anticipate the world be a large amount of difficulty given the local work has been done already. one way or the other, we will quickly, but i agree with the director. we're talking weeks. we're not talking a month. president marshall: okay, thank you. thank you very much. >> next, we have the capt. to provide us with an update on both the crime lab and the dna backlog. >> good evening, commissioners. i will defer to the captain i was at the crime lab for a couple of hours today. she will provide the update. >> good evening, mr. president and commissioners.

we have gotten our documentation that we need to outsource some of the cases to help out with the crime load, and we have our technical specifications document done that our criminalist that is the technical leader at the dna unit has drawn up in conjunction with comptroller's office that is ready to go. and we have an audit. she has to have one more meeting with the people at one of the labs, and we will be ready to outsource. it just this afternoon, she identified six sexual assault cases that have recently, in that have not -- have recently, and that have not been assigned to any analyst and will be outsourced. we are in the processin of outsourcing some of these. their cases were there just comparison cases. 14 of them were just outsources.

the lieutenant and officers are assigned to the lab are in the process of contacting various labs to try to ascertain best practices, how we can do better trying to identify how not to have backlogs and to try to find out what are the best ratio of catalyst to caseload ratio to avoid backlogs and what ideal personnel ratios should be. so, questions? >> i have a few. we spent two hours at the lab. i thank you for your work. i think we have made a lot of progress today in terms of identifying exactly how big the problem is and some quick solutions to it. just for the sake of my fellow commissioners, we had heard the number 100 sexual assault cases

pending. the good news is it may be somewhat less than that. i think rather than putting out new numbers, we want to make sure what those numbers are. we have identified from that subset of strangers sexual assaults, the most important with the greatest rate of recidivism and new victims being victimized. plus, the chances of getting hit with codis, that once samples are obtained in dna profiles are provided that we catch the perpetrator. i think based on our discussions today, things are moving quickly now to get this outside lab ready to take some of this backlog. the reality is the lab has been overworked and underfunded for a long time. i want to say publicly as i said to the director of the section, it is not her fault. there have been working hard. we have good employees there. they have been cast under the shadow of deborah madden and they're feeling the sting of that. it is important to acknowledge the hard work they're doing today as we speak.

the simple fact is they have not been able to keep up with the work load they have been given. so the plan we were talking about putting together today was identifying cases that we can send out quickly to an outside lab, to take away some of the excess burden on the current analysts so they can keep up with their current work load. i am somewhat optimistic that we can come back in two weeks with a definite plan of how to lay this out. maybe in a number of months we can get rid of the entire backlog. that is my hope, and i think the chief and a captain with their leadership and work of the crime lab we can do that. i would suggest we bring it back into weeks. i think we will have a full plan at that point. i think that would be the best approach. >> there was also good news from my subsequent visit later on to the crime lab. the 3100 machine, the connectivity is part of the

legacy day-to-day migration. the estimated time on that project was about eight months. that is the one that will run 16 samples at a time. >> so that people who are listening, commissioners, everyone here, there is equipment which are lab acquired years ago which i could tell you from my work is d a doing homicide cases would go from testing one sample at a time to 16 samples at a time. you could imagine this time savings. some of this equipment was acquired by grants five and six years ago and has never been plugged in. we never had the i.t. resources in place to hook up this machine that would dramatically decrease the workload. i don't know the whole history of what requests have been made to get i.t. funding, but we have expensive equipment sitting at the crime lab that is unplugged, never used.

