. so that requires ten days notice. >> grairkts i withdrawal my motion and we can have this discussion next. we're all primed for the motion that will be coming next meeting. >> even the week before would really make a difference. >> as a common courtesy, can we do that for now until we change the rules. let's be thoughtful. >> so are there any other? one last thing that i wanted to mention though, i am working with the inspector and i welcome input that you can send to dan.

we're trying to come wup templates so when i ask chief chu, do you have a report, when i saw marcel kind, do you have data on these particular things that for the quarterly reports, oh no we have to scramble for different things. i want it to be we're collecting this position and we always want it. >> and these are the things that we want, the categories, the break down. what i will not do is ask to you give monthly things that compromises the safety of the city and operations of the office. while you may be collecting it monthly, and we can discuss it at the next meeting, i will ask for quarterly numbers. so if you see in our time chart, we will talk about quarterly numbers. and i've moved our deadline because we will be waiting for things from the ig's report to

integrate into our report to the sheriff and to the board of supervisors. >> can i ask, madam president, just for point of clarification, i want to make sure that you and vice president are going to take this document and at the next meeting, we can see that these are our five priorities? >> yeah, this is sort of a--i don't know if i need to make it in the category, but i went off the list and so this is sort of a living, breathing document. so even if we need to formerly adopt this timeline, it is still flexible because if something comes up and we think it's more urgent, we will move it. >> and again, i'm glad we're having this discussion, because it's just for clarity for me, especially since we talk about priority of what we want to look like. to make sure that we're generally on topic. >> yeah, it's more like topical and it was, so at different

minutes and as i was going through the past minutes. as i was doing the annual report, these themes keep oncoming up. like you know, we still need or we have not heard from. so i look those and mentally made a note and that's how i made it higher up. >> can we make it more, i need simplicity, can we just. >> if you want me to break it down. >> like this discipline process. i would like to see that and topic and those are our priorities. >> that risk that we saw at the last meeting. >> just five, this is just for me and how i learn. >> no no, yeah. >> yeah, now i'm looking, the fact na it's highlighted. >> yeah, so i highlighted the theme and put more stuff and

i'm sorry that is got crossed. and i put little details underneath so i can get input on who may be presenting, if it's something different from the vice president i had in mind. >> thank you, no sure. and to vice president's carrion's sharing, thank you so much for pulling this together. i just think, i'm very systematic, so being able to see the first step and going from there for me, definitely works. >> so i was referring to a list. but even then, when i was looking at it, what is quarterly and my brain start today shut off. >> so for clarity then, the request that i'm understanding from you, is that at the next meeting, we just have the topic? >> correct. >> that we had already worked on, right? >> correct.

>> and submitted and that we have seen. >> that was in november the straight sheets. >> correct, the straight sheets. >> did everybody see those. we were asked to send our priorities to dan. >> so dan, if you circulate asked reproduce, so we use it as a guideline. but at the same time, i can just take out a list too. >> i guess what i'm asking, we know dan does not have to print those for my edification, if folks say, yeah, we do agree that this was sent to dan and these should be our priority. keep going. >> okay, so do we want to calendar it? i take this and i have that list of five and then we resend it again and then we have input to dan? >> no.

>> i think we should have an opportunity to resend it. i kind of worth smith, i kind of collectively and people want to compare. i can do it like that. and those that gives us notice, these are the things that we're going to consider, you know. we did this work in november. there may be changes and that

way we can just be more aligned in terms, we can say this is what we made a decision to prioritize as a board going forward. and it's flexible. >> and the other thing to note is na the request will go through dan but we'll be working through inspect or general. we want to be in alignment and we do direct, the priorities with the inspector general as well. and i suggest that he'll be touching base, we need to know what is available and then how the it may be should youinging along and what is actually more readily available this information we need for our

mayor's work. look at us working through this. >> communication. communication. but just for my sake, i would like a day of the land map. because i think it's important to see what the impact. >> and i think the presentation from nicker was very aye opening and we did ask him.

it's helpful for me to understand. >> so na would be part of receiving a part of future agenda item? >> yeah, and i'm saying it out loud, but i don't want to know who does the work. this falls under what we're going to do in february anyway. so i am going to work on the presentation anyway. and if it helps us, i like the happens who is an n g.o. and who gets funded by the city. and then how maybe people make the request for the services. >> yes. i feel like even with the presentation, i don't remember

two months ago. i do want to remind people to look back at past minutes because dan has been great at archiving things and also the power point presentation are sent afterwards, if we don't receive them and they're posted as well. >> in this manner though, we have asked both of them to give it to them. so we don't have to go back in the minutes because we asked them. >> but the point is, it will get posted. once we have adopted the minutes, you don't, dan will put it back under the actual original meeting date. these are all different agencies that are piece meals.

and down the road, it's helpful for the public once we have made it more comprehensive. so you can see a map and then a drop down of where to find people or contact people. and also to clarify, that would be complaint facing, that's for somebody to understand where they need to go. i think it's helpful for us with the prioritization. >> yes. : >> same.

anything else? >> public comment. >> public comment on items. >> for members of the public that would like to make comment on item number 9 future agenda items, please line up against the wall and approach the podium. there appears to be no public comment. >> at this time, we are asked to public comment for general. neither cr personnel or any other members are required to respond to questions by the public. if you would like to make public comment, line up against the wall, as a reminder, you have up to two minutes to give public comment. there appears to be no public

comment, calling item 11 adjournment. all those in favor. >> aye. >> aye. >> any nays? this meeting adjourned at 4:37 p.m. >> thank you for the community members that are here, we really appreciate you showing up.

>> [door opening] >> okay, kids. our next guest speaker for career day is the sheriff from san francisco. >> hi, everyone. does anybody know what a deputy does? >> they involve the law. >> you know what, let me show you what it takes to be a deputy. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> at the san francisco sheriff's office, we're looking

for a few good deputies. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> we need people who aren't afraid to push themselves. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> who are willing to go the distance. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> men and women who is up for a challenge. >> who love it as much as we do. >> [foreign language] >> you'll probably drink coffee with us. >> [foreign language] keeping it real, this job is challenging.

>> when one door closes -- >> we make sure another one opens. >> we protect san francisco courts. >> court is now in session. [gavel] >> helping justice to be serve. >> during election season, we make sure every vote is counted. >> we wet people where they -- we get people to where they need to go. >> and forward our city's hospitals. >> it's important we can keep you safe. >> whether you're celebrating your quinceanera or getting married >> congratulations! >> we'll stand up for you so your voices can be heard. >> protecting your first amendment rights.

[cheers and applause] >> (indiscernible) in uniform. [cheers and applause] >> go warriors >> we train hard to get to where we are. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> [whistle] >> we offer a competitive salary. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> and average of more than $100,000 a year to start. >> (indiscernible). >> including great medical coverage. >> and a pension you can actually retire on. >> [foreign language] >> this folds really good. >> we're looking for those who think outside the box. >> and people who want to save

lives. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> for people who want to change lives. >> for those who want to serve our city. >> we need you. >> we're committed. >> you bring something to our team that no one else can. >> you! >> all right. now, who wants to be a deputy? ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ [laughter] >> three, two one. >> top notch benefits. >> is that too much. [laughter] >> no. >> say your line, sheriff. >> your line, sheriff. [laughter] >> let me show you what it takes

to be -- >> action. >> when one door closes -- [laughter] >> what did you say? ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪locals. >> (music). >> the work go ahead offered i didn't the rec and park friday's local young people between 14 and 17 to be part 6 the

workforce and eastern responsibility and professionalism and gain job skills and assignments in neighborhoods parking and recreation centers and includes art and crafts, sport, cooking, gardening and facility support and so many more. >> (multiple voices). >> i think we're part of the this is the fact we're outdoors and it is really great to be in nature and workreation is great first step to figure out what you would like to do workreation covers real life working skills and expansion can be allowed (unintelligible) it is a really

great program because um, students get placed all the time for what they like. join us in the experience and opportunity and i really like the workreation program it is fun to workout at the summer camp with all the kids each is different and the staff is really nice. >> why? is because i used to go to the local park often when i was a little kid. with my mom i often had to translate for my mom i applied in the hope to provide assistance for other people with first language was for the english. >> i like this job we have fun and working and i feel welcome. >> hi.

>> like how a job actually works like maybe before then i didn't know like all the jobs i don't know any of that now i do. >> it has to be self aware of things and independence of value of this taught me how to be progressiveal but still learning as i go on. >> i learned a lot like a got to adapt and challenges and obstacles come up everyday and . >> i like that we're able to really work with other people and gaining experience like how in the real world hoe how he work with other people. >> if you're looking to develop your live skills as well as cash

and working in the parks, and meeting great people and working with great staff i definitely recommend the corporation. >> it is fun. >> i definitely do the scombrifrm again that the workreation and park and i'll do that again. >> i will >> i don't want to be involved in the process after it happens. i want to be there at the front end to help people with something in my mind from a very early age. our community is the important

way to look at things, even now. george floyd was huge. it opened up wounds and a discussion on something festering for a long time. before rodney king. you can look at all the instances where there are calls for change. i think we are involved in change right now in this moment that is going to be long lasting. it is very challenging. i was the victim of a crime when i was in middle school. some kids at recess came around at pe class and came to the locker room and tried to steal my watch and physically assaulted me. the officer that helped afterwards went out of his way to check the time to see how i was. that is the kind of work, the kind of perspective i like to have in our sheriff's office

regardless of circumstance. that influenced me a lot. some of the storefronts have changed. what is mys is that i still see some things that trigger memories. the barbershop and the shoe store is another one that i remember buying shoestrings and getting my dad's old army boots fixed. we would see movies after the first run. my brother and i would go there. it is nice. if you keep walking down sacramento. the nice think about the city it takes you to japan town. that is where my grandparents were brought up. that is the traditional foods or movies. they were able to celebrate the culture in that community. my family also had a dry-cleaning business. very hard work.

the family grew up with apartments above the business. we have a built-in work force. 19 had 1 as -- 1941 as soon as that happened the entire community was fixed. >> determined to do the job as democracy should with real consideration for the people involved. >> the decision to take every one of japan niece american o japanese from their homes. my family went to the mountains and experienced winter and summer and springs. they tried to make their home a home. the community came together to share. they tried to infuse each home are little things. they created things.

i remember my grand mother saying they were very scared. they were worried. they also felt the great sense of pride. >> japanese americans. >> my granduncle joined the 442nd. when the opportunity came when the time that was not right. they were in the campaign in italy. they were there every step of the way. >> president truman pays tribute. >> that was the most decorated unit in the history of the united states army. commitment and loyal to to the country despite that their families were in the camp at that time. they chose to come back to san

francisco even after all of that. my father was a civil servant as well and served the state of california workers' compensation attorney and judge and appellate board. my parents influenced me to look at civil service s.i applied to police, and sheriff's department at the same time. the sheriff's department grabbed me first. it was unique. it was not just me in that moment it was everyone. it wasn't me looking at the crowd. it was all of us being together. i was standing there alone. i felt everyone standing next to me. the only way to describe it. it is not about me. it is from my father. my father couldn't be there. he was sick. the first person i saw was him.

i still sometimes am surprised by the fact i see my name as the sheriff. i am happy to be in the position i am in to honor their memory doing what i am doing now to help the larger comment. when i say that we want to be especially focused on marginalized communities that have been wronged. coming from my background and my family experienced what they did. that didn't happen in a vacuum. it was a decision made by the government. nobody raised their voice. now, i think we are in a better place as country and community. when we see something wrong we have change agents step up to help the community affected. that is a important thing to continue to do. you talk about change and being a leader in change and not

knowing whether you have successes or results. the fact of the matter is by choosing to push for change you have already changed things. through inspiration for others, take up the matter or whether it is through actual functional change as a result of your voice being heard. i think you have already started on a path to change by choosing that path. in doing that in april of itself creates change. i continue in that type of service for my family. something i hope to see in my children. i have a pretty good chance with five children one will go into some sort of civil service. i hope that happens to continue that legacy. >> i am paul, sheriff of san

francisco. [ music ] chinatown. >> (music).

>> welcome to san francisco japantown. >> san francisco japantown is the oddity downtown in the united states. >> it was founded in the late 1800s by japanese immigrants for construction over the jars japantown has become a home to a japanese community with restaurants and shops and a popular tourism decision in the heart of san francisco. and san francisco and japantown is quite unique it is one of the three remaining chung's by the states and how i explain japantown we're a city within a city to

taste and experience the japanese culture but really be a community what is all about and one of the best things about japantown is the food. there are dozens of shops in the neighborhood serving from modern deserts and go with friends. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> my name is t a leader of the japantown to we try to provide something they creates like savory yummy favors we try to provide like japanese flavor as well as for the japanese customers. >> if you're foodie or looking

for a quick and delicious meal you're sure to find something. >> it is a authentic japanese deter and drink shop special lists in we also offer a roasted green tea and we have flares and other flavors we're known for ice cream and sun disingenuous. >> japantown is a variety of culture contributions with the community center the eight amendment association of north california. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> this tearoom is designed by the tearoom art (unintelligible) and then they built everything

