i'm happy to say the unit is continuing. they will continue with out-reach and education and euthena sism a only when necessary. officer hicks has expressed interest in expanding the out-reach and education. also we believe there will be better follow-up to make sure dog mandates are being followed. we look forward to working with the animals when they arrive. this is community policing at its best. this department has worked in an admittedly -- we ensure the unit continues to function in a nationwide modpell. the community trust has been rewarded and as things calm down, we will no doubt be

strengthened in the future. i know you will no doubt draft and codify the many things the unit does. i would like to commend officers hicks and barrett for their willingness to talk and listen to the community's concerns. i met with them yesterday and a behavioralist to discuss how the unit will move forward, and commissioner hammer was there, as well. i look forward to future exchanges and ideas. it is heartening to find we are all on the same page as we work to ensure the unit is the best it can be. in the city of san francisco, we expect nothing lells. -- nothing less. out of all the confusion, some good really has come. i want to at that time department for the out-reach. president marshall: nothing like communication, huh? >> yeah, funny how that works.

commissioner hammer: captain, commissioner hammer: captain, about how long do you think it will take to get the proposed d.g.o. in shape to bring before the commission? >> actually, one was drafted two or three years ago. it was sent down but not adopted. director cats -- katz is an attorney, and she offered when we were at the table the other day, she's going to review that, looking at it now with her eyes not as city attorney but the director of animal care and control, and tweak that, bring it forward, and then we'll have that ready for the chief and send it through our written direct yiffs. commissioner hammer: could you introduce the new officer and the long-time officer denny as well.

>> this is deputy hicks. >> some have said i've gone to the dogs, but i can't wait to get going. >> and then john depeny 0 -- denny who has been at the unit over 10 years. together they will make a great pair. out of every miscommunication or event comes some good, and i don't even think any of us realize the skillset that chery has, and she's really going to be very dynamic referee judge over there, and a real positive person onboard there. commissioner hammer: unfortunately, i know too much about vicious dogs. if they problems aren't handled soon, they result in deaths sometimes. some of them can be saved, if proper measures are taken. that's what deny has done and officer hicks will do and what officer herndon did. i think sally stevens said it

right. this is the best example of community policing and it is a testament to this department. chief gadown, when he first got the call, hen he first got the call, he said what's this all about? this didn't happen? it looked like bad news, but it turned out to be good news. what i told the community members is that the chief is a man of his word, he did he what he said he would do, and we actually have a better partner in him today. that's a debt e testament to the department, the chief, and the community members who spoke up and said how important it was. officer denny, you have terrific work for many years. thank you so much. sergeant herndon, there comes a time when everybody moves on, and that's the way it goes.

it is not our position to dick dathe at a time personnel to the police department. that's the way it goes. at the end of the day, all community members wanted the unit to continue. i think this has been a good opportunity to publicize the city and the great work they have done. thank you for all your work. >> thank you. president marshall: thank you. hamilton p hamilton lam i want to thank -- commissioner hammer: i want to thank commander crenshaw, too. >> i have practiced in front of the dog court and i have been in front of the dog court. officers were excellent at the vicious animal court. they are well versed regarding canine behavior. they were there consistently so they got the feel of it. they knew what was going on.

their decisions were fair and balanced. i think they were compassionate at the dog court. i am sorry to hear that sergeant herndan has retired. i think we should recognize the valuable service that these officers have given to san francisco. 6 -- commissioner dejesus: also, i want to thank you, captain barrett and ms. katz for collaborating and meeting with the community and coming up with some ideas. i wasn't at the meeting, so i wanted to ask some clarification. officer hicks, are you going to be a hearing officer, or will there be rotating hearing officers? i'm not sure. >> i am the hearing officer. i think it is important to have that skinsy. as far as a rotating sferks i heard rumors, i don't know where

they come from, but that wouldn't be consistent with being fair. you need the experience. you need to know canine behavior, of course, which i have two dogs and a plethora of kities. so i have the balance there. i actually worked with dogs in my past life. it is different to play with dogs. when you work with them professionally, you learn their behavior. commissioner dejesus: i am happy to hear that. i am glad to hear you have dogs. one of the things you mentioned with educational components will be part of this package. i was wondering, how are you going to set this up? are you going to work with miss katz and come up with the curriculum? >> sherry was the post--certified instructor at our academy. numerous hours of training. we will work with director katz

and we want to come up with best practices for teaching the first responders how to deal with the vicious dogs. we discussed hout we want to -- at our meeting how we want to prevent many of the dogs getting shot. we have pitbulls already getting shot, and we think that is already a dicey situation because a dog is a moving target. so trying to train our animals how to handle t it is an officer safety component, but again educating our community advisory boards and our community organizations what to do when they have that animal in their neighborhood that they are afraid of could turn into a dangerous animal. a dangerous pitbull is like a deadly weapon. we see across the bay area, there are several young children killed. one in concord. i think one just the other day. i think we learned from our meetings we are the model throughout the country for having a dynamic court, and also

we discuss the emotions of the people bringing the animals when they have the hearings, it is very emotional. one couple broke out their dog in the east bay and broke in the town and took him to reno. it was like a kidnapping. obviously emotions are high. so considering all that and having a fair hearing and keeping our communities safe from vicious animals. i think we learned a lot from sitting down with all the animal community, the animal care and control, and the police department, and we already had these communications, but we reached another level we're we're going to make it a et better unit than it already is. >> i do agree. i have been to the dog court. the emotions run high on both sides. i think both officers are good in terms of keeping it balanced, and keeping it -- you know, keeping the emotion down. >> i learned that the department

of public health used to do the hearings, but it was so threatening, they were making death threats against the individuals, that's how the officers originally got involved in the unit for a safe situation for all parties involved. commissioner dejesus: i am glad they are bringing patrol officers in, because depending on what sfation station you are in, the response will be different. so if we have a uniform training, hopefully we will have the uniformed response. thank -- welcome aboard. >> they will do great things. commissioner dejesus: thank you. president marshall: commissioner mazzucco. vice president mazzucco: i have one question.

every time i see director katz on tv, i am on my way down to see the dogs in the shelter, and i get stopped by my wife. how is this process stopped? all kidding aside. how does the process work? we have a heavy agenda tonight, but i think it is important. how does it work? i see a dangerous dog in the park? >> my job is to collect all the police reports from all the district stations, collect them from the hospitals, doctors that treat dog bye bites. they are mandated to take a report. it goes to animal control, and i take all of those. if you are walking in the park and you have an incident, and it is in progress, i urge you to dial 911. there is a handful of animal care and control officers in the city, and their response time. what we are doing with this new general order is giving the officers more direction on what they can and cannot do. when to impount pound, when to

admonish, when to site. when does this dog need to be taken away? is it going to present an ongoing danger to the community? so the basic could have in any event is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the community. hopefully the officers will make a report. i'll collect it. then i call the victim, ask, well what happened? then i talk to the dog owner sfl he can't believe how different -- owner. he can't believe how different one incident happens on either side. i con fact any winds, or they have dog rap sheets. animal care and control keeps an extensive list of all the animals they have come in contact w i look for a previous history. i gather a packet, and i look for the vicious and dangerous dog system. if it is a neighbor-neighbor problem and i can knock on the door and i can get two

reasonable people to agree to disagree, but to act civilly and behavior modification of the dog, maybe it is a barking dog issue, or maybe it is one neighbor parking in one neighbor's driveway and they want to use the dog as an excuse to get back at them. all these things happen. eventually threes things may end up at vicious and dangerous dog court. the reason i don't hear cases is because i'm doing the investigation, and officer hicks will be the hearing officer. there is a little separation there. it would be like getting a speeding ticket from a traffic cop and going to court to protest it and the court that wrote you the ticket wants to know what the problem is. it seems an obvious thing, but we try to keep a separation with that. so we go through the vicious and dangerous dog process. the victim will say, this is what happened. the dog owner will say, this is what happened. we listen to all the winds and victims. we look at the prior history, and that's when officer licks really feels that -- officer

hicks really feels she's on the hotseat. last week she went through her first two hearings. there is no more uncomfortable place to be. i'm sure every hearing officer remembers their first case. but she held herself very well. i think we are in good hands here. >> great. thank you very much. i appreciate hearing plore about the entire process. thank you everybody. i appreciate it. >> thank you, ms. katz. i think this is often taking a bad situation and having a good outcome.

thank you. that concludes my report. >> good evening, president marshall and members of the commission. as of today we opened 576 cases and we have closed 34 more cases than we closed. during the same period last year we opened 650 cases and closed 651. this is an 11% decrease in cases opened during the same period last year. as of today, we have 4123 pending cases. -- we have 413 pending cases.

today the o.c.c. has sustained 35 cases. in 2009, we sustained 30 cases. this is a 50% increase in sustained cases. moving quickly to mediation, as of today, the occ has facilitated 31 complaints this year compared to 53 by the end of last year. mediations are looking up. in july the o.c.c. mediated eight cases. so far in august, we have mediated 6 cases. that concludes my report. president marshall: anything for the director?

ok. a couple weeks ago, we did a press conference on the new ambassador's program. let me give a little context to the folks about this. the recent violence in the -- there were two incidents in the bay view that brought all this about. the first was the killing of a chinese elder earlier this year in the bay view, and the second was the -- a woman was quickly thrown off the t line and it caused con center nation in the chinese -- consternation in the chinese community and the black community also. i was thrust into the middle of it for a number of reasons. folks asked me to be involved in it. vincent pan was in there with me, and we put forth some ideas to certainly not make things

worse but hopefully make things better. one of the ideas was an ambassador program. if people are going homes, going to senior citizens home, could we get a group of multiracial, multilingual, and i like the term "ambassadors" to be sort of he is courts. -- escourts. it was a great idea, but we don't have any money. it is a great idea, but we don't have fruition. i think a lot of the time. through the hard work of a number of folks, we were able to procure some money from the city. it was two weeks ago now that program went into action.

a very nice press conference in the bay view. i think 12 ambassadors and on the t line and on the -- i guess it was the san bruno line. i don't know exactly when they do it, but i know it is during peak commuting hours. we made the point, they are not police. it is the community helping the community. it is really -- it really was a great idea. we were able to put it together. it turns out i knew some of the ambassadors. i gave them my card and said if they had any problems, call me. i don't know what you've heard, and maybe at some point, i would like to get them in here at the right time, but it is a pilot program, and they are doing a study. a lot of nem -- them were former census workers. so it was easy for them to make

the transig. they had been doing work in the community. it is a program that is going to help the community. >> so far all the reports are very positive p p it was community members that brought the idea together. it was community members that identified funding sources. it is community members continuing to look for funding sources that will sustain this over a long period of time. a great deal of credit goes to the mayor's office and mr. ed lee as well as the board of supervisors, president chuy, to work -- president chiu, to work together on this.

frankly, i believe that this is a model program that i would like to see continue to evolve with the city. the police department is in a support role. this is not a police department problem, but we are supportive of it. we provided training for this ambassador, so that they knew how to contact the police and how to be of help. employment opportunities for people that would otherwise be unemployed right now. so it is a win-win. there are several corporate citizens that want to continue to help this, i believe. a developer has already moved forward to put funding toward this effort. again, i can't say enough about it. hopefully the commission can

help also, be on the bully pull pit to get the funding. it is not necessarily coming from the general fund. we know there is money there, but i think this is the public safety bread and butter issues that i think the community could get their arms around it and maybe identify that and contain that in this current situation and take it to other communities. i'm glad you raised this. all the early quagse indications are -- all the early indications are good. the feedback has also been very good so far. president marshall: we'll keep our eye on it. commissioner hammer. commissioner hammer: thank you. i want to apprise my fellow commissioners of an unusual development. i'm presiding over -- over a disciplinary session where the officer was in a closed session