>> i learned today that it is part of that project, that is working now, that data migration. when that product is completed, estimated time eight months, that will be functional and we will have the ability to run the 16 samples at once. >> the other good piece of news that the department is finalizing the process of hiring two additional analysts, which will bring the number from 6 to 8, so we could keep up with the caseload. there is good equipment, acquired six years ago, unplugged, not connected. i am sure it is disheartening for the analysts, but also us. people are getting their hands around it now, because it was a shocker to see that today. >> and personnel is currently recruiting for dna specialized criminalists. >> again, i just want to commend the work of the analysts there who feel under siege about the

bad press around the crime lab. they're doing good work, working hard, and underfunded circumstances from the past. they're very proud of their work. they want to keep doing their work. i think we can help them with the resources to do that. thank you again. i would like to calendar two weeks out to look at a comprehensive solution to this problem. thank you, captain. >> thank you. president marshall: thank you very much. >> ok, that concludes my report. ipresident marshall: is that all your items? >> yes, the dna backlog, the investigation of the crime lab. we are waiting for the prosecutorial decision. once we get that, we can move forward and basically, then notify the commission and to a

full press conference to announce the results. the lab worke that was requested has been done, has been completed, and at some point we could i agendas that -- we could put that on the agenda. >> my other question, chief, sometimes the attorney general's office to take a long time making a decision. i would just request sometime by which if they have not made the decision, that we have irresponsibility to get some report in the department -- we have the responsibility to get some report and the department. >> we can talk about the administrative fixes that have been done. we're trying to avoid a recurrence that has not been noticed. we can never guarantee that

human beings will not commit crimes, but we can guarantee we will have systems that pick up quickly. we are in the process now of handing out the criminal side of internal affairs. we have a new command structure within the lab. we have a supervisory structure. we are in the process of reducing the workload to make sure we never put our people back in the situation where they were before, where the workload was way above what it should have been. and the budget just passed today, so we have funding that will make possible the removal of this backlog. another problem was we were underfunded for the work, so the lab as it is currently configured today is and will continue to function based on best practices, whether a combination of outside sourcing

of internal worked. obviously, it will continue to evolve from this, and eventually find the right point as to what kind of configuration we want to have, whether it needs to be a smaller lab with a combination of outsourcing and internal work or whether we want to get it all done internally. that will be discussion, quite frankly, that would take more than a year to finalize, given that we have to be out of the current location within a couple years. there are still no plans to where we will move to. we are involved in some negotiations, but this will be an area that it would be better for closed session as far as relocation. the point, what is important is, number one, the lab is functioning today according to the right set of protocols. it will only get better, because now we have the funding to hire

additional people and get the work done so we don't have a backlog. thanks to your work and that of others, i think one of the problems with this piece of equipment that has been sitting there, it has to have i.t., but it is not a department i.t. problem. it is beyond the control of the department. the priority and a supervisor talked about the frustrations of trying to get this equipment going -- the prior dna supervisor talked about the frustrations of getting this equipment going. this is much like the other system that was sitting there five years, not functioning, and we hope first district will be up and running by this fall and we hope to and have the entire police department functioning with an automated records management system by the spring. but there has been tremendous underfunding of i.t. in general,

and that has impacted the police department and other parts of the city. those things will be corrected as far as the of i.t. the current operation of the lab today is sound, and it will get better as we come up with different protocols. the prosecutorial decision as to whether to prosecute and how to prosecute, obviously we don't control them. we have been waiting on the adman -- admin communication piece of it before we move forward with administrative discipline, but that is all part from the running of the lab today. the running of the lab today is running well. the work that is being done is being done according to good practices, and obviously the backlog is being addressed. i think we need to segregate that from the discipline or the criminal side, because although they are kind of connected, one can go forward without the

other, meaning the lab can run well and move forward regardless of whether the case is prosecuted or not. eventually, the administrative solution to any misconduct or negligence by personal involved in this case. commissioner hammer: i would defer to my fellow commissioners. i don't know without pushing my colleagues if we should set a date at some point, what we can do in public or closed session, to put a final coat on it. i am open to whatever my colleagues suggest. president marshall: commissioner? vice president mazzucco: if we get some idea of where it is going. we understand the criminal side is out of our control. that is what the attorney general and district attorneys do. we could have more of a closed- session read on that and the parallels and personal matters. we have to go to close session anyway. if we could do that may be. then we will have clarity on

