we will need it in the years to come. now, please welcome the sheriff of the city and county of san francisco, and his family, ross mirkarimi. [applause] [cheers]

elean. theo. hold up your right hand, please. you, too, theo. >> i, ross mirkarimi, do swap -- solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic. that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the

constitution of the state of california. i take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter. during the time that i hold the office of sheriff of city and county of san francisco. congratulation>> congratulation. [cheers and applause]

>> believe it or not, this is one of the happiest days of my life. [cheers and applause] thank you, mayor. thank you for being a dear

friend. thank you forswearing me in. thank you very much to all of you. i am going to begin by introducing my family again. i know that they have been introduced before, but they mean some much to me. please acknowledge my wife, iliana, and my son, theo. [applause] my mother, my mother who is here. there she is. hi, mom. [applause] my aunt, patricia, my mother's sister, who is the ring leader in helping to orchestrate this amazing event. [applause] and her son, jeremy forsythe, who is also like a little brother to me.

and by two younger brothers, who were not able to be here. darren is in afghanistan, dr. paul is in germany right now. [applause] i want to thank the large contingent of dignitaries, friends, and elected officials. i want to thank all of you for being here and for being longtime friends. i would like to thank the house of union labor, who i know we have been closed for many years and i know that many of you are here in the audience. i want to thank the leaders within the sheriff's department and law enforcement here. i want to thank community and neighborhood advocates. certainly the leaders of nonprofits who are fighting for the social justice that we all care about. [applause] most of all, i want to thank all of you for being here with us today. means a great deal to me, my

wife and my son, and my entire family. i know better than anyone how hard you all worked to help us arrive at this place here today. i saw it day in and day out. believe me. a very spirited effort in making sure that we would prevail in our rates for sheriff. i would like to thank and need -- everyone for your tenacity in accomplishing what many had deemed next to impossible. with that, drive. i would not be here as the 35th sheriff of the city and county of san francisco since statehood in 1850. your true friends and i am most grateful. thank you. -- you are true friends and i am most grateful. thank you. i am sorry, but a cloud hangs over the but should be a very

special day my wife and i, and our entire family. for all of you that worked so hard, they and you deserve better. you know what? clouds break. possibilities shine through. [cheers and applause] this is why i ran for sheriff. because i was inspired for many years before i started that i would announce my candidacy for share at by the man who has been san francisco's sheriff for well over 30 years, mike hennessey. he has been able to signal what it means to be thoughtful. of what it means to be thorough in protecting us. and what it means to be innovative. certainly in demonstrating his ability to be probably the most innovative share at in the

united states. this is what motivated me to become sheriff. i believe that we all want the same justice. that we all want to serve with distinction. so, today marks that changing of the guard. the badge has been passed. sheriff hennessy completes a career that is amongst one of the most distinguished in the history of our city. i know that he has been acknowledged already. it would make me feel very good, because i know how she ideas, if we all stand and applause sheriff -- stand in applause of sheriff mike hennessey. [applause]

we will miss you. but i have your cellphone. [laughter] i have also been reading those articles about his first beginnings, too. how many escapes were there in your first year? i understand about new beginnings. it is such a remarkable tennis -- estimate to mike hennessey's record that every single candidate vowed to promise to build on his 32 years of legacy. i certainly trumpeted that as loud as i possibly could. yet i made it very clear, and i wanted to distinguish from the very fact that i do not pretend or poor tend to want to fail or can fill mike hennessey's ussho. you have my solemn declaration

that i will build on the amazing foundation that the sheriff hennessy administration has certainly developed over the last 30 years. it is why san franciscans have been repeatedly proud in wanting to re-elect sheriff hennessy 18 times. [applause] to paraphrase another, sheriff hennessy is the type of leader who walks softly and carry a big ideas. that is where he and i were simpatico. many times where i would feel frustrated in -- as a supervisor in a district with a high violent crime rate, when i took office in district 5, i sought the counsel of sheriff mike hennessey. i knew that it was not just the police response or a first responder response, but it was going deeper. it was about going to the core of what compels people to commit

