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tv   [untitled]    November 10, 2010 6:30pm-7:00pm PST

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the year. there's something very positive, and the hiring front, the department of human- resources will be go apparently, four of our investigators are provisional employees, and one can only be provisional for up to -- for a total of three years, and they are getting ready to enter their third year. and one of those four is designing to join her husband in turkey. so we will be filling that vacancy. then additionally, we do have a six-month temporary investigative position, and we have just received a commitment from an individual to fill that position. so things are looking up.
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but in spite of staffing clengs, the o.c.c. investigators continue to avoid a large backlog of old cases during the third quarter. and actually, during the third quarter, the o.c.c. closed 214 cases and opened 290 for a low-case complaint filing quarter. we did show some slippage during the third quarter in the time it took to close cases. we resolved 77% of them within nine months compared to 89% during the third quarter of 2009. we closed the quarter with 397 pending cases, and that's four less pending cases than the close of the third quarter in 2009. in the third quarter of 2010, we sustained 7% of the cases that we closed. of the 16 cases, the same by the o.c.c., there were sustained
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allegations of neglect of duty. 12 of those were failure to collect traffic stop data. i know there were some questions about -- i believe from commissioner kingsley, i believe, about why police collect traffic stop data. commissioner kingsley: excuse me. it wasn't why they collected it. i didn't understand what the abbreviation meant on your report. >> oh, i am sorry. just to eelaborate for the public, sending the data does send a message to the community that the police department is concerned about the expector of -- spectre of bias policing and also that there is a concern about bias policing. it is difficult to prove an
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allegation of bias policing, but the data that is collected can be useful to police departments in terms of the race of the individual who is stopped, the length of time of the stop during these discretionary stops . just to wrap up, another one of the neglected duties allegations with front officer's failure to keep track of the allegations laptop bag. after the complaintant was arrested, the laptop bag and contents have never been found. the investigator caseload as of september 30, 2010, showed a significant increase over the same period of 2009. the average caseload for 2010 was 25 cases per investigator. so we are going backwards somewhat in terms of our case load. september 30, 2009, there were
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22 cases. then the 2007 controller's audit of the o.c.c. had a figure of 16 cases per investigator as a best-practices indicate load. -- case load. in the area of out-reach, o.c.c. was engaged in several out-reach activities. we do a variety of out-reach. our chief investigator does training at the academy. he trained the 288 lateral class on assumptions of the o.c.c. the class gave training at the conference. we provided an interview on spanish radio. we prepared information to them in spanish and consultant knees and -- and cantonese and distributed them at a press conference.
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in the area of policy analysis, during the third quarter, the o.c.c. made recommendations to enhance the department's response to metropolitanal health crisis calls. -- response to mental health crisis calls. some of those rose out of an officer-involved shooting involving an individual in mental health crisis. the o.c.c. continued its work on juvenile policing practices as well as language access. that concludes my report on the third quarter. president marshall: question for director hicks on the third quarter. commissioner chan? commissioner chan: i just want to put a plug in for the out-reach. three of the classes -- my classes about criminal justice. i want to say for people out there watching this who might have classes and students they
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want o.c.c. to reach out to, they did a great job. there is a whole team of o.c.c. investigators that came out and gave a power point presentation. the students were interested, and when they left, some of them said, how do i join the o.c.c.? how do i work for them? so it did clarify for a lot of students, is there an oversight body. thank you for that. >> thank you very much, commissioner chan. and the neighbors of my class who participated in your class and other classes at s.f. state get as much pleasure, i think, out of teaching those classes as the students do. it is really refreshing and affirming to have that kind of enthusiasm from students. president marshall: if there is nothing else, we can proceed to the next item. director hicks? >> thank you. you also have in your packet the
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o.c.c. 2010 community out-reach strategic plan and the o.c.c., as far as we know, is the only civilian oversight law enforcement agency that has a community out-reach strategic plan. sam walker, who is an expert in police accountability advised me last month that the o.c.c.'s out-reach plan is the only one he is aware of that exists. he posted it on his criminal justice web site, sam you'll walker.net so -- samuel walker.net so they can use it as well. the coordinator and policy analysis at the o.c.c. also helped. in addition to reviewing preliminary findings and hearing
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your request, she also coordinates our mediation and outreach program. and as a policy analyst, miriam has contact with the community as well as with the police department when she proposes and drafts new policy for the police department's consideration. the o.c.c. plays a key role in community relations for the city of san francisco. our core mission by charter section 4.27 is to promptly investigate charges of misconduct or failure to perform a duty involving san francisco police department officers. also to recommend to the police commission changes in police policies and practices. in order to acom accomplish this mission -- to accomplish this mission, we currently rely on our staff. o.c.c. staff speaks cantonese,
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russian, and french. we are constantly working with a diverse population in san francisco. our mission is to crease transparentsy about -- transparancy with our goals and accomplishments. to enhance ao.c.c. ties to populations that are racially, cull trl -- culturally or ling giftly -- or linguistically isolated from police staff. i won't go over the 2009 outreach highlights. they are in the 2010 outreach plan, and our plan is on our web site. i will talk about the 2010 outreach goals we have been working on this year. they focus on our mission to
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provide the public information about the o.c.c.'s services. we listen to community members about their policing concerns, and we enhance our community's partnerships so that we can more effectively reach large audiences. we have to do more with less. through the policy work that we do with the police department and the mental health community stakeholders, we are working on enhancing response to mental health call. to the budget process we are continuing to advocate to funding to improve the outreach potential of our web site. we simply don't have funding to enhance our web site in a way that would enable us to have online filing of complaints of -- however, our information technology specialist is doing the best he can to put together some solution because we really
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would like to have some online filing of complaints. we have been advised by the information technology department that if would require more of an investment than we have in dollars. we would also like a calendar system for upcoming outreach on our web site but again we're constrained budget wise. what we will do is continue to post quarterly and annual reports on our website and status reports on our recommendations. we use the media as an opportunity to inform the public about our services and educate the public on issues that we're involved in. so to conclude, we're committed to an ambitious out-reach strategy, despite significant staffing shortages, budget cuts and the like. we'll continue to maximize resources by developing partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders. and we will evaluate our outreach effectiveness at the end of this year and set goals
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for 2011, and we will bring you our 2011 plan, our outreach plan early in the year in 2011 so that this commission can provide us the input. thank you. president marshall: did you have a question? i'm sorry. >> i think that the outreach that the o.c.c. has done is really rather impressive considering the staffing situation you are in and all the other responsibilities in terms of responding to complaints. the breadth of your reach is great in terms of the city, the community, and beyond the community. so i really appreciate your reporting to us with such detail the outreach. one question, and i don't
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remember from the report that you prepared before, are you tallying, you know, the numbers in certain catagories of your outreach in terms of types of communities, police districts, i don't know, all of the very -- very knew marke cal recommendations -- newman cal -- numerical recommendations so they can be compared from year to year. >> have we analyze td -- analyzed it by police district? no, we have not. and i appreciate that question, commissioner kingsley, because i think it is a very good idea. but we do keep very detailed information about where we have gone, and we look at that information to see what we might do in the future.
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one thing i would like to say, under the leadership of chief gascon our leadership has really improved, and the partnership we have developed with the department has improved in an amazing way. and our policy analyst is at the department quite regularly. perhaps three times or so, working with various members of chief gascon's staff on policy issues. we very much appreciate the partnership, because that's the way it ought to be. >> that's great. >> and the last item is for your information, if the o.c.c.'s monthly comprehensive sta activity cal report january 1,
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2010 through october 31, 2010 k and it compares to january 1, 2009. i have nothing to report unless there are questions. president marshall: i think i can speak for all of us, we all continue to be impressed by your work. you are doing a wonderful job, and you are very much so doing it with less. we want to say thank you for that. thank you is probably the best word we can give. >> thank you very much, president marshall, and i would like to thank my staff publicly
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because the staff worked very hard under difficult conditions, and is committed to providing a quality and fair product. i'm coming up on my third anniversary with the o.c.c. president marshall: i remember you being new. >> i remember that, too. president marshall: thank you. >> you're welcome. president marshall: item c. i just want to say, it has been a tough couple months for me. i want to begin by saying, we all know -- i'm sure we all know. anybody who was here about the way the community has reacted to the sentencing over in san
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francisco, as we did the first time around. much of the community is really hurting behind that. i had to cover that on my radio show. the first time we came on we talked about the how and why of talked about the how and why of the verdict, and this time he took us through the legal process, legal thought process and sentencing. for most of the community -- the community all they saw was the video, and they could not understand how the judge arrived at the sentencing, the two-year
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sentencing. and although this is a bart police incident, many people, all they see is an armed police officer shooting an unarmed black man. i just want to thank you, again, you and john bufment rris at least helped provide how this -- whether they agree with it or not, how the judge arrived at its decision of two years. i'm hoping that the feelings in the community do not spill over in anyway to officers in this departments who had nothing to do with it, but then again, that's what the uniform -- that's why it hurts when an officer is involved in something like this. thank you. >> thank you. president marshall: secondly, a week before i did a show on child sex trafficking in oakland. i mention that because there was a follow-up meeting today that
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one of my young people who was on the air with me at the meeting, and they talked about the start of a regional effort to do something about human trafficking. they might just mention that because even though the show was on "oprah" and this was an issue that involved the entire bay area. ed >> president marshall, i was there today. this is an investigation that the coup of san francisco started, and alameda has had a big role in really what has amounted to modern-day slavery. it is taking very young people and putting them to work in prostitution. it is an area that still, unfortunately, still requires a lot of education in our community. a lot of people think this is somehow sexy or glamorous.
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it is neither. these young people are being taken from their homes often against their will and they are being held in captivity, basically. there is a variety of movements going on at the alameda county district attorney, and they are taking this very seriously. we have done our part. we are working on the enforcement piece. we're working on the education piece. there is a movement afoot in sacramento to increase the penalties for johns. i think we really have to know that as long as there is someone willing to pay for this, we have young people that are being horribly victimized and they are being victimized forever. once a young person is engaged in this -- i don't use the word
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female, because there are also boys. there are children are brought in to this process, and they never recovery. i have personally dealt in this area with young people very early in my career, because i started my career early working hollywood and prostitution, and people that get impacted by this, there is really a scar to stay there for the rest of your life. and i think that the communitys understand how serious it is. that it is going on under our noses. i know a lot of people think this is only an international thing, but it isn't. we have very young kids being taken from their homes and being moved from one city to another. they are being put in this cycle of violence and abuse. just to give you a context, a pimp with four young girls today working the streets, they can average around $600,000 a year in income. and frankly, prosecutions in
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this area are far and -- few and far between. when they do come around, they do not have the severity they should have. the customers are getting away without being prosecuted seriously. i think at some point as a community, when is enough, enough? is it enough when it is your next door neighbor? is it enough when it is your own kid? it is something we shouldn't allow to happen. it is happening in san francisco. it is happening in the bay area. many of the young people that you see out there, even the ones that are adults today, they generally started when they were jls -- juveniles and it is a horrible set of circumstances. i think we need to come together and say it's enough. it is not a law enforcement solution, by the way. we are one piece of the puzzle, but it is a much greater problem. i think that -- i welcome the opportunity to work regionally
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with this and the fact that we have both congresswomen who have taken the lead on that, spears, and a local assembly person, and the local alameda county d.a., so this is coming together, and i think we have taken the lead to work nationally, it is really a national embarrassment. president marshall: commissioner mazzucco. vice president mazzucco: i want to take the opportunity to comment the police department on their job on the night of the giant's victory and the day of the parade. as you state, the population in the city had grown beyond an imaginable numbers. the officers were professional, there was no major violence, and they should be commended for that. the captains that ran the northern stations did an excellent job.
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it was a credit to the police department and the command staff. also, yesterday there was a promotional ceremony that i attended with commissioner dejesus and hammer. you promoted two new additional people. it was good to see the officers that had a positive event for them and their families. i also want too thank you, chief. you brought that back, and you also dedicated that ceremonial ceremony to former chief fagan. the kind words you said actually made the ceremony worth even more. thank you. president marshall: acommissioner hammer. commissioner hammer: i wanted to brief my fellow commissioners today. i was part of a meet with the
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p.o.a. when the procedure regarding hearing officers. it was a productive meeting. d.h.r. was there, the city attorney's office, and new ideas came out of that. so i hope to come to the commission i would say in the first two weeks or so of december with ideas we can discuss, and i hope they will be good. i want to second commissioner mazzucco's comments about chief alex fagan. i talked to him two weeks ago, and he sounded so alive and happy and engaged in his life, that i am stunned he's gone. i would like to adjourn the meeting tonight in his honor. i would like to say, for 25 years in and out of law enforcement, and people in law enforcement, and he was a person with such incredible integrity and love of life and loyalty to dedication that i'm honored to have known him.
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president marshall: commissioner chan. commissioner chan: small updates but important ones to be given. we interview the candidates for court clerk for the commission on the 17th. so next week from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and commissioner dejesus and i will be sitting on the panel along with lieutenant reilly and anyone else from the office who would like to attend and see who would be an additional employee. i'm excited about that because it will help move along the disciplinary cases, and then we'll present the final recommend tunssluns to -- recommendations to this group and see who we need to bring on board. >> he went through all of those and picked up the top five. >> anything further from the commissioners? commission report? president marshall: hearing none, we'll take public comment on item three which is the chief's report, the o.c.c. director's report, and the
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commission reports. >> i'm going to go back to the o.c.c. report that was not really covered, just mentioned. i would like to maintain this on the screen while i'm going through this if you would. >> if you look at these statistics it says in 20104 47,000 case -- 2010, it says how many cases were filed and how many were resolved. it says there remain 400 cases outstanding. so everybody is clear on that. now, i have to assume that this 340 cases filed in 2010 and resulted in 2010 include the 37 that were voided, merged, or withdrawn, the 65 that were outside this jurisdiction, and the two that were actually sustained.
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so here, again, we look at the numbers. you basically see 238 complaints that have been resolved. two of those were sustained which gives you a percentage of 0.008 or .8%. so what do you think the actual effect on the community outreach would be, well, if you go before o.c.c., the chances you will actually be found, your complaint is going to be sustained is less than 1%. i think people would be a little bit -- that doesn't sound very good. sometimes people mistake activity with accomplishment. but unfortunately, i can't see any rational reason why 238 cases would be resolved. 236 the officers were found not at fault, and two were.
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i said this before and i'll say it again. i have a hard time believing that the city is just full of hundreds of citizens who every time they have a reaction or interaction with a san francisco police officer are going to file a complaint, and none of them are valid. the o.c.c. director knows about the conversation i had with her. basically the only thing i got to do was make a statement, which somebody retyped, rephrased and from that point on, i was denied any access or information about the entire process. i was offered mediation, but if i went into mediation, basically it was, i can go, but if the officer decides not to show up, that's the end of it. so there are a lot of things about this that i just don't see. and writing a lot of statistics and a lot of reports about the out-rea reach you're doing and activi y