december 1. so far we have heard nothing from his office. i want to ask you, are you with me? the city of san francisco should supplement this program. it should not pay the whole fare. you know that. we need more in adult day health care. we do not need less. so you need to really be with us. i would like you to start with a little chant that i usually do. and then, we will talk about the logistics. ok? you just repeat after me. we're going to get in the happy mood. ♪ everywhere i go -- people want to know -- do we are --

so we tell them -- we are the seniors -- mighty mighty seniors -- fighting for our health -- fighting for respect -- we are the seniors -- mighty mighty seniors -- hey [unintelligible] we're going to win we will get health care -- our dog they health care -- the adult day health care --

is our right -- get out of our way -- give it back to us -- everywhere i go -- people want to know -- who we are -- so i tell them -- we are the seniors -- mighty mighty seniors -- and we will win -- and dold de health care -- an adult day health care ♪ [cheers and applause] all right, james is going to tell us exactly what we are going to do. we're going to walk over there. we're going to meet in the room.

he will tell you which one. and then we are going to see the governor's people. are you with me? i cannot hear you. are you with me? >> [crowd] yes. >> all right. >> all right. you see that building over there? that would be the governor's building. the governor has an office over there. so everybody who can make it over there, and if you're in a van, then we'll take you up over there, let's follow henny right across the street to let the governors know that we needed to stop the elimination of adult day health care, right? so follow henny.

>> good morning. welcome to the grand opening of the san francisco police department's special victims unit. i am the commanding officer of the new svu. i would like to take a couple moments to briefly acknowledged our honorable mayor ed lee,

chief greg suhr and command staff, commissioner azuko, and commissioner chan as well. thank you for joining us. i know how busy your schedules are. i believe district attorney gascon is going to be here any moment. i wanted to take a moment to acknowledge our professional partners. child protective services, adult protective services, the child abuse prevention center, the mayor's office into violence consortium, -- anti-silence consortium -- anti-violence consortium, and casa de las

madres. with that, chief greg suhr. [applause] >> welcome. i really appreciate everyone being here. in my administration, we do not do a lot of press conferences, but this is really important. october is domestic violence awareness month. it was a major priority of mine and the mayor's to make an impression that we have to take care of our most vulnerable. we will open one is to be the special victims unit in the san francisco police department for the first time where we consolidate the domestic violence units, a juvenile, human trafficking, missing persons, elder abuse and

neglect, financial abuse, and sex crimes into one unit. over the next few years, we will go through a huge transition in the police department. some of our most experienced officers will be retiring. we want to make sure we do not lose their expertise and their ability to work with the advocates to make the most successful prosecutions possible for those who would victimize our most vulnerable. often the victims come with children. we wanted to have a warm space that was secure. i think when you find your way inside, you will find that is the case. a lot of these officers will pick up the expertise from each other where maybe they did not have it before. if there is a day when we are short, they will bring this

additional ability to connect with the victims. the advocates will also be providing services and support. i like to think they do it in no other city like they do in san francisco. working with partner agencies is key to this. this is a cooperative effort that happens to be located inside the police department. i want you to take special note that we have a children's play area to keep them occupied, safe, and warm. we have books in chinese that were provided by a community member. we have books in spanish that are on the way. we want to make this a place for everybody. i will not go on and on. i really want to get to what is important. that is to get inside. i will pass the microphone i cai

appreciate his support in pulling this off. it took a lot of change and collaboration of the police department. they moved their space, they work on their time off. they worked with me and the command staff to get this done. i think when you go inside, their hearts are in the right place. this is the deputy chief. >> good morning. fiona mah appreciates the invitation and appreciates the effort to better serve victims of crime in san francisco. as the chair of the select committee on domestic violence, she has been a tireless advocate

for victims and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. she is unable to join us as she is chairing a select committee hearing. >> thank you. thank you for being here. we have a special victims unit. it has been a culmination of a lot of discussions. i want to thank chief suhr. we said we would have to do more and do better with less. with those ideas in mind in knowing we have a dwindling force but increased amount of demand from our communities, we needed to do smarter things. it makes so much sense that this innovative idea of bringing the various investigative units together in the same space and under the same command can make

the offer is even more resources put together. i want to thank the community- based advocates for their willingness to bring resources to work with our law enforcement. this effort is also a reflection of the commitment from our police commission. i want to thank each and every one of them and their leadership in working with the community and our police chief. it means so much to bring more and better resources and enforcement of our laws right to where the victims need it. this is a special time. we have the most vulnerable parts of our population, women, children, and elderly, who can get better service here in a culturally competent way. i am proud to be the mayor of the city who knows how to do it better.

for the state of california, our elderly population is the highest level in the whole state. bringing more resources to the victims who may be financial victims, victims of abuse, as well as recognizing this being domestic violence awareness month, that we will do better with this coordinated effort. i am excited to see this unit come to fruition. i thank the chief for making sure we reorganize properly with the future in mind. i am glad to begin the ribbon cutting and allow everyone to see what we have done and for the committee to know that we're working hard to increase -- for the community to know that we're working hard to increase the resources for them. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor.

we have the president of the police commission. >> it is great to see the collaboration between the commission, the mayor's office, the police department, the district attorney's office. it will increase the expertise our officers have. it will streamline the process in terms of managing the units. we're looking at losing a lot of officers to retirement. this is an excellent idea to train them in new areas. we owe it to the precious crown jewels of our city. this is a great place for children to come and a great place for women to feel comfortable. i know the most domestic violence cases, the victims may decide not to cooperate. the results are sometimes tragic.

i want to thank the mayor and police department for taking a big step in leading the state and country and how we handle these issues. thank you. [applause] >> i want to acknowledge our new officers in charge that are assigned to this unit. lt. jane, lt. foxx, and lt. scallini. i also want to acknowledge the dedication and ongoing hard work that the investigators assigned to the different disciplines that will be culminated here. they have the logistical move and continued to work on their cases as we were moving forward with these -- this.

they still had to work on their cases in debt outstanding job during this difficult time. along with that, i wanted to say thank you again to the mayor and chief for making this happen for us. it was a long time overdue. we're very excited. chief? >> channel 26 is really taking a beating. [laughter] i am going to forgo the honor of cutting the ribbon. i will ask commander sandra tong who conceived of and was the first commanding officer of one of the first domestic violence sections in any police department in california to do the honors with mayor lee with these not so classroom-safe

scissors. we will have you come forward and do the honors. [applause]