sight luck that we had a jazz fillmore to begin with luck gave you the fillmore tonight supervisor avalos: what a guy. we will close public comment. move forward with recommendations. without objection. mr. young, do we have any other items? >> that complete to the agenda. supervisor avalos: we are adjourned.

>> please stand for 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, indeviseable, with liberty and justice for all. >> thank you. the roll call. commission president thomas mazzucco. >> present. >> we're not on yet.

continue with roll call. vice president commissioner dr. marshall. >> excused this evening. >> commissioner petra dejesus. >> in route. >> commissioner angela chan. >> present. >> commissioner james hammer. >> present. >> commissioner carol kingsley. >> present. >> commissioner james slaughter. >> present. >> commission president you have a quorum. also on the dais, acting chief of police jeffrey godam and

joyce hicks. >> thank you, lieutenant. welcome to the wednesday, january 12, 2011 first police commission meeting of the year noor at city hall. i would start with we don't have anything to report but that would be inaccurate. what we're going to do tonight is we're go to take a line item out of order, given we see quite an audience here. we would like to move down to line item number five, which is routine administrative business. and go into subcategory b, which is scheduling of items identified for consideration of future commission meetings. if you could call that please, lieutenant. >> item 5-b, routine administrative business, scheduling of items identified for consideration of future commission meetings. it's an action item. >> thank you, lieutenant. commissioners, i want to move to this line item initially. in light of the fact we had quite a surprise this week, chief george gaston, who the

commission has had in place now for about 19 months, has left us to become the new district attorney for the city and county of san francisco, and so first i would like to thank him for all of the hard work and effort he's put into this department. and his true law enforcement professional and i'm proud to be one of the commissioners who was on the board that recommended him to the chief, to the mayor, for hiring and we're going to miss him. but it's a great move for the city to have him in the district attorney's office. but the reason i've called line item 5-b is we need to start the process for the selection of our next great police chief for the city and county of san francisco. and so i would like to with commissioners' consent schedule this item for next week. it has to be a scheduled agenda item. and it's obviously a personnel matter, am i correct, miss porter, madam city attorney? >> the discussion at the process would probably not be a personnel matter but actual consideration of applicants, if

the commission took applications, would be personnel matter. >> thank you very much. so i would like to schedule this for next week to schedule it for discussion of the process that this commission will go through in searching for our next chief. if we can do that for next wednesday. do i have any objections from my fellow commissioners? >> no. >> point of clarification. it's a discussion about the process but we wouldn't move so fast as to appoint someone next week. >> no, no. >> under prop h this commission just for the general public, the way it works now under proposition h is the police commission has responsibility of going through the recruiting process, the hiring process, and interviewing candidates and it is our obligation to provide the mayor, mayor li up to three names for which the mayor can select the next chief police from san francisco. if the mayor is not happy with the three flames we submit, the mayor can return the names to us and ask us to go back to the drawing board and forward more names he would find acceptable.

so we've gone through this process before 19 months ago, it was a pretty extensive process. we had input from the community. our main concern is to hear what the community has to say about their next police chief. we went out to almost every group in the city. we went to faith-based community. we went to every district in the city. so we had great input. and quite frankly it's a great experience for each commissioner to really get to know our city. we also by way of background, to you know what our foundation is what we have for this is every district police station, every chief. we had commissioners out there in the midnight shift barkse view, central. i was out at san francisco international airport for the midnight shift lineup and we asked rank and file, the oivs, who in -- officers, who in their opinion, not particular person, but what is the profile they're looking for, for their next san francisco police chief? we have all of that information. we don't have to dust it off. we have book and what everybody's looking for.

we have the first step of the process pretty much completed. we have to discuss the process we're going to go through. obviously given the time constraints, there's one year left in this administration. we need to move expeditiously and we need to move quickly so that this police department has its next chief in place. hopefully we select a chief that's so good that the next administration will feel comfortable. so that's our goal. with that in mind, i would like to put this on the calendar for next wednesday to discuss the process. >> of the discussion item? >> yes. >> and from there -- >> i'm sorry, just from nipet of clarification, what commissioner chan just mentioned when you say as a discussion item, i would hope next week we could agree upon the process, obviously we're not going to be selecting a chief next week but we need to have -- i would hope by next week we will have in place this is the process that we are going to undertake to select the chief. so when you say discussion

versus action item i get a little nervous because obviously they mean very different things for ajendizing matters. for the extent we need to vote and act on something next weeg and agree upon a process, i just want to make sure that is an action item. >> i would like to be more specific. what we'll do next week is discuss the process we're going to go through, we want to hear from the community, and we also will essentially put out the formal job notice, that there is a job opening and we're seeking a police chief for the city and county of san francisco. to that end, this evening myself and two other commissioners have met with mayor li. and commissioner hammer and commissioner slaughter went with me. and we assured him that it will be a very thoughtful process. and a process where we will give consideration to every applicant and we promised them that we will do our befment to give him a great police chief. and he pledged his support and

