>> i gave you the example of the tenderloin plan we were working on, but the peace plan in the mission actually has the police department at the table. and i think that you cannot work on a process within communities without involving all stakeholders, and the people who are -- who might be victims of crime, the people who are providing services and the people who prevent crime are part of that. so any time we have a community process, all of these people need to be at the table. because we can't be doing anything unless -- thinking that we do good and that we're having a collaboration and we don't have essential pieces to that. so i would encourage the police department to continue to do that and be at the table

in any process that communities have. >> thank you. you i was stopped when the police thought i was texting and i'm not a texter, let alone when i am driving. but i was thankful that they stopped me because i realized that they were paying attention and i think that communities that are concerned about traffic accidents and traffic

fatalities are grateful it happens whether it's with a bicyclist or with a car driver. i think they need to pay more attention. because it's just one too many people dying on the streets. >> okay. did you know if the police department would have a role in pedestrian safety education? >> absolutely. >> and what would it be? >> well, i think it would be -- it should be around all of us taking responsibility. whether it is us, the pedestrians, who are speaking -- for talking on the phone while crossing the street to the bicyclists, who is on the sidewalk, and almost hitting a pedestrian, the cars obviously -- cars are definitely a problem, because most of the traffic accidents or most of the times when pedestrians are

hit, they are hit by cars and nothing else. so i think that it has to be an approach that reaches everybody and i understand through the health department we're part of an effort to bring together a variety of constituencies to do some promotions in the community and the police department is part of that as well, to start educating the public on what to do and not to do. >> as you stated and certainly all of us recognize your work on domestic violence and being the founder of casa de la madres. are there policies that you would like to push through or support that would strengthen the police department's ability to deal with domestic violence?

>> absolutely. i think one of the areas that i'm very passionate about is prevention. and when we talk about prevent, we need to think about the children that are involved in domestic violence. the children that are exposed to domestic violence, and i can't tell you exactly how i would like to see this happen, because i think there is an effort for some of our members of our community to enforce a very strong, if a child is present, to call child protective services and i don't want the children and families to be stuck in the child

protective services and how can we help that child without having to put the family through the child protective services system? >> would you support a task force made of different members to support this issue? >> absolutely. >> thank you. let's see, supervisor campos? >> sure, thank you. i had a quick question that i forgot to ask. this involves an incident that happened recently in the bernal heights neighborhood and involved an officer-involved shooting of alejandro nieto and i know there is an ongoing investigation and we can't pre-judge what happened, but at

a community meeting where there was a lot of pain expressed from people in the community, i made the comment and the statement that i stand by; that without pre-judging what happened, the incident is going to be investigated. i do think it's really unfortunate the way in which the police department and the city interacted with the family of the person who died here. the family did not find out about the incident until a couple of days after everyone else knew and when they first found out, they felt like they were being interrogated. irrespective of what happened, the family was a victim here. >> sure. >> and i think that generally we as a city have to do a better job in way we interact with victims and i'm wondering if you have any thoughts on

that and sort of any idea of how we move forward? because i think that many people in the community feel disconnected in the way that was dealt with. >> yes. you know, it's part of that training piece. i know the police department has a lot of good training, and often times in crisis situations police officers may not be able to respond appropriately in certain situations. it may be there is an opportunity for training and how to deal with these crisis situations. and so all i can say is since i don't much about what is going on, just on what you have told me, the only thing i'm thinking about is how you go about comforting a family, rather than making them feel guilty of

what happened and it is an issue of training. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> okay. thank you. >> now i want to take some public comments on this item. i have some cards here. i will call you in the order that i received them. [ reading speakers' names ] >> honorable members my i'm a retired sfpd captain and i'm here to speak on behalf the

sonia melara who has been nominated for police commissioner. i have known sonia since 1985. i'm here because she is an effective and tireless worker for the community at-large in san francisco. and i respect and trust she will serve all of the communities of the city. when i heard that she had been nominated for police commission, i was thrilled and relieved that finally a health professional, one who has the understanding of both the private and public sectors had been nominated. during my tenure in the police department i served as the commanding officer to the tenderloin mission and northern stations and those commands it became acutely end that a front-end to the criminal justice system is needed and must be put in place and that front-end must be a health component to decrease the issues of mentally ill in our society. i have spoken to a variety of

groups and politicians to deal with our society's fragile mind before those fragile minds victimize members of the public and injure themselves. as a police officer who sent most of my career in the field, i can tell you that for line officers dealing with the mentally ill is dangerous, frustrating and agonizing officers to use the criminal justice system to try to cope with mental illness. we must recognize that the current system is not working. apointing sonia melara to the commission will be a huge step to bring a voice to the commission that can assist the department for formulating the plans for dealing with the mentally ill and a formal advocate to require the resources to serve the mentally ill in a positive and constructive manner. i would go on and go, but i have provided written materials

to all of you. i thank you very much and respectfully ask you submit your nomination to the full board. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon honorable members of the rules committee. supervisor tang, supervisor campos and supervisor yee, my name is valerie and i'm the director of the 30th street senior center, which is a member of the family of senior services. i am here on behalf of myself and my entire organization to support the nomination of sonia melara to the san francisco police commission. miss melara has had had a live of serving to protect the life of children, and older adults and an active member of the body that oversees the 30th street senior center program.as

the director of that program, i can attest that sonia's participation at our board and with us as colleagues in the community has definitely helped programs and services for older people. we are all confident that if she were be appoint -- were to be approved for this commission she would share her amazing insight, her vision and leadership with this community. we hope that this board, as well as the rest of the board will unanimously approve her appointment. thank you. >> good afternoon. mr. chairman and members of the committee, i'm jim salina second-down, native san francisco born and raised in the mission district. i have lived in san francisco my entire life. i have known sonia melara for close to a quarter a century.

i have had interaction with her as an executive officer of the san francisco latino democratic club, director executive for the lahuntos and commission on the status of women and she was a great advisor to the san francisco latino steering committee. everywhere sonia has gone, she has always made a difference. we at the latino steering committee believe she will make that difference here. the questions that i heard her answer here and answer well and impressed again that it's sonia melara. because as i hear the questