so that we could at least have a sense of a guarantee of humanity. based on my knowledge and understanding, the city of san francisco protect the civil rights and civil liberties of immigrants. from what i understand, there is an agreement for a partnership between the fbi and local law enforcement. there are using the law all law enforcement, of police officers, as a way of gaining information from our local citizens.

after taking our information, they use it for different reasons. most of them we do not understand or know of. it is for this reason that we ask and demand that this partnership, relationship, has to stop. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you very much. thank you for coming this evening. next speaker? >> good afternoon. i am an immigration attorney. as an attorney and member of a grass-roots organization that serves a largely immigrant population, i can tell you assuredly that immigrants, especially those of middle eastern, muslim, and south asian backgrounds, have been

tremendously impacted by both policies of the fbi and other federal agencies, and the collaboration between local police. these immigrants, many of whom are u.s. citizens have been systematically harassed, targeted, blackmailed, and detained by federal officials as a result of these policies, and those officials who use nothing but their background to place them on the no-fly list, to have their paperwork indefinitely suspended due to excessive background checks for suspicion of the trail of support of terrorism based on solid grounds. these citizens have had their civil-rights repeatedly violated. it is no wonder that members of our community become apprehensive at the notion of the local police having a relationship with the fbi, but especially a relationship based

on an m.o.u. that hands control of the relationship to the fbi. i would like to say this commission has a responsibility to all san franciscans to make sure they live in safety and security. stop pretending we do not have an issue with fbi harassment and meet the obligations of the members of our city. as much as we appreciate repeated promises there will be no civil-rights violations, all we're asking for is a mechanism to make sure these promises are kept. thank you. >> hello, commissioners. i am a san francisco resident and the president of the bay area association of muslim lawyers. i'm here to ask the police commission to opt out of the m.o.u. the reason is because there is a

great deal of stress on our community from fbi overreach. of the police commission does not opt out, you cannot guarantee there will not be any over reached between the fbi and our community. if anything, there is no guarantee based on that. as a board member of a legal organization, i hear daily, weekly from members of my committee that of being racially profiled, based on their faith, affiliation, where they travel, and who their family members are, and it is causing a great deal of fear and distrust. that is marginalizing our community as being "other." when people feel that law enforcement cannot stand up for them, they become more and more separated from society. that is where the danger lies. people are already being harassed in their workplace and home, at the border. without the opt out, instead of

police officers focusing on public safety, which is their role, it will become the long arm of the fbi. this is not an era of -- this it is not only an arab-american, muslim, south asian issue. that affects all americans. if you do not opt out you will continue to breed distrust. san francisco is a leader for the bay area. everything san francisco does, people follow. stand up and be a leader and pass this resolution so our communities can be protected, not just the ones behind me but all of san francisco. thank you. president mazzucco: next speaker? >> good evening. good to see you again. first of all, thank you for being here tonight.

i am a criminal justice student and instructor. i have lived in this country over 15 years. many of us are approached by the fbi for no reason. really, no reason. all my time here, i lived among the many other arab-americans who along with me are being mistreated for no other reason than for the way we look in who we are. it is based on the way we look at our background. that is not fair to anybody. we have been harassed and missed treated by the law enforcement authorities. -- and mistreated by the law enforcement authorities. they treat us like second-class citizens, and that is not fair.

these acts of discrimination are attacking our identity, dignity as arab-americans. they deny our constitutional rights as u.s. citizens. these acts of discrimination are affecting our community. they are causing stress and fear. they also impact our community's education, growth, and development. and i mean it. i am an arab-american. i have responsibilities and rights as a u.s. citizen. if they cannot protect my human rights and dignity, as part of this nation, does that mean anything to me?

do i need it? we do not deserve this type of discrimination. therefore, i urge you to act now and take a stand towards resolving this crisis by doing what needs to be done to and this travesty. it is a serious issue and we have a big revolution in the middle east, so i start wheat -- i hope we start the revolution in the u.s. to stop discrimination. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. next speaker, please? >> hello. part of my job is going out and talking to a lot of the store owners and community members and san francisco. my family owns a store in san francisco. some of you get sandwiches there. in my experience, about one in three, one in four people i talk to has been harassed by the fbi.

you are probably wondering about their direct testimony right now. i think part of the proof of how divisive this collaboration it is is that people are scared. they will give me a business card of someone who has visited them that is part of sfpd, but it says homeland security unit. people talk about how sick of that they are, but they are scared to make a public appearance. that is what these policies are creating. it is creating less security and creating distrust among people who are contributing to san francisco and this society. i think it is something to consider why there is not more public testimony, direct response to this right now. that is proof of how divisive this is, turning family members against each other and informing on each other and manipulating people with their immigration

status, using that as a tool. it is problematic. i urge you to adopt the exercise opt out clause and consider that with the informant. or changing the m.o.u. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you very much. next speaker, please? >> hi, my name is christopher banks. i am an organizer with the answer coalition to end racism. i am here to urge the sfpd to opt out of its collaboration with the fbi. the joint terrorism task force which issued the directive about certain communities, the muslim community, arab american community, south asian community, what is the effect of an organization called the joint