he basically said he has full faith and confidence in his commission that we will bring to him a good candidate but we all agree that we need to move expeditiously. last time the process was up to seven months. it's not going to be a seven-month process. and that's our promise to the mayor and that's our promise to the city -- the people of the city of san francisco and our promise to the officers that serve the city. we need to put the next chief in place sooner than later and we'll do our best to do that. commissioners, anything you would like to snad commissioner hammer? >> i want to second or agree with commissioner mazzucco. for my part -- and i think the mayor said this today, and i think his leadership is terrific, we need to move with liberation but also with speed so it's our men and women in this police department who every day on the streets of san francisco put their lives on the line and keep people safe. i don't think we have to start from ground zero like we did last time. i also think there are qualified candidates within the police

department and i'm sure people are already thinking about it and i think this police commission intends to move as quickly as it can in terms of looking at candidates. >> thank you. commissioner kingsley? >> i agree we have to move very quickly on this process. i'm wondering how quickly the reports prepared by the previous commissioners on the previous search can be made available to the commissioner chan, commissioner slaughter and myself who are not involved in that process. >> we discussed that. what we're going to do is meet the city attorney find out what portions of that report can be discovered to all of the commissioners. three of us have been through the process. we have four new commissioners. a lot of what's in those reports are personnel matters. and they're protected, some of the applicants who applied from both within and outside the department, obviously we don't want that information disseminated. it will affect their ability to maintain the jobs they currently have and quite frankly, we're

going to be very careful about that but we will give you the reports regarding the profile that we came up with. it was an incredible profile that former president teresa sparks put together after meeting with the community and meeting with the officers and police officers association, and after meeting with the offices of justice, all of the different groups, that's in place. we will get each and every one of you a copy of that. and in fact i provided a mayor with the copy of that profile this evening so he has a copy of that profile. but we'll make available what we can but specific personnel issues like resumes -- >> understood, thank you very much. >> we'll move forward in that direction. also, i would like to say, i think the consensus amongst the commissioners i was with today in the meeting that myself, commissioner slaughter and commissioner hammer, it should not become a sport here in san francisco to speculate as to who the next chief is going to be, nor to lobby. last time we went through this process, there was a warning regarding the lobbying process

and i think some candidates lobbied too hard. and they then become the chief. so i'm asking that names don't appear in the press because we need to protect the rights of those who are courageous enough to apply for this job. we don't need the press saying positive or negative things about the applicants. the commission will review each and every candidate. we will do a thorough background check and we'll allow the mayor to do the same. that will be his job to vet the candidates. but i can remember last time bog through the process, i would pick up the morning paper and i would hear we're going to hire somebody that, quite frankly, we didn't even interview. so it became quite comical and i want to make sure that doesn't happen. the mayor agrees with us on that point this evening. so, please, let's stop the speculation. it affects people's lives. it affects the lives of those applying and rank and file members of the police department out on the street, where they're sitting around doing their job and working very hard but we

can't have too many people speculating about who's the next chief, which team they're going to join, who they think should be the chief. they're great professionals and doing their job. i would ask you allow the commission to do our job, allow the mayor to do his job. i guarantee you, we'll get you a great chief. that's just a request i have and i know two of the other commissioners agree with me on that. anything further, commissioners? and i would like to say one last thing, in the interim, we have on the dais with us the current acting chief of police jeff gaudin. as it stands today, he is our acting chief of police. i want to make that perfectly clear. anything further from the commission? ok. just before i go to public comment, let's move into line item 5-a for commission announcements so we can fulfill this item and then go into public comment. >> are there any other items to be scheduled for future meetings before we go there? >> at this point we need to agendize the discussion regarding the police chief discussion process for next wednesday. i think we have a full agenda.

we discussed a lot last week. >> yes, we do. >> anything further? i now will turn this matter over to public comment. public comments -- >> i don't know if there are any on 5-a but any other commission announcements? >> any public comment. commissioners, director of san francisco, open government and listening to your comment, i did not hear a very clear understanding that there needs to be a distinction between what is shared amongst the commissioners in private and ruled a personnel matter and what should be open to the public. i believe the process of the selection of a chief of police for this department is a tan amount issue and it's something that should be considered in the broad, open spectrum of open government. as a result i believe that i didn't hear enough coming from this commission to this deputy city attorney to really make a clear distinction as to what can be done in private and what will

