>> the chair is calling the meeting to order. please turn off any cell phones or pagers so that they do not interfere with the recording equipment in the room. 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, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> thank you. we will now be taking the roll call of commissioners. commission vice president joe marshall is en route. angela chan.

carol kingsley. julius terman. commission president, you have a quorum. in the audience, we have the deputy chief of police and the director of occ. >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the august 31 san francisco police commission meeting. this is our monthly meeting in the community. this month, we're in the richmond district ordinarily what we do is eat commissioner has an opportunity to introduce themselves and explain what we do for our day jobs. we give a bit of history about us. i will tell you this. for me, this is the best part of being on the commission, going out once a month to the different neighborhoods and seeing part of the city that sometimes we're not familiar

with. we can hear from the members of the community about their wor concerns about the police department. it is a lot of fun. i will start to my right with commissioner slaughter. we will tell you a bit about ourselves. >> i have been a member of the commission for about a year now. i am an attorney in my day job at a law firm that does criminal and civil work for both individuals and corporations. i have been involved in city public affairs since i moved to san francisco in 1991. i do not have generations on me like many others on the commission. i love the city and am proud and privileged to serve on the commission.

i am a longtime member of the richmond district. i used to live on california street. i moved about a year ago. i know this school and walk well. i am planning to go down and get some pizza around the corner after we get out. it is my favorite spot. >> think you for having us here today. i want to thank the principal and roosevelt for hosting us tonight. my name is angela chan. i have been on the commission since last june. i miss civil-rights attorney focusing on criminal justice reform and immigration. i have worked with you throughout san francisco in making sure they are on the right path to having a bright future. in terms of my commission to the richmond, this is one of the first neighborhoods i moved to when i came to san francisco.

i still come to clemente street all the time to have dim sum. i consider this my neighborhood. thank you for having us. >> my name is thomas mazzucco. my mother-in-law lives in the district. my son goes to law school in the district. i am a native san franciscan. i am an attorney like all of us here right now. for 10 years, i was an assistant district attorney for the city and county of san francisco. for nine years following that, i was an assistant united states attorney doing organized crime cases. i have spent 19 years as a prosecutor. i have moved on to the private sector where i represent lawyers and judges before certain conditions. that is my new practice. this is my favorite part. i get excited about this. i have been on the commission for over six years. it is fun to hear from the community.

do not hesitate to tell us what is going on tonight. >> my name is carol kingsley. thank you for hosting this evening's meeting. for over 30 years, i have lived and worked in various parts of san francisco. i raised my son in the city. i am an attorney. i have a private practice, a mediation practice by day. i have been on the commission for a little over a year. it has been a privilege and a real pleasure working on the commission, serving the city in this way. i am committed to working with the other commissioners, departments, the office of citizen complaints, and the community in making san francisco the safest city of its size in the country. thank you all for being here tonight.

>> during the day, i am an attorney where i practice labor employment law. i have been on the commission since placlate june. i am pleased to be out in the community as well to share your concerns and get to know you and richmond better. i have lived close to the richmond. i certainly know clemente street well. it is a pleasure to be amongst you. i cannot wait to hear what you have to say tonight. thank you. >> i apologize for being late. there was a lot of traffic. i come from oakland. my name is petra dejesus. i grew up in bernal heights and

am happy to be here to see what the issues are. >> lieutenant? >> i was born here in the city. [laughter] item number one. reports to the commission. the chief's report is a review of recent activities. >> good evening. on behalf of the chief, he would have liked to have been here. he did have a priority training thing he was involved in. the biggest priority now for the police department is getting our plainclothes officers completely trained. tonight was a very important training class. the instructor was coming in to do the class. it was his last night. the retired lieutenant was coming in to do a series of classes. it is a priority for the police

department. he had to be present. i would happy answer any questions. last saturday, there was a significant amount of violence attributed to the 49ers-raiders game. we dedicated additional resources to the game. we increased our percentage of officers of the game by about 40%. thankfully, there were no incidents of violence at the game. the 49ers did not do very well in the game, but the security plan was solid. we think it is a solid plan moving forward. we are changing the tailgating parties. we think that is a significant improvement moving for the season. another issue this last week was a significant demonstration related to the part protest -- bart protests we have seen on

recent mondays. there were no disruptions in public transportation. there was no property damage or acts of violence. there were no arrests. bart police did make two arrests. we have a handle on how to handle those and will continue to implement that. year-to-date crime remains down 5% in the city. that is significant, especially in light of some of the declines we've seen in recent years. that is important. we did have a challenging week with acts of violence in the mission. we had a coordinated meeting about that today on a response plan to some of this. i would be happy to report if we have curbed the violence. we will not know until the following week. i would be happy to answer any questions. >> with reference to the additional security of the

