meeting like this to be able to talk about these issues and to be able to appease the become together and talk about these issues that are going to benefit not just the youth in our communities but, you know, just everybody in the community u.s. misperceptions of the youth. -- who have misperceptions of the youth. i'd think this process is beautiful. thank you. >> hi, commissioners, committee members, all of you. my name is -- i am 17 years old, currently attending balboa high school, and i am also part of the mayor's youth program online at the bernal heights maker its center. i am here to give you my input about the importance of having a good relationship with the police. in our community. when i was younger, i used to look at police as a super hero. as i get older, from what i have seen and heard according to a

lot of my friends, they do not see them as super heroes. they do not see them as friends, as well. i do not personally believe that at all, but i think that all of us can be friends, and we are given the freedom -- but they do not give us the freedom to walk around our own neighborhood without police harassing us or suspected us of doing something horrible. we want to change each others' perceptions. we can do this by working more with each other, and we need to read more places like the youth summit where we can talk about the issues and events, such as the youth summit that i was talking about, and we have already started working with supervisor campos and mr. avalos.

we have a dialogue that we are working on to make sure that everyone's voices is heard. i will say that after the last summit, we participated, i am more comfortable saying hi to police i of men around my neighborhood. it changed a lot of my friends perception of the police, and i feel that i am doing something -- it should have been a priority of long time ago. this is important for all of us. thank you so much. president mazzucco: a thank you. >> good evening, board of supervisors, commissioners, and community members. my name is -- i am currently a student at abraham lincoln high school, and i am also part of the mayor's program in my neighborhood. i believe that police have the right and authority to protect the members of my community. in my neighborhood however, some police are overstepping their authority. due to the actions of police,

not being respected, and they are being harassed by police. they think the police are prejudiced because we feel the police judge us by the way, how we look, and our actions. i believe it is very important for the police and used to develop a good relationship. therefore, the youth can cooperate with the police and we can have a better and safer community. in order for this to happen, i suggest more youth programs and meetings like this where we come together to listen to each other's opinion. thank you. >> good evening, board of supervisors, commissioners, use commissioners. my name is -- i am 16 years old, currently attending balboa high school as a junior. i am also part of a program. the relationship between the use and police now is complicated. we have and pointing fingers at each other on many issues which

affect the peace and security of their neighborhood. common problems include lack of trust, racial, and cultural differences. for example, police caught us wandering around outside our neighborhood during school time without a positive attitude and proper communication with each other, it turned to violence and arrests with hearings and so on. it affected everyone, especially the families involved. why are these happening? what can we do together to prevent these from happening again? these are just some of the questions that we are asked over and over. there are so many things that we need to think about, such as our emotions and behavior. our emotions are important. however, we sometimes find it hard to express ourselves. we need the police to approach us in a different way. lack of communication and information affects our relationship, and we need to have a place to learn about these things. both groups should work together

for a better relationship. we want to be more involved and have our voices heard when it comes to making our neighborhoods safe. we need to be included. better communication, proper training, and more programs out there for years, understanding and respect for each other. thank you so much. >> hi, my name is -- hunter. i just want to say that i think it is a great idea for the use to be able to know -- for the use -- youth to know what role the police play as opposed to terror. it is hard for them to relate when there is panic and chaos going on, and i also think it is very hard for youth to stay out of a system that they do not know anything about. thank you. >> hi.