terrorism task force? just by the very fact of the issuing these directives about communities, what does that imply about these communities? the implication is that these communities are to be watched, monitored, suspected of terrorism. that leads to the kind of " racism and racial profiling that has been brought forth to this body and discussed in abundance. we have to ask why these directives are being issued about the tea party or other right-wing organizations -- why they are not. i think the answer to that is obvious to everybody here. what is the effect of this relationship? what will the effect be? we do not have to guess. in 2003, there was an anti-war demonstration at the oakland port. the same kinds of directives were being issued about all of

the organizations involved in that. it ended with a massive police assault on a peaceful demonstration, which is well known. as a scandal, and it ended in brutal violence. that is the kind of thing that it leads to. racism exists. racial profiling exists. this body has to ask itself what it is going to do. under the watchful eye of the community, opting out of this fbi relationship is the least they can do. president mazzucco: thank you, sir. next speaker? >> good evening. dear commissioners, this is my first time i attended one of the sessions. i am a u.s. citizen. as a member of this committee, i understand we have obligations and rights. in order to assimilate and interact effectively in this multicultural american society,

we have to go back to the american dream, which is the nucleus of this great continent 's success and role in this world. i like to thank you so much for your role in stabilizing democracy in this country. i feel this country is facing a lot of hardships at the moment. we should never remove rights. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you very much. next speaker, please? >> good evening, my name as nadia, and i am a third year law student and vice-president of the law guild. i like to repeat the words at the beginning of this meeting, this is not the department of justice, this is not the fbi, this is the san francisco police department and the san francisco police commission. we have different standards in san francisco. we have different standards from

the fbi. i don't need to repeat some of the things that were in the slides that were obtained from the fbi through a lawyer request, but i think a lot of us have seen those things. we know how offensive those are and that is not acceptable material to be given to a san francisco police officer. i think the san francisco police department. i know that you genuinely want to protect our community, and last week with a lot of fanfare you passed a community policing order, this body did. if you want community policing to work, you need the community on your side. regardless of what you think the legality of a bureau order is, the reality is the community is not on your side if they do not feel safe. i think it is clear from the turnout and the fact that we had a joint human rights commission, police commission meeting six months ago. we had a huge human rights commission meeting a year ago. this community has repeatedly

taken its time. we are busy people. we have jobs, we are in school. we keep coming here and we keep talking to you. that is because we care. we want the city to work and be safe. but we do not feel safe. a bureau order is fantastic, but as many of us have said to you, that does not legally covered the terms of the m.o.u. the only solution at this point for our legal rights to be protected is to opt out of the memorandum of understanding and rejoin 3 resolution. i think you had some misinformation about the resolution process but that is feasible and what we are asking for. no more information is needed. we know what you need to do. president mazzucco: thank you. next speaker? >> hello, i have been here many times. since she mentioned to the point about doing what the committee

wants, i have to dissent strongly from her position. he should not be much less of the legalities. if she mindful of the law? you are the police commission. you are not a community activist groups like she is. you are supposed to follow the law and obey the laws and enforce the law and not do with the committee looks regardless of the law. serge white runs the special patrol units --- president mazzucco: that is item three. >> ok, i will come back. president mazzucco: next speaker, please? good evening, sir. >> good evening.

i am representing the international solidarity committee and the i.w.w. general steering committee. i've experienced in item law representing americans. the primary reason to sever ties with the fbi or the lack of accountability, the lack of oversight, and the secrecy. you must assert your limits of the actions, limits that have been secretly circumvented by the fbi. this speech was delivered to 30 years ago and the same city hall. a lot of people question why the city and county concerns itself with the international affairs of the nation. in response, i think it is of the utmost concern that what takes place at the international level, this nation ignored the war in vietnam, hoping leadership would come from the white house. after not seeing that leadership out of the white house, the

people of this nation themselves took the leadership and exerted pressure upward to finally force washington to carry out the people themselves want it. once again, the people find something taking place very offensive, asking the white house and congress to take the leadership. lacking that leadership, the people of this nation have decided to demand something. the government in washington must hear the people, since they have deaf ears themselves. strong legislation and strong cities from -- and strong statements from the cities and states is the way they get the message. sometimes the voice of the people has an effect on washington. these are remarks from 1978. i have no doubt that harvey milk would fully support the separation from the fbi. i have a newspaper article that i would like to incorporate by reference into my testimony. president mazzucco: thank you

very much, sir. appreciate it. good evening, clyde. how are you? >> i want to change the topic. when racial profiling happens, and it happens in america, we know that, african americans know better than any race on the planet. our police department generally does not do that. i want to change the topic to the crime lab. i am very appalled. i sat through how many meetings over the crime lab? this great commission, thank god the chairman clean up the dna lab. now it has come back to haunt us again. apparently, are district attorney does not want to leak in internal memo. excuse me, he told me, clyde, it is not a memo, is an email. he does not want to make it public. well, i already know the chief of police has a copy of the

email. i already know this commission probably knows what that email is related to. you have no knowledge of this? it was an internal email at the crime lab, the dna lab, in reference to a person who was working there, sent an e-mail to the chief of police, to the d .a. of possible mishandling of dna evidence. we have a murder case on hold and the chief was ordered by a judge -- excuse me, the dna was ordered by the judge to be released. he refuses. i think the dna lab falls under sfpd? it is your ball, not his. president mazzucco: thank you. next speaker? >> good evening. i will go very fast and i trust that you will cut me off.