in jpa that is a a he ship it to the united states. with the carpenter and this is one of the public only two in the united states and the japantown takes you on journey sdlts neighborhoods and the history was a self guided tour you start by japantown center west mall and work your way and learn about the history what made japantown had say is today. >> what as young people; right? what to make sure this stays here for the future. speaking of future you can enter the world of augmented reality created we adobe in a phone stand under which of the store we call that the tree ar experience a great

opportunity to do something completely different that will take you to the future with a immersion of an experience? incredible. in addition to the culture and ar contribution japantown hosted festivities and events throughout the year some are the cheri blossom festival. and after dark japantown comes life with night clubs and or joy serene moments through the illuminated part and san francisco is japantown an engaging community that likewise people to experience japanese culture with food and exciting events and japantown is a must

see for any visitor to san >> there is a lot of unique characteristics about visitation valley. it is a unique part of the city. >> we are off in a corner of the city against the san francisco county line 101 on one side.

vis station valley is still one of the last blue color neighborhoods in san francisco. a lot of working class families out here. it is unusual. not a lot of apartment buildings. a lot of single family homes. >> great business corridor. so much traffic coming through here and stopping off to grab coffee or sandwich or pick up food before going home. >> a lot of customers are from the neighborhood. they are painters or mechanics. they are like blue color workers, a lot of them. >> the community is lovely. multi-racial and hopefully we can look out for each other. >> there is a variety of businesses on the block. you think of buffalo kitchen, chinese food, pork buns, sandwich. library, bank of america with a

parking lot. the market where you can grab anything. amazing food choices, nail salons. basically everything you need is here. >> a lot of these businesses up and down leland are family owned. people running them are family. when you come here and you have an uncle and nephew and go across the street and have the guy and his dad. lisa and her daughter in the dog parlor and pam. it is very cool. >> is small businesses make the neighborhood unique. >> new businesses coming. in mission blue, gourmet chocolate manufacturing. the corridor has changed and is continuing to change. we hope to see more businesses coming in the near future. >> this is what is needed.

first, stay home. unless it is absoluteliness scary. social distancing is the most important step right now to limit spread of virus. cancel all nonessential gather everythings. >> when the pandemic litly land avenue suffered like other corridors. a few nail salons couldn't operate. they shut down. restaurants that had to adapt to more of a take out model. they haven't totally brought back indoor seating. >> it is heartbreaking to see the businesses that have closed down and shut because of the pandemic. >> when the pandemic first hit it got really slow. we had to change our hours. we never had to close, which is a blessing. thank god. we stayed open the whole time.

>> we were kind of nervous and anxious to see what was going to come next hoping we will not have to close down. >> during covid we would go outside and look on both sides of the street. it looked like old western town. nobody on the street. no cars. >> it was a hard eight or nine months. when they opened up half the people couldn't afford a haircut. >> during that time we kept saying the coffee shop was the living room of the valley. people would come to make sure they were okay. >> we checked on each other and patronized each other. i would get a cup of coffee, shirt, they would get a haircut. >> this is a generous and kind community. people would be like i am getting the toffee for the guy behind me and some days it went and on. it was amazing to watch.

we saw a perfect picture of community. we are all in this together. >> since we began to reopen one year later, we will emerge stronger. we will emerge better as a city because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> when we opened up august 1st. i will not say it was all good. we are still struggling due to covid. it affected a lot of people. >> we are still in the pandemic right now. things are opening up a little bit. it is great to have space to come together. i did a three painting series of visitation valley and the businesses on leland. it felt good to drop off the paintings and hung them. >> my business is picking up. the city is opening up.

we have mask requirements. i check temperatures. i ask for vaccination card and/or recent test. the older folks they want to feel safe here. >> i feel like there is a sense of unity happening. >> what got us through the pandemic was our customers. their dogs needed groomed, we have to cut their nails so they don't over grow. >> this is only going to push us forward. i sense a spirit of community and just belief in one another. >> we are trying to see if we can help all small businesses around here. there is a cannabis club lounge next to the dog parlor to bring foot traffic. my business is not going to work if the business across the street is not getting help. >> in hit us hard. i see a bright future to get the storefronts full. >> once people come here i think they really like it.

>> if you are from san francisco visit visitation valley to see how this side of the city is the same but different. >> good morning. and happy new year. >> happy new year. >> this is first meeting of 2024. good morning commissioners and welcome to homeless oversight commission meeting. it acustom to acknowledge