my name is -- williams. i am 17. i could to -- high school. i am a part of the partnership also. i think it would be very good if the police did get a bond with young people, because it would make everything better. the kids would not be, i hate the police, ron. everybody would be happier, and san francisco would be a better place for young people. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. >> hello, my name is danny. the positive relationships could limit the racial tensions, because since a majority of the young feel they are targeted for particular reasons, such as racial backgrounds or physical appearances, so we can engage in the communities together, especially with some of the safety issues in the community, or even have simple

conversations, perhaps just say hi when you see us on the street. we need to build a successful alliance between us and the police by recognizing each other and working side by side. both will acknowledge each other as allies rather than enemies. i feel that this could prevent violence if we were together and treat each other with the same respect. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. >> good evening, a board of supervisors, commissioner, community. my name is -- and i live in excelsior and participate in a program. i am here to talk about my personal experiences with the police. i am just want to go right into it. one time, i was with my friend just walking around the neighborhood, just minding our business after school. and then the police pulled up behind us and asked us what we

were doing walking back and forth in our neighborhood, and then they accused us of selling drugs and accusing us of doing nothing, being up to no good, and they wanted to search does, but we said no. they with illegally search us if we did not get the attention of those around us, and once the police realized there will peeper -- there were people around, they just gave us an morning and drove off. another time, i was just minding my business. i cut through an alley which was shorter, and then as soon as i get to the alley, the police come up, pull up, and ask me what i am doing in the alley. where was i going, and one of

the police officers told me that she is going to press burglary on me because i was in the alley. she had no evidence, but she just told me that if she saw me again, she would arrest me for burglary, and this made me feel like they are prejudging may in prejudging the youth. yeah, thank you for your time. >> good evening, board of supervisors, youth commissioners, community leaders, and commissioners. my name is -- and i attend high school in a program. i am sorry. i have been fortunate enough to not met any conflicts with police, but i am seen and heard stories from my friends about

the police abusing their authority when it comes to the youth. there is a lack of respect. sometimes, people are harassed. on the streets, the reality is us against them, when the police should be thought of as the protection service in the community. i think there will always be conflict as long as the police are seen as the enemy as opposed to the projectors. we need to do something about this. in my program, we have talked about problems in the neighborhood, and one that keeps coming up is a lack of communication between the police and the youth. in my opinion, one way to change this would be to have community activities for the people. we need to be included in mark pryor wrote -- more programs where we talk about this issue. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. >> good evening. my name is -- i am a student at balboa high school.

i am a senior, and i am part of the players. i would like to share an experience i had. growing up in l.a., i am from l.a., and everybody out there and thinks the police is bad, and i also had a bad experience with them, but when i turned 12, my brother joined the police force, and i thought it was a pretty cool job, and i watched him for about four hours cleaning his shoes, and it was like i wanted to do that one day, and ever since then, i have been having bad stuff with the police. someone is always making complaints on me. until you're 18, when you can meet her house. but officer mike, he was pretty

cool. he told me that my mom was my mom the matter what, and that is what i've learned. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. >> good evening, board of supervisors, police commissioners, you commissioners, and members of the community. my name is david, and i am a sophomore from george washington high school. i strongly feel that the police and the use and the community should have better connections with each other. -- and the youth in the community should have better connection. i do not personally have any back issues, but i have had friends that have said issues. i understand that the police are the enforcers of the law, but i feel that they hold too much power in their hands and in some instances of abuse that power that they have.

my parents also feel that police officers are kind people, but i think you really have to know them on a personal level to know more about they are, and i understand that officers are trying their best, but i asked you in certain situations to review the situation from the young people's point of view in addition to your own, and even if the teenagers are in no wrong, i'd think that the police should not act -- a situation and handle a situation professionally. thank you for your time and attention. >> good evening, board of supervisors, police commissioners, and board of supervisors. my name is -- chung, from balboa high school, and i participate in a group. i questioned myself what the police role is in the community.