forty-niners games, who is paying for that? >> the bulk of the overtime is paid for by the 49ers. i do not have the exact charge. we do dedicate resources to it like with any major event. it is like with the giants games. if a bunch of people go, we have a responsibility to protect people at the event. the security inside the stadium is paid for by the vendor or the giants. if a lot of people went to fisherman's wharf for an event, it would be our responsibility to protect them. >> you said he will report on the violence in the mission district next week. i am concerned there were two incidents that seem to be a game-related -- gang-related

give us a brief idea of what the plan is. >> at 1:30 this afternoon, we had a meeting with the gang task force. we will have a series of deployments. we will check up on probationers. anyone on bench warrant status will be receiving a lot of attention. some of the crimes involved from the narcotics trade. we will be doing narcotics enforcement. we will be doing strict enforcement of stay with orders as well. there are other things we're working on long-term. i do not want to get too specific on that at this time. >> i have a quick question. with regards to the violence in the mission, i know the captain has done a great job of working with organizations in the

mission to address any uptick in violence that is gang-related. >> the captain agreed to take point with working with the of reach and community groups to tell them what we're doing in the mission to keep them informed. >> any further questions for the chief? >> thank you. we will move onto line item 1-b. >> it is a review of recent activities. >> the evening, director hicks. welcome home. >> good evening. i am the executive director of the san francisco office of citizen complaints. i would like to recognize the senior investigator in the audience this evening. it is a pleasure this evening to be here to speak to you about

the functions of the office. we're also known as the occ. it is the third largest civilian oversight of law enforcement agency in the united states. it is only surpassed by new york city and chicago as civilian oversight agencies. our office was created by a board of supervisors charter sponsored amendment in 1982. it became operational in 1983. we're nearly 30 years old. the occ was originally an office in the police department. it has since been made a separate office and placed under the direct supervision of the police commission. that is also the civilian agency. the office of citizen complaints investigates civilian complaints of police misconduct against san francisco police officers. it also makes policy recommendations on san francisco police department policy and

practices. in california, law enforcement agencies must have a procedure to investigate complaints by members of the public against peace officers. the office of citizen complaints fulfills that purpose for the san francisco police department. our office is staffed by a diverse group of civilians who may never have been san francisco police officers. the office of citizen complaints currently has 33 staff members. the majority are investigators. the balance of the staff consists of attorneys and other support staff. the goal of the occ is to increase the public's trust in law enforcement by being the bridge between the public and the police on matters of police misconduct, neglect of duty, and police policy. to that end, the office of citizen complaints' mission is to ensure police accountability by conducting a fair and

unbiased investigations and making recommendations on police policies and practices. when we conduct an investigation, we do so to find out what happened. we follow the evidence. when we complete an investigation, we make a finding of whether the complaint of the officer violated any police depart rules, or local or federal laws. if after the investigation the occ finds an officer violated a rule, we forward a report to the chief of police. the chief can impose discipline up to the 10-day suspension. the police commission has jurisdiction over cases where the recommended discipline is greater than a 10-day suspension. in addition to our disciplinary role, the occ provides mediation as an alternative to discipline. last year, the occ mediated 63

complaints. these 63 mediations represent 8% of the 812 cases we closed last year. our mediation program allows complainants to resolve issues with the accused officer in person in a dispute resolution format. the goal of our mediation program is to bring the involved parties together in an effort to achieve mutual understanding. we have a partnership with community boards and the san francisco bar association. through this partnership, we are able to provide neutral mediators for our mediation program. our mediations can and have been conducted in languages other than english. participation in the mediation program is voluntary. both the complainant and complained of officer must agree to participate in the mediation program for the mediation to go

forward. i continue to be proud to report that eligible officer participation in our mediation program is 95%. the mediation participation rate of the san francisco police officers is the highest per capita of similar mediation programs in the united states. before i conclude my remarks, i would like to share a few statistics which you about the complaints the occ received in 2010 and how we resolved those complaints. in 2010, we received 854 complaints. this represents a 16% reduction in complaints we receive in 2009 when we received 1018. our sustained rate was 9% of the places we closed. we found proper conduct by 29% of the allegations were investigated. we found that 3% of the allegations were not true. of the largest percentage of

allegations we received were for unwarranted action, followed by conduct reflecting discredit. allegations of unnecessary force comprised a very small percent of the allegations we received, only 10% of them. in 2010, approximately 26% of the complaint tips or african- american, caucasian's comprised from 30% -- 32%. another 18% decline to state their rates. additionally, the complete tips included asian-americans, 67, latinos, 12%, native americans and as of the calendars at 2%. the office of citizen complaints is located at 25 than ness avenue and the 28th floor, the corner of the van ness and marketed. easily accessible by public transportation, and will receive a walk-in complaints.

