7000 law enforcement officials, including the fbi, the joint task force, and others. we did some of this work under the department justices community relations service. when a train on the issues, a key factor was trust between me as a trainer and the law enforcement officials that were there to learn about how to culturally, competently work with our communities. there were specifics mentioned in the presentation. within the muslim community, the case in l.a., the muslim public affairs council and many others worked with the fbi for a year on that one case. it reduced and eliminated funds that have been built over the years.

if i decide to move to san francisco, we don't want what happened to a 16-room boy after 9/11 when he was taking a picture in maryland, hours later, an fbi agent showed up at his door in virginia and asked to see who he was and what he was doing. i don't want that to happen at the golden gate bridge if we have children and their photograph thing it. -- photograph in it. -- photographing it. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. i would like to thank theresa sparks and human rights commission for holding this meeting. i worked in san francisco, but i came from the washington, d.c., area, where i trained local law enforcement on difficult issues such as sexual

assault and domestic violence, addressing how those issues play out in immigrant communities. there is under-reporting in these communities as far as reporting violent crime. what the mou does is continue to encourage that under-reporting and communicate that there are communities that have a separate level of protection. what i have learned from my experience in virginia with the movement toward deputizing local law enforcement so they have the ability to enforce federal law is that there is a perforated profound loss of trust. people who need to call 911 will not pick up the phone if they are being abused, it very victim of a violent crime, whatever that crime may be. i would like to support the

resolution put forth by the asian law caucus and aclu as a solution that is representing a sensible level of independence and collaboration between local law enforcement and federal law enforcement. thank you. >> good evening. my name is michael and i'm the president of the national lawyers guild in the san francisco bay area. we are a human rights legal organization made up of lawyers and other illegal workers with nearly 1000 members here in the bay and thousands of members across the country. our members know it is important to maintain constitutional protections in the bill of rights, the california right to privacy, and locally, the department general order 8.10. there's a reason we have these protections.

there's a history of officers of using their powers. we need to maintain our protection to maintain liberties. we need effective civilian oversight of the police. i think that means that we need to adopt the portland resolution route of maintaining oversight. the national lawyers guild has its own history of being persecuted for constitutionally protected reasons. the house un-american activities investigations persecuted many nlg members and ruined people's reputations and lives. they accuse them of being communists. we all know what is wrong with that and what was wrong with that persecution. we don't want to repeat that

today. today we are in a climate of increased racism and xenophobia. that affects everybody. we see it on the news, in the media, and it is affecting the police officers. we need to make sure we maintain strong controls over the police. that means we should adopt a resolution. [tone -- [tone] >> i am the equal justice work er. we do civil rights legislation. i will defer most of my time to the person behind me, but over the last year, i've worked in two cases involving fbi abuses. one is a case in southern california. another is in chicago. i want to say that i don't think

the san francisco police department wants to be involved in the use and misuse of power like the use of informants, the use of technology, illegal technology, that the fbi is involved in. i think the proposal put forth today not only protect communities in san francisco, it protects the police department from being involved in activities that it probably does not want to get involved in. thank you. i defer the rest of my time. >> good evening. i would like to thank everyone for being here tonight. i'm originally from the country of yemen. i am a community leader, secretary-treasurer. i have lived in this country for

more than 15 years. i was personally approached by the fbi two weeks after writing a letter to police chief gascon in 2010 asking for his help in dealing with problems we were having with the authorities. in all my time here, i have seen people being mistreated for no reason. it is because of the way we look and who we are. we are being harassed and mistreated by the u.s. armed forces -- armed authorities. they treat us as though we are second-class citizens. these acts are attacking our dignity, our identity. they're denying our existence in society.

these acts of discrimination are impacting our community. it also impacts education, growth, and development. i have responsibilities and rights as a u.s. citizen. if this citizenship cannot protect my basic human rights, and dignity, and respect my existence as a part of society, [tone] we do not deserve this type of discrimination. i urge you to act and take a step toward resolving this crisis by doing what needs to be done to end this tragedy. thanks so much. >> thank you. [applause]

>> good evening. first and foremost, i would like to thank the police commission and the hrc. chief suhr, one thing i would like to say is strength in the trust between the community and the sfpd by supporting the initiative that was passed in portland. i am a community of record nadir. -- i am a community leader. our members have been scared to death about coming to our mosque just to pray or attend one of our dinners. it is to a point where many of the members don't want to come to our center. they go to santa clara, fremont, or elsewhere. they say they don't want to be spied upon. you have to do something to

increase the trust between the community and the san francisco police department. also, what i am really upset about is while this hearing is going on, why is the fbi not present? as a coordinator, i go to many commissions. i have gone to the entertainment commission hearing were the fbi serves no purpose. they were there. maybe we should have free food next time. please, they should be here. this is something that relates to them. the entertainment commission has nothing to do with them. they should be here discussing with you. if we are wrong, they should address that in front of us. thank you very much. [applause] >> good evening. i am an iranian american attorney. i came to this country about 16 years ago to go to college.