everybody knows that the police is the good guys because they protect us by risking their lives. that is how some of us see the police, but there is a flip side to this that not many adults see. police should know how to handle youth better rather than judging them by what they wear. they should be better trained on how to communicate the youth -- with the youth and to approach them in a way where it is not threatening. where the police do not feel respected, but that does not mean that we have committed any crime. we hope that we can work together on this. thank you for your time. >> good evening, board of supervisors, commissioners, community members. my name is -- i am from -- i think that the police and the youth have to develop a better

bond. it is up to us all to make our city a better place. even though this is what the police are supposed to do, many young people feel otherwise. we feel harassment and racism from the police. i have personally experienced different things with the police, and one time it got out of hand that i found myself slashed over a car with a police stick to my neck because me and my friends were being, quote, too loud, but i thought we were being judged by the neighborhood we were in, our race, and the fact that we were young people. they were thinking everything i was doing was back talking. it was a horrible experience, and no youth should have to go through this. i have seen this happen to others. things like this can make you have pre-judgment on the police

just as the police have on us. many of us do not feel safe with the police, and that needs to change. i feel that if we come together and work together, other youth will work together. to feel safe and be trusted. we need to make sure they are being trained properly, and we need to be more educated about our rights. otherwise, this gap will continuously grow. thank you for your time. president mazzucco: thank you. >> my name is charles, and i m eight freshmen at the academy of arts and sciences. a couple of months ago, my cousin was in a car with his friends, and they were known as, quote, gang members because they all hang out in a group, and they are scary looking guys. and the police pulled them over,

and for years now, the police have not like my cousin, and they pulled him over, and they recognized him, so they assumed there were guns and drugs in the car, so they searched the car, and when they could not find anything, the police officer but my cousin over the car, put him in handcuffs and said, "i hope i find you in a dark alley, because then i will finish you." these types of accidents -- incidents should not happen. every day, we have uncertainty that our cousin is not going to come back through the door or that if he does, he will be hurt or will just not come back. i feel that if the young in san francisco are trained better to know their rights, this could have been prevented, and i also feel that if the san francisco police department troops were trained better, -- thank you.

president mazzucco: thank you. >> hello, my name is mark armstrong, and i am 17 and attends a downtown high school. my involvement with the police as not gone well, even when i am tried to talk to them nicely. when you have power, you are not supposed to take it to a different level, a certain limit, and i have felt that the stuff i have seen against the police every day, instead of talking to them, they just want to be orderly harass them and arrest them instead of talking to them -- they just want to brutally harass them. the police protecting us. if you are here to protect us, then you should start protecting and not resting innocent people. thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners, you commissioners, police commissioners. my name is cheryl davis, and i am with the magic zone, western addition. just a couple of things for me. first and foremost, i think all of the different police stations probably have some best practices of ways and they engage with the community and ways that they engage with the youth. i think it would be great to compile that and get some things that are working at those police stations. i know that for us in the western addition, what has been great, whether it was different captains throughout all of this time, it has been a partnership and the ability for service providers and other folks to be able to work with them to share their calendars to make sure that the police are there at the different events and communities so that we are building relationships on the ongoing basis. another thing is, and someone

mentioned about a mentoring program, and i think it is really sad for us in the western addition that the captain has had to take on the responsibility of taking young african-american men, young boys, who are interested in the criminal-justice system or the police system and wanting to pursue that as a career, that the captain has taken that responsibility on. i would like to see more if not men of color other men to step up and to be role models and mentors and take people out to lunch or meet with them after school. and in the of the thing is, i was grateful last year when the police departments started the team formed and began having these meetings with the captain and that they continued. i just think that having these meetings and these hearings are great, but it is not going to be solved tonight, and i'd love to see people participate in this forms in a continuum and that we make some progress with the recommendations made and that there be some follow-through and

that it not just be a meeting that serves no purpose. thank you. >> good evening. my name is commissioner allen, with the san francisco housing authority and the bayview ymca. i am here to speak a little bit about my experiences with the san francisco police. it looks like i am one of the last to go, so what i will say is in my capacity working with, interacting -- it is two different scenarios. one is broader during community events and things we put on from the ymca. there was one in august. over 200 participants in it, residents from the community came by and supported it. the police were there. they participated in our