be required to be held in the open public view. for example, since some of the characters -- excuse me, some of the applicants are probably going to be people who apply for chief gaston's position, probably the resumes they submitted and all of the documentation was considered at that time is now a matter of public record. and as a result some of that information should be now available to the public in case -- in cases where those people are now going to be also included in the list of candidates for the current position. number two, i don't think it is really necessary to rush into this. yes, it's good to make a case and say, well, we need to get somebody in place right away before the new administration but i think acting chief gaudin is an experienced police officer. he has, i believe, the confidence of this commission and the confidence of the former chief and i do not think there would be any harm to public safety or any other issue of the police department if he were to maintain his position for a period of time to ensure this

process is a fair and open one. as you know, i have four matters before the sunshine ordinance task force, two of which had been heard and two of which have yet to be heard. one was determined in your favor that it is going to be coming back for a hearing i'm glad to say. the second one was found in my favor and that you did an agenda item and failed to give proper notification that were found in violation of the sunshine ordinance. i will be very active this year in being at every one of these meetings especially since we're moving into a selection process for the chief of police. i want to ensure that every single thing that should be out in the open under the sunshine ordinance, the brown act, both be out in the open. and most importantly, i will be continuing my efforts to ensure that the constitution of the united states, the constitution of the state of california, the brown act, and the sunshine ordinance are followed in this

chamber. nobody sitting on any board in this city has the right to silence free speech. nobody. in fact you took an oath of office to uphold and defend both the constitution of the state of california and that of the united states, and i will be hoping you do so. >> commissioners, good evening. my name is amil lawrence. i have been a resident of the city and county of san francisco for 42 years. i have been through this circus of police chief changes more than once. going loud to the hop, skip and jump into homeland security for 400,000 a year after retiring in this city for 275,000 a year. i came to this commission in january of 2010 with a problem.

i directed it to this commission. i directed it to the police chief and he sat there like a fink and didn't move his head. he was inaccessible. he had a phalanx of guard that the hall of justice, wall of telethons and you couldn't talk to him. he drobe around town with a security guard. what kind of police chief is this? only a jack ass of a mayor would have picked a man like him. and we have a donkey that just left town also. you look at all of this at hindsight and what do you see? you see a mess here for you guys. police chief can't hold on for the jobs. they leave for other opportunities. what did gavin newsome pick? he picked an opportunist. he has no qualms about leaving to help the city of san francisco do a job. so you look in that light, if you're going to put together an

item or put together an agenda to bring in a new police chief, i suggest you give him a contract that if he ever leaves his job, he has to give every dime he was paid back. because this kind of thing is going on and on and on. i don't know how many police chiefs we have in retirement today, collecting $250,000 a year with wages and pensions as the circus goes on of changing police chiefs. you just have to hold a job for one month and you collect a quarter of a million dollars a year for the rest of your life. why, the public just looks at you in awe. that's what's been taking place in my lifetime, and the city and county of san francisco. the office is turned into an opportunity knock. no one police chief has ever done a good job in the past ten years in this city. yet they have been hopping around and collecting their paychecks as if they're some royal entity. i watch them walk around town or

drive around town like mr. gaston. he thought he was some sort of royalty. the problem i have with the police department, with officer woods in 2010 was the fact that mr. gaston was inaccessible. so i ran into a racist cop that o.c.c. won't give me any records on right now. that's what you have here. i suggest you start looking at it in that light or i'm going to be standing here for the whole year. thank you very much. >> good evening, commissioners. member of the committee, congratulations for your appointment. we trust you will serve and put all segment -- protect all

segments of our community. i'm the co-director of education not incarceration and founder of the inner study foundation. since we're talking about sunshine ordinance as many of you may have seen or saw last night, a couple of violations of the ordinance to text messaging between you, commissioner hammer -- i should address you normally and former commissioner david compos about the contract. we trust that this time during the search for permanent chief none violation will be done, let alone seen by the public. pardon me from being naive but i don't understand why the o.c.d. director and the interim chief

or the chief will be sitting with you commissioners at the same level when, as you may remember well, all of the brass and o.c.d. director was here on the bench. to me this body was meant would be misconduct. i do not see it appropriate or symbolic of the confusion of meddling to see the director andp chief properly sit athis. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. hello, ladies and gentlemen, i'm christine harris. i'm the victim of police brutality by sergeant beasley and his teammates at san francisco police department. he stalked me and burned by vital organs to near death and wiretapped my phones. still, my phones are still tapped. the san francisco police

department has done nothing to help me to date and has covered up his crimes and his accomplices. i have never done anything to him or his wife except make requests of his wife when she was a property manager via e-mail. it is in the news too often another human being or animal is murdered and terrorized by a police officer, unarmed men like derrick jones, oscar grant, rodney king and most recently a man in a wheelchair. the videos tell the truth. police officers need to be trained foreeemectively and learn ho to deal with all kinds of people. they need to be given ample tests to show their worthy of protecting and serving the public and carrying lethal weapons. they need psychiatric evaluations before entering a police force and they need to learn how to deal with people who have physical and mental challenges. when will the san francisco police department and city of san francisco make the brutal police officers who abused