until the point, i lived in four different countries across three continents. unlike my other friends, who felt excited to go home for long holidays or after vacation, i felt like i belong to know where. i did not have a home. these days, it is different for me, whether i am driving down the freeway, or even on a rainy day, i feel like i have a home. i belong. it would be sad to have that feeling again. over 2500 years ago, the persian king wrote and reminded himself that in all his conquests, "i kept in view the needs of the people and all their sanctuaries to promote their well-being." if you listen to the testimony before us today, there is no dispute that the community is telling you that there needs and

their sanctuaries are no longer kept in view by our laws, policies, mou's and partnerships. you will hear that the community is no longer feeling safe in cities. they feel unwelcome, unwanted, and targeted. i sincerely hope that 2500 years later, if not better than where we were then, we can at least do as well. we can revisit and rethink our laws, policies, and mou's and partnerships, and reverse the direction. it is a wonderful feeling of being safe and feeling at home. [applause] >> hello. i am a research associate at the school of medicine. i am here tonight because security is an important issue

to me and i feel the security of over 300 million people in this country should matter. i also feel that after my experiences, the fbi will go to any length to do what they believe is protecting security. what they believe is not necessarily what will secure our security. i want to give you an example. in 2009, i had a friend stopped by tsa while boarding a flight. they took him to a back room. fbi arrived and interrogated him. they asked if his wife worked a job. he is a resident of lebanon. they asked him how far away he lived from the security barriers. they proceeded to arrest him. they did not taken to a magistrate within 24 hours. many other things. at 1 point, they asked him, they

got agitated, and they said, do you want us to shoot you? the right leg or the left like? -- leg? they charged him with bank fraud. this was at a time when people on wall street were running away with billions of dollars. the agent lied in one instance, saying that he had told us about these charges. before the grand jury, -- he had said the reason he followed this because it is what he told us in interrogations'. bottom line is i don't feel safe. i live in fear for me and my family. sometimes i think, take me to jail. that way i don't have to pay -- [tone] that is all i have to say. [applause]

>> my name is vera and i'm with the immigrants' rights commission. i was hoping to see the report on your sept. 2010 meeting. i was there and we have not seen the report. i was so happy to see that the recommendations are being acted on from that report. our president was here a little earlier, but he had to leave. i wanted to let you know that we are certainly -- we do have a town hall meetings and we would like to have more. we have never read meetings and we often get complaints at our monthly meetings at city hall especially about the airport. the idea of having an ombudsman at the airport makes a great deal of sense, if we could help in that some way, it would be marvelous. people are harassed and kept

longer and kept overnight sometimes while they're being questioned. i know the sfpd cannot be the police there. we have an ombudsman, a lot of problems could be solved on the spot. i'm glad to see you are working on solutions and that there are recommendations, and you are willing to help. >> good evening. thank you for putting this on. i am the director of the fund that supports a 17 a-area memsa communities. there were earlier comments about the trust we should put in the u.s. attorney general. as a community member and someone who works with community members, i can tell you the

actions the fbi have taken have eroded the trust. the men and women are supposed to protect us. instead, the community, community-base organizations as well as individuals, feel pro failed and -- profiled and surveillance. this will spread even more in terms of relations and perceptions of the sfpd. i encourage you to strongly consider the resolution options and burn our community's trust back. you can protect our civil rights and keep us safe. if you ignore the resolution option, you will be sending the community a message that you don't take seriously our lives and concerns. i would also like to respond to comments about many members of the community's coming from countries that have different standards and laws. actually, some of these community members have shared

that they have come to the u.s. in the hopes of seeking a different circumstance and in the hopes of seeking more protection, and an ability to speak up for themselves and their rights. however, are people say they're surprised, especially in san francisco that they continue to feel they are not able to speak openly and that they're being profiled and surveiled. thank you so much. [applause] >> good evening. police chief, i want to congratulate you and welcome you to our community. commissioners, this topic looks kind of very deep. in looking at the law, i want to

thank a good gentleman, jean, and i think you should consult with him. he's knowledgeable and it seems like there is a fight here, and administrative fight, outside the law itself, concerning our communities. how the commission will deal with it, it seems very complicated, something that we, the subjects, we probably, we don't understand all of this, but i am sure the police chief,

and you guys, you will get into some understanding. i am nobody, you know? i am just here, very interested. not doing well. but this issue of profiling and deeper to people has been the same as immigration, federal immigration asks the police department to look to the immigrants. one police chief told me, i

don't care where you come from. you do your job. also, you have to remember that in our community, it is a self- censorship. before anybody wants to do bad things for our safety, there are -- >> all right, sir. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. i am the executive director of the san francisco bay area office of the council on american islamic relations. we're the largest american civil rights advocacy group. before i speak about our perspective, a pope of clarification. there have been questions about the fbi's present. it is my understanding, just so everyone knows, the fbi was invited to participate in today's hearing, and they declined.