crime in a repetitive way that seemed to have no end. especially for a city like san francisco, which professes to try to establish such a great innovation, but we do not always deliver in a way that we would like. i dare say that during the election for a share if there had not been an open election for sheriff in over 30 years -- the election for sheriff, there had not been an open election for sheriff in 30 years. we garnered the kind of attention that was central to the issues that needed to be expressed and that we needed to project to be educate people as to what the sheriff's office does. here today, i was even afraid, like during the election itself, that we would garner little media attention. but i think we took care of that. [laughter]

the sheriff's department that i walked into is vastly different than the one that might entered over 30 years ago. to begin -- mike entered over 30 years ago. to begin with, it is vastly superior. it's recognition in what it means to unite criminal justice, public safety, and the power of redemption, it has taught us in san francisco, and every other county in california -- who had initially scoffed, often, at the programs initiated by the sheriff mike -- by sheriff mike hennessey, and many other counties, conservative counties, have come full circle to believe that there is merit in replication to legitimize the course we are on. it also demonstrates the need

that there is no deviating from the course in which i had campaigned on, which is why i vowed to make sure that we build and build effectively in preparation for the new era of criminal justice in the state of california period. i believe that it is more than just slogans or bumper stickers that speak about how we must tackle recidivism, repeat offender rates. i believe in the power of redemption in a believe that that infrastructure has been well established, but not well established or supported and not in the city and county of san francisco. i know you would agree that this profound change is necessary and that we should successfully answer the vexing problem of

i feel strongly that this is something we should not let up on. it was in that unassuming way, mike hennessey is one of the most understated officials i have ever met. i think many of my colleagues and peers would agree. he was able to forward the kinds of programs that have gained national and international attention. there were ground-breaking efforts that birth and a florist -- flourished. he has been able to demonstrate that with that taylor approached, this is exactly the way the bill must go into that new era of how we orchestrate our response to public safety and criminal justice. i guarantee you, we will not let

up wherever yield from that particular issue. i had not planned until today or tomorrow to begin my administration. i want to thank the civilian managers and sworn personnel and command staff at the sheriff's department for welcoming me in immediately after the election, where i had held over three dozen meetings -- all quite long. yet what was stimulated was the kind of discussion that, at least, i think painted exactly where we wanted to go in tennessee administration.

there is the utmost professionalism in helping us chart but will be as moving forward. i did not create a transition team, like many do, when they get elected in preparation for taking office. a bit too flashy for my taste at this time. what i did was prepared internally, by talking to people whom i had known of and got to know, who i think are effective in talented, skilled in helping us to deliver the kinds of results that will make you and the people of san francisco crowd and make the people of san francisco take notice. i bring to the table a particular agenda and a menu of change that i want to share with you in this synopsis of where i believe we need to go.

where i come from is my experience, not just as a supervisor of a district that has had its own challenges over many years, but someone who dearly loves san francisco, who i believe is probably -- which i believe is one of the most amazing cities on planet earth. the first is that i will move forward in working groups. there is no end game except until we believe the job is done. the work that we have done internally amongst key staff in preparation to getting a baseline knowledge should be shared with people outside the sheriff's department. for example, for example, it is daunting to know the fact that 12% of the population of the

united states is african- american, get 50% of the population in the u.s. prison system is african-american. the stark reminder is underscored in san francisco. the african-american population is less than 6% in the african- american population in our county jail is less than 6%. what this suggests is that while there has been great focus, and i know as a member of the border supervisors and as a representative from a district that has been the epicenter of the black community, we have a great deal of work that we must do. while there is a great lament over the lack of access to capital an opportunity itself, it is time that we recognize that it is through the prism of the criminal justice system that society is going to need to pull together, led by the kind of institutional support that

certainly deals with the sobering reality that it is not just about the out-migration of blacks from san francisco going to cities that are last costly -- less costly to the very fact that many in the black community of san francisco, especially adult males, are going into the criminal justice system. one out of every 15 black adult males are in a san francisco county jail. this statistic drives home the very need to recognize that while the jim crow laws of yesteryear were certainly abolished, i also believe that they have been redesigned in repackage within the criminal justice system. [applause]

and so, with this trend that i feel that we have no grass bond, a san francisco is an opportune time to pull together with the community and city hall. it is important to realize that while we have grappled with hit and run strategies, hoping that something would stick, especially to the eyes of job creation and job training, as well as job placement, we see that one of the main leaders, such as the utility of the redevelopment agency, which is next to becoming a thing of the past, it was one of the original lever's for job training and placement for people of minority communities, eliminating that particular agency and the debate that is certainly being well heard in sacramento and throughout the state of