i want to start out by saying, all of the congratulatory remarks without at the beginning, that in progress, that might make sense if we started this a month ago. but this topic has been pending a long time. i think the question before you tonight, the devil is in the details, but how long is too long before we get action on this? it is than a year-and-a-half since the chief made those comments that set off the fire storm. this been more than eight year since the human rights commission. -- as been more than a year since the human rights commission. after 17 years of asking for specific information in that meeting, we were told it had been published, online, and we were told he cannot reveal that inflation anymore. weeks after that meeting, we were told in writing by the sfpd they cannot discuss jttf arrangements anymore without the permission of the fbi.

we put in a public records request for the m.o.u. that defines the relationship with the fbi, it disclosed in the past, and we have been told in writing that that document cannot be released without the permission of the fbi. that was way back in march. it took forever to get the of m.o.u. it has put the fbi and control of this issue. i did not have enough time to go through all of this, but how long is too long on this issue? we have presented a solution to you 4.5 months ago, the portland model, that transitions into something we have given in great detail, the representations made on the record. our position is not that he should leave jttf, but transition into a model that regains her control and oversight which you do not have now. -- which regains your control and oversight which you cannot

have now. but me finish. if you think it is a reasonable question to ask how long is too long, what would one do with the circumstance? set a deadline. i would suggest 67 days. the reason is later at this meeting, any of you could make a motion to put this item on the calendar for one week hence. what i would suggest to put on the calendar, maybe it takes a second, but it takes a majority vote, but what i suggest is to put it on the calendar for one week from now an item that allow us to give notice to the fbi you are exercising your 60-day out clause. i am not suggesting that he should leave, but that operates as a clock to encourage the fbi to give you the answers that you promised us four weeks ago, to try to find a solution. if you get to the end of that time and you still have not reached a solution, you could withdraw that notice, but at least we would all be operating with some sort of expectation we will move beyond assurances to

action under specific time frames. i leave you without humble suggestion and i hope that you take it out. thank you for your indulgence. president mazzucco: thank you for your hard work on all of these matters. any further public comment? >> good evening. i served on the board of the asian american bar association and the asian law caucus. we opened with the pledge of allegiance, which ends with "one nation under god, with liberty and justice for all." the fbi teaches its agents that the constitutionally protected religious faith of millions of americans is terrorists in waiting. it also plays into al qaeda's hands. we cannot waste resources on

jttf efforts that do not make us safer but rather jeopardize the safety of our entire community. the sfpd should take seriously the recommendations to opt out of the m.o.u. witht he jttf and renegotiate the terms. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. next speaker, please? we will give you more time, don't worry. thank you for doing this tonight. appreciate it. >> you are welcome. >> somebody called me about information. i have an account at a bank. they told me they are from the bank, they need some information about money going back home.

i said you should ask the bank. he said, i want to know from you. i said i cannot do anything for you. the fbi said they need information about how you send money back home. my mama's sick and i send her money. after that, after the conversation, they went into my account and they held my money for a week. after that, the guy called me and said i need that information about how you send money back home. and they have my cell phone number. president mazzucco: maybe you could give that to somebody from occ. the fbi has no jurisdiction

over occ, but i see somebody from occ. maybe you could give her that number. next speaker, please? thank you. any further public comment? hearing none, public comment is now closed. this will be the last speaker. i just closed public comment. >> if there is anyone else who wants to give public comment, please line up. president mazzucco: speaker, go ahead. >> i attended uc-berkeley. what attending school, got a call from an fbi agent, told me he was an fbi agent. i did not believe that at the beginning. i was like, why would he want to meet with me? then he kept calling me for the whole week. danny asked to see me. he came to school. -- then he asked to see me. he came to school. this is just my story.

we came here as international students. i pay over $50,000 to the school. with that, i got bothered by the fbi. i know three of my friends who have left the country because of this. they were afraid. we did not know what they want from us. we have heard stories about people going to jail for no reason. it is unfair profiling, which is not supposed to happen. he came, asked me a few questions. i will be honest, he was somewhat nice. he asked my name, why i am here, what i am doing here. questions he could have gotten from facebook if he had just googled my name. that bothered me, scared me, to be honest.

i think that is it. president mazzucco: thank you very much. any further public comment? hearing none, public, it is now closed. thank you very much. ladies and gentlemen, i will have the chief respond to this, if you do not mind. the chief has a response regarding the efforts that have been made. the fbi letter? while the chief is waiting for the letter, i want to thank everybody for coming tonight. we do hear the concerns. what we do it as the police commission, we are civilian oversight. we have general orders against racial profiling. we a general orders against violating civil rights. we protect civil rights. that is what we do. that is what we do as a civilian oversight body and we have general orders to do that. concerns were the jttf and m.o.u.,