that goes to the question of trust and openness. if they are not willing to have these conversations in the open, the way they are in portland, the question comes to people's minds is, what are they hiding? why can't we have these discussions with them? that is that issue. in my line of work, i represent dozens of clients who have been visited by the fbi. what i usually share some examples of what we see. they highlight the reason for openness, accountability and trust. there's a reason we need these things. some of the things we have seen with the fbi in the last year and a half is people being questioned on their views about osama bin laden. their question about the uprisings in the middle east, whether or not they know rebels in libya, tunisia, and egypt. african community members are questioned about the uprising in egypt and other parts of the

middle east. we also find agents not willing to share their names, last names, affiliations, business cards, so all we get is mitch, george, and john saying they want to protect us. it does not work. i am urging this body to take up the recommendations that have been put forth to move us toward a resolution model so there is concrete, clear, and transparent accountability for the way law enforcement interact with this community. we need trust. we must move forward together. thank you. [applause] >> good evening. i am with the advocate for human rights. we work with iranian immigrants, iranian asylees. i don't want to repeat anything anyone said.

in our line of work, we have also seen our community organizations being harassed by the fbi. i want to underscore the importance of community organizations, security in knowing they are not being surveiled when they are providing services to the community. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you very much. any further public comment? >> good evening. i am going to be helping with translation. >> i am a tunisian american. she will try to translate my story. >> i have lived in san francisco for 10 years. i work as a cabdriver. the fbi has come to my home and my work multiple times. i have been interrogated. in san francisco, the fbi has

asked me about my religion, where i pray, my family's name, the names of my roommates, and how many times i pray, and very personal questions. in 2009, i was delivering to someone without pulled over by various sfpd cars and a van, including a red crown victoria. it stayed behind and there was a man that was walking. the officers told me to step out of my car. they handcuffed me and put me on the sidewalk while they searched my car. they went back and reported to the man in the crown victoria, who then left while the officers spoke to themselves and seemed to be discussing what to give me a ticket on. i found out that i received a ticket for an unsafe right turn, which i did not do. i am saddened that this type of harassment happens to me. i'm not here today to speak about myself. i am here to speak about my

family that i wish to reunite with. i have a daughter and a wife i want to bring here in the next few months. i don't want this to happen to my daughter when i bring her here and i don't want this to happen to my wife. help stop the abuses. [applause] president mazzucco: is there further public comment? public comment is now closed. item three? item three is adjournment. >> i want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work. i want to thank the audience. very compelling to hear your story. we as a commission, we are all individual commissioners with equal power and authority. i think it is fair to say that we the commission will not tolerate any form of discrimination, any form of profiling come in this city.

that is not acceptable. i know that chief suhr will not tolerate or allow that. we will make great strides to clear up some of the perceptions this evening. i want to thank john crew from the aclu for presenting these issues and bring in the audience forward. the folks we heard from, especially those individuals who have been affected, it is important that we send a message that we are not born to tolerate this, and that we will protect civil rights. again, this is an unprecedented hearing. i want to thank the human rights commission. we're sending a strong message to night. no one should feel threatened by anybody. commissioner dejesus: i want to thank everyone for their participation. i want to say that i think we should have some next steps. on the commission level, we should follow up on the resolution aspect of this and continue to meet and discuss that and see whether it is

feasible and how to proceed. i want to thank everyone for bringing this to our attention. i look forward to continuing to work with you to move forward. thank you. >> on behalf of the human rights commission, i would also like to say thank you and thank president mazzucco and his commission for sharing their meeting with us. i am sure i speak on behalf of everyone involved in sang thank you to theresa spar santazoey polk, -- theresa sparks and zoey polk, who have worked on this issue. i'm proud of the work the commission does in san francisco. i'm proud we will continue to be on the cutting edge of issues like this to make sure that matters are dealt with and human rights are protected, and there is full view of these issues in public in san francisco.

want to thank everyone. i want to thank everyone for coming tonight and we look forward to seeing you at our future meetings. >> do we have a motion? >> i want to say thank you. i will make a motion. i also want to thank members of the human rights commission for your detailed and thoughtful questions. i could tell there was a lot of work that went into it on your end, and i appreciate that. i also want to recognize the work of our president, president mazzucco, because i know that he has met with members of the committee. with that, i move to adjourn. >> second. president mazzucco: all in favor?