softball tournament. another one is we went on a tour of san francisco state university with adults and one of the officers, and it is going pretty well. it goes good. the officer who comes by and participate on his own time with our adult leagues, we played basketball, he comes in and plays as part of the open gym during the day, and a couple of officers have done that. it has been pretty good so far. it is really good to see a guy come out on his own time, step up, and kind of participate and see what is going on in the community and get to know people on a first hand basis. officer jason johnson is to is, and he comes by a lot. he is nice to us and treated us well. it sees us on the streets, and

he sees us in the community, and i feel pretty safe with them. i know these guys have a tough job out there. they get all the praise and the of the stuff that goes along with it. you guys are doing some nice work. we hope you take this information and come up with something next. thanks. president mazzucco: thank you. >> good evening. i am a counselor at abraham lincoln. i am here to speak in favor of the sfpd and taravel that is nearby, and i have been collaborating with the sro's but are currently serving our schools and a partnership to build a program that is either summer or after-school based. it started as of this past academic year, and i think it is a strong partnership that came from that department, someone

coming to our office in the honor of helping the young people that they serve on a regular basis with the idea of expanding the program beyond just lincoln and other schools in the entire san francisco bay area through the sro officers. the program was focused on leadership. it started this summer. it was a great experience. it targeted students that were middle ground students that otherwise would not a have received leadership skills or like skills. they are kind of borderline. they are talking about why it is we have so many youth out and about, maybe not have an opportunity is everywhere all over the city, not just at lincoln, and we want to make sure that they stay motivated and focused, because that is them predominantly. the idea is that they are definitely trying to make an effort, particularly at the station, to make this happen. thank you very much. president mazzucco: thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners. thank you for the opportunity. my name is dennis. i am with the san francisco unified school district for 30 years. currently, i am a principal at an elementary school and a former principal at another middle school, and i worked at a high school. just to let you know, i graduated from balboa, class of 1971. what i want to say to both sides is i have seen very good programs work where the police officers and the young people, where it does work together. i think that education is the key. as a principal of an elementary school, i see a lot of our parents, "if you do not be it, the police will come and take you to jail."

if that is the attitude the children already have that perception of police of a sears, but they will think is the only thing police can do is take them to jail -- children already have that perception of police officers. let's do something to bridge this gap. so we have police officers, and give lectures in the class and let the children know that a police officer is human, that he is only human, and he has family. we also have the kids go to central station on a field trip, so now the kids are no longer afraid, and what they do is respect authority. so what we have is that kids know that the police are not just there to take them to jail. and not all of the police officers have the temperament to work with kids. just keep that in mind.

thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, board of supervisors, and the youth commission. my name is -- scott. i in the co-founder of a support group. i represent over 300 plus families here in san francisco who have lost children to gun violence and violence period. we have mothers in our group who have lost three and four children to violence. i lost my youngest son to violence july 17, 1996. with him, prior to missing is live, on police communications and development and relationships with police officers way back then. he was the product of the omega boys club, and i am here to talk about the youth and the

relationships. in the healing circle, we need twice a month. we are meeting tomorrow night at the baptist church. we provide a platform and a forum where you can go and speak. we're left ones lost. they also had input on how to develop better communications and relationships between them. we are working on building relationships with the public defender's office and the police department and the district attorney's office, because all of those entities work together. that is what we need to do. they need to be informed on how it works and that you work for us but we work with you. at the same time, i applaud all of the young people who spoke here tonight about their rights and they're wanting to have a better relationship with the police department, because right now, our youth are hurting, and hurt people hurt people.

we do not want any more fatalities this summer. i know i do not. we have worked with mothers from back east, and already, i can tell you, in philadelphia, there are already six or seven homicides. we do not want to have that happen in san francisco. i am here to be supportive of the u.s. commission, the police commission, the department, that we can all work together to make this happen. bank. president mazzucco: thank you very much. >> i am erica, a principal at a school, and my job is to fold. it is the safety of the 2100 students that i am in charge of every day and to assure their academic success. in my over 18 years in the san francisco unified school district, my experience with the san francisco police officers