and now it is open and the media is broadcasting parts of t i don't want the commission to be surprised of it. officer hurley is the officer, and she has publicly raised her right to a closed hearing. so that is proceeding. >> the other issue, so you're aware of it, so no one is surprised by it. there are complicated issues in that it is a public hearing. some officers will be calling -- called as officers who don't want their names broadcast. i have issued several protective orders today. one of the defense lawyers uttered the name of an officer who may be the subject of disciplinary hearings. so his attorney will be addressing the proceeding tomorrow. again, an unusual case.

president marshall: ok. the next issue. commissioner hammer: i just have a couple issues when you are done. commissioner reilly, can you help us out in terms of which of these matters might have hearing officers. i know there is one, but i think there is more. >> commissioner, you should have an overall case dock et. >> i see that. >> if you look at the last page, second page, the last group of cases, you can see -- commissioner hammer: five officers grouped and a sergeant below that? >> correct.

>> right now i have three cases assigned a hearing officer. one ever those is concluded. two are set to begin. actually, four cases assigned to hearing officers. one is yet to be set. it was the chosen hearing officer is out of town. we're trying to communicate with him. >> if i -- commissioner hammer: if i could follow up. the first was concluded with the hearing officer, and this one is set for october 1? >> that's correct. >> the next one, when was that assigned? i notice there is not a hearing date yet, if you know. >> i don't have that date in front of me here. >> if it is the next meeting, lieutenant, and fellow commissioners, i think one of the things we need to track is sometimes these cases get lost once they get assigned a hearing officer. i'm going to propose commissioner mazzucco had an idea, commissioner chan had an idea, commissioner kingsley had

an idea how to modify our rules a little bit to keep some attention on these hearings. is that the only one not assigned a date? >> that, and we have a hearing officer -- we haven't fixed the date on another case, because the selected hearing officer has been out of town, and we have been trying to communicate with him. but we do have those three with dates and two without dates. >> i would ask, perhaps, maybe the first meeting in september, if the lieutenant could highlight the two hearing officer days so we can keep a group eye on those so they can move along. commissioner hammer: that's all i had, commissioner marshall. president marshall: anything else? all right. the next issue is commission

office staffing. commissioner kingsley: i will explain. commissioner dejesus and i talked with the offices and they gave us an additional arm for commissioner reilly who has worked hard on our docket of cases. basically, weigh want you to review these options and vote on which one you prefer. so for the legal assistance option, and of course, you can vote for neither of them, but this is the proposal here. for the legal assistant, the salary is about the same as the court clerk, so the salary doesn't make much of a difference. the experience this person would have is they have parallel studies, the associates degree, with six months work in a legal setting. their skill they generally have, or tracking system for adjusting claims, cornedse and communicates with attorneys, they analyze depositions, and

briefs, affidavits, they conduct legal research, they help with legal research and staff and legislation. that's the qualification for legal assistant. question? president marshall: you can keep reading, but i just want the recommendation. >> oh, ok! commissioner hammer: me, too. >> the court clerk, it will they have high school diploma, four years clerical experience, and one year doing legal or court work. they are experienced with court appearances, court calendars, getting a court reporter, and they understand legal time limits, preparing documents for

judge's signatures and a variety of legal paperwork and hearing dates. so for me, and commissioner dejesus can share her thoughts on this, i prefer a court clerk because it seems like that's what we need, someone who can set the calendar and guide our cases and all the work lieutenant reilly works so hard on. it is managing the docket and putting out these tables that we have, making sure our hearings are staffed, and that would allow lieutenant reilly or the future lieutenant to focus on the office work and all the commission meeting work. i would prefer a court clerk. commissioner dejesus: and as you said, we would prefer a court clerk. what we do need is we need someone who will work under the secretary of the commissioner. it will be basically his agreement. he issues subpoenas, he issues