that. >> i think if we set up a couple of weeks out in closed session, which have a more full discussion and determine -- we could have a more full discussion and determine what we do with public disclosure. again, the structure of the lab and the running of the lab, we have partially discussed that. it is fine to get it out there. i am only concerned about any public disclosure at this time that may compromise the prosecution, and it is important of a closed session discussion first. commissioner hammer: great, thank you chief. president marshall: madam city attorney, we have to put that on the agenda? ok. all right. thank you. >> we will look at a couple weeks out? commissioner hammer: sometimes

we do a closed session, pending the outlook of the criminal. once that happens, the chief can report on that as much as he can after that, taking names out, so the public understand what was undertaken. >> very good, great. emmett is it two weeks from now, three weeks from now? -- >> is it two weeks from now, three weeks from now? >> basically, for closed session hearing, we will give you an update. frankly, we could do it tonight. is is that we cannot because it is not on the agenda. so that is not a problem. that is a discussion to have with the city attorney to prepare the proper counseling as to how this should be done. >> two weeks from now? >> that would be fine, if that is ok with the commission. vice president mazzucco: i would also point out one thing, we might have a very light agenda.

president marshall: ah. ok. we have that in two weeks. >> change it to three weeks from now? vice president mazzucco: i would say that, or maybe the litani can tell us if the case we were going to hear is falling apart -- or maybe the lieutenant can tell us if the case we were going to hear is falling apart? >> commissioner, we have been served with motions to continue on both sides of the matter that we were scheduled to hear next week. president marshall: there were a couple of pieces that we were going to stick in there. we could do it next week? >> that would be ok. next week. president marshall: great.

that concludes your report, chief, i believe? >> yes. president marshall: we move onto the occ director's report. director hicks? >> good evening. it this evening, i evening,occ complete statistics and mediation statistics. as of july 20, the occ open 516 cases and we closed 482. we open 30 more cases than we have closed. during the same time last year we open 5 stoddert 62 cases and closed five under 41. -- 562 cases and closed 541. this is an 8% decrease in cases opened as compared to the same time last year. as of july 20, we had for under 15 pending cases -- 415 pending cases. today, we have sustained a 39

cases. during the same time in two dozen 9, with sustained 27 cases. this represents 44% increase in sustained cases. the sustained rate is 8%, which is more in line with the historic average of sustained cases since around 1996. today, the occ has facilitated the mediation of 20 complaints this year, compared with 45 by the end of july last year. so far this month we have had three mediations. that concludes my report. president marshall: anything further for the director? vice president mazzucco: thank you. >> you are welcome. president marshall: alright, commissioner reports. i don't think we have anything to report, commissioners, do

you? vice president mazzucco: briefly, i spent parts of this week presiding over two older cases on the docket another commissioner had that i took over. one is resolved, one is not. that hearing will finish up in august. but it is an arduous duty, but hopefully one of them will be resolved by the end of next month. president marshall: any public comment on these items? seeing none. item number 4. >> item four, mr. president, is routine administrative business , commissioner announcements, and 4b is the schedule of items identified for future commission meetings. under 4a, i will announce the assignment of disciplinary charges filed in case number alw c-10-158 to an individual

commissioner for taking of evidence on a date to be determined by the commissioner. similarly, the second assignment of disciplinary charge has been filed in case number alw c10-169 to an individual commissioner for the taking of evidence on a date to be determined by the commissioner. i would recommend in an effort to balance the individual case dockets of the current commissioners that these matters would both go to commissioner dejesus. since she is not here. i'm not trying to be funny, but to balance the duck -- balance the pocket, and subject to reassignment, that would be my recommendation. i am sure i will be getting a phone call tomorrow morning about this.