we also received complaints by telephone, mail, and by fax and by e-mails. we do have an answering service for complaints off-hours, after hours. our staff speaks several languages, which include cantonese, mandarin, burmese, and spanish. for other languages, we do provide an interpretation service. you can also filed a complaint at your district police station, and personnel will for those to us. as i said earlier, a senior investigator is in the audience to answer any questions that you may have or you may speak to him individually. that concludes my remarks. thank you. >> thank you very much, director. for members of the audience, it is very important to have a strong occ in order to have a strong police department. director hicks says come in to take over the organization.

she has looked into credibility and investigations have been quicker. if we have an issue with a police officer, we need to address it to rehabilitate the officer or no longer have the officer be a part of this police department. strong occ as for a strong police department. during public comments, if you have questions, feel free to talk to them. they play a very important role. commissioners, any questions for director hicks? >> thank you, director, for your report. it is always important to put in context the good work the occ is doing. i noted that you describe that from 2009 to 2010, there was a double-digit decrease in the number of complaints to the occ about the public's interactions with the department, which i took as a very good news. the public is generally more satisfied has fewer complaints with its interactions in the

department. i was wondering if you can comment at all about whether that trend continued in the current calendar year in 2011, if you are seeing year-over-year decline in the number of complaints being brought to the occ? >> yes, commissioner. the trend is a continuing, not at the rate that it occurred last year. currently, through the end of this month, it appears that the complaints filed in 2011, as of today, are about 10% fewer than the complaints that were filed in 2010 as of august 21 -- august 31, 2010. >> thank you, director. that is great news, a testament to your department, and it is

also plainly a testament to the heart and good work of the members of the rank-and-file of the department. they are exceeding the commission's add your call and let the public demands, which is to have a professional police force that treats everybody in this city with respect, saying at a double-digit decline over two years, with the number of complaints for the occ really reflects that work. thank you very much. >> you are welcome. >> commissioners, anything further? >> thank you. director, i was wondering if you or the senior investigator could give the public just a one- minute sort of overview of how an investigation is protected. that kind of information might be informative -- informative to both them and members of the commission. >> thank you, commissioner. briefly, when an individual

files the complained with our office, that individual is interviewed. if the individual walks in, the complainant is interviewed immediately. if we receive a letter from an individual or an e-mail, the investigator contacts them and invites them to come into the office or conducts a telephone interview. in addition to interviewing the complainant, our office also contacts witnesses, civilian witnesses. the office may interview police officers. the subject police officer, as well as witnessed police officers. we also, in some cases, send out written interrogatories to police officers to answer call

member response forms. the investigator gathers additional documentary evidence. we have a document protocol with the police department where we make routine and non-routine requests for information and receive that information from the department. the investigator evaluates all of the evidence, including britain and testamentary evidence -- including britain and testamentary evidence. there may be a conclusion. there may be one allegation in the template or several allegations in a complaint. then there is a review process in our office, and that review includes the supervising investigator who has been involved -- senior investigator who has been involved with the journey level investigator all the way through. and the chief investigator is also reviewing the

investigation. finally, i reviewed the investigation as well. and we send a conclusion of our investigation in the form of a letter called a preliminary finding letter. if we conclude that an officer has engaged in misconduct or a neglect of duty, then we would prepare what is known as a sustained report. that report is forwarded to the police chief for the police chief to determine whether or not he agrees with our conclusion. if i indicate in the sustained report that the discipline would result in 10 days or less suspension, then the police chief has the final say, and the

police chief can agree with me, disagree with me, and that is the end of that process as far as the occ is concerned. if it is more serious misconduct that would result in charges being filed, this commission, with the police commission, if the police chief disagrees with me, then i have the ability to independently file charges with the police commission. it is rare that the police chief and i disagree on this conclusion that i reach in the most serious cases. overall though, the agreement rate between the police chief and the occ is 95%, so a it is a high agreement rate. are there any other questions that i can answer? >> no. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. any the questions? let's move onto line item 1c.

>> the commission reports. first, the commission presidents reports, followed by the commissioners reports. >> the district captain's report, so i will defer to that. anything to report? >> i have a quick announcement. it was predicted last week, and i hope to the implications for the crisis intervention teams did go out to all the members of the department. for the audience that is not familiar, the crisis intervention team are specialized and trained deployed units to deal with folks when there is a call for service and the person might be in a mental health crisis. it is a really important undertaking that this commission has prioritized to ensure we continue to improve our services to those in mental health crises. we certainly encourage everyone, all officers, especially those with a couple years seniority, officers who want to continue to

elevate their service to our cities. i really encourage those applications, especially coming from the mission, the tenderloin, and the southern districts, because we will likely pilot it in those districts. and spread the word to fellow commissioners, please encourage those applications. >> thank you. >> commissioner, lieutenant, and i met to address the last commission discussion regarding the mission of priorities and scheduling, and the product of that is a a draft of where we're at in our thinking at this point in time. it is not meant for discussion tonight, because we have not calendared it is a discussion item. however, we promised to report back to the commission tonight as the commission report, and we thought it would be helpful as well, since this is a