california. suggesting that absent of that asset, it puts the position that much more in a distressed place. says that non-profits and agencies, like good will and services in the haight ashbury, and everything else, will have to absorb the brunt of helping your community, which is certainly weakened. i feel strongly that part of the working group, in addition to our populations, is the population that we certainly have to help provide the answer -- how will we get them jobs? how will we get them access to housing? i wanted to test our limits. i wanted to certainly gauge just

where that political world -- just if that political will is there. yes, i may have exceeded one may consider to be slightly legislatively orthodox. people that are acts offenders, said they would get jobs. i appreciated the obvious fact that this, in terms of acts offenders, those formerly incarcerated, it is a very unpopular population and it is not easy for the population to grab hold in answering this larger question. the dilemma is that i see no other solutions on the block. i do not hear of the kind of strategy, nor of the kind of tactic represents the change

that i am hoping will answer the larger question of job placement and job creation. i fear that unless there is that collective support marshaled towards our ability to ameliorate by think will continue to be an escalating situation of the hemorrhaging populations, not just the black population, but others, were certainly growing in their incarceration rates throughout the state of california. that it is incumbent upon us to be able to pull together the partners of the criminal justice system with society demanding more of us being able to this -- respond to city hall. bringing us to the next working group that we will be able to tackle, the question of mental health. [applause] this statistic has been very

clear. whether you're looking through the prism of conservative or liberal think tanks, that they present population in the united states of near the 2.5 million, one in 100 american adults are in prison in the united states. nearly one out of five of those in prison suffer from a severe mental disorder. schizophrenia, bipolar, or a combination thereof. yet, medicaid funding does not provide for the long form treatment needed to address this growing reality. with the state of california grappling with a cash strapped economy, hoping to pin this cycle on our ability to deliver at the ballot box progressive taxation, which of course i support, we cannot put all of

our eggs in one basket. i think it is important to us that even as citizens and residents and business owners, and legislators, district supervisors that want to answer that from a question about why someone is homeless who looks like they need more than just housing and a job and a bath, why is it that they are constantly on our street? we must answer the larger question of what it means to get the kind of meaningful help that is necessary for this particular population. [applause] to do this, to do this i will, as i have already met with members of the psychiatric unit, i will work to expand psychiatric units in the city and county of san francisco, recognizing that state

hospitals and mental health hospitals have certainly shattered their doors and are refusing prisoners who are requiring that level of specialization, shifting in transferring a disproportionate responsibility to the people of san francisco. they expect the police department or law enforcement to be able to satisfy the answer and the distress to everyone not in control of their means in faculties. it is important that the sheriff's department and all the other partners in the local criminal justice system answer this question, starting with the suitable table in the criminal justice system being included for mental health and psychiatric needs. that takes us to the next part

of us addressing the core of the uneven bridge in the pre- custody and pro-custody programs. by so many others who have tried to recognize the need if you go into jail, it certainly makes a great deal more sense, especially to address the concerns of public safety that by the time semele's jail it is as per struck -- constructive and productive as possible. i believe that it is self- evident. the test has been well demonstrated that we are not winning the battle against recidivism and reducing recidivism if we simply think that we can turn a key and walk away. it does not work.

it has been well demonstrated by the current sheriff, mike hennessy -- well, pass sheriff, and others, who are now getting this from around the country. so, i look forward to working with adult and juvenile probation. the district attorney, the public defender, the department of human services agency. the mayor's office, complete the nonprofit cbo's who are struggling to stay afloat in being able to manage a growing population with less resources. certainly in the time that we have used over the last six weeks in preparing for this particular place, i have met with the secretary in the department of rehabilitation. i have said that i am proud that the san francisco jail system is one of the only counties in

california that is under- crowded. we discussed the possibility of what you do with unused space. we are on the edge of our seats for prisoner realignment and we must be prepared for the influx of prisoners coming in the. but based on the smart choices of risk assessment in a partnership way and others, i believe that we will still remain with the unused space in the sheriff's department. i want to posit this notion that if we want to significantly address the uneven bridge of pre-custody and post-custody, someone in the system, when they are prepared to enter into society, after they have been released from incarceration, they do not have the job, the housing, or the proper tools for integration. statistics show