there is nothing further on 4a. 4b is scheduling of items identified for consideration at future commission meetings. president marshall: alrighty. i think the lieutenant has let us know that august 11 is law enforcement appreciation night with a game at the giants? >> that is correct. president marshall: i guess asking if we want to continue that this year. that would be august 11. vice president mazzucco: if it would let officers attend the game, i would be in favor of that. commissioner hammer: i have attended the game before and the giants put on a good production. our law enforcement officers

families who died in the line of duty in oakland, san jose, san francisco, the surrounding areas, it is a class act. it in honor of those officers and officers who want to attend, i think that would be a good idea. president marshall: i think that is agreed by everyone. commissioner hammer? commissioner hammer: thank you. two minor matters. we had discussion here about the possibility of tweaking the rules in terms of discipline. one of the weaknesses is the hearing officer procedure, the case is set out, it floats, and it drags on at times. there's also a provision that the hearing officer then files a report with us. i'm told that can take two, three months at times. i like to put on an agenda of discussion and possible action on two possible tweaks to that. one is setting a timeline on a case that is set to a hearing

officer, perhaps 14 days or so, that if a trial date does not come up we could come back to us. the second would be the hearing so that within 10 days, a much shorter report. we'll have to read these transcripts. i don't think we need somebody else to read them and digest them to read them ourselves. i like to put on the agenda a couple of minor tweaks to that hearing officer provision so what would work better for us. i am open to whatever commissioners would want. vice president mazzucco: i agree. it also made to expedite it further, maybe we should ask for the hearing officer to come to the commission in closed session and have the hearing officer explain to us what their position on the case is without having to put it in writing. obviously, the ultimate decision is made by the commission after reviewing evidence and transcripts. the written report is merely a recommendation, and to do that verbally and is much more

expeditious. commissioner hammer: that is a better idea than i have. we want the flavor, the color of what happened. there is no reason we cannot have a 10-minute oral report. i just see that sometimes we wait three times for the report and we have to read the transcript anyhow. whatever is best, so we could put that on the agenda, i think would be a change we should talk about. president marshall: so review and craft something? is that readily agreeable? commissioner hammer: i would be happy to. president marshall: i am assuming we discussed this with occ? commissioner hammer: there was a meet and confer. president marshall: so we want run into that issue if we tweak

it. why don't we get that all of that in order before you bring it back, ok? commissioner hammer: i will work with commissioner mazzucco, and if we have to me, i would add to process. am i would just like it at a signing a commissioner to each and every case, even if there is a hearing officer, just like the regular court world when you have a magistrate judge is still assigned to a regular judge. so the commissioner does not do much work, but there should be someone tasked with knowing what is going on. commissioner hammer: we will put that in the draft as well. the only thing i would suggest, i know we are ready have in the rules the first meeting of the month we get the full reading of all the cases on the docket. i think it would be helpful to us, one of the numbers that came out i think the last count, there were 10 officers on light duty because of discipline charges pending. that is far down, but that is costing the city a lot of money and gives less people for the

chief to deploy on the street. i think if lieutenant bradley could help us prioritize that it, so they can get back on the street or which it -- or whatever should happen with them. perhaps lieutenant riley can report back on the first meeting in august. president marshall: all right, anything else? all right, we will take public comment on the item 4 a * b. none. we will move to item no. 5. >> item number five, mr. president, is public comment on all matters pertaining to the closed session. closed session is described under items 7a, b, and c. 7a is pursuant to government code 54957 administrative code 67.10, personal exception, discussion and possible action

to adopt findings of fact supporting the commission's decision given march 17, 2010 in case number kmo d08-013 and jwf c08-014. the second item is pursuant to government code 54957 and 67.10, discussion only conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation. the city as defendant, number of potential cases being one. president marshall: i don't think we're going to need item 7c. we will just plan to go into closed session on a and b. so we move to item no. 6. >> item six is to vote on

whether to hold closed session. vice president mazzucco: so moved. commissioner hammer: second. president marshall: without objection, so ordered. we will move in to closed section here. >> ladies and german, the commission will be retiring into closed session at 6:15 p.m. on items 7 and b on the agenda. it president marshall: [6:52] >> commissioner, it is 6:52 p.m. and the police commission is returning from item's 7-a and 7-b. commissioners mazzucco and hammer are here. and with permission, we could mope move to heam 8.

vice president mazzucco: item 8. >> item 8 is vote to elect whether to delose any or all discussion held in closed session. >> item 9. >> item 9 is adjournment. vice president mazzucco: and the meeting is adjourned. secretary reilly: and the meeting is adjourned at 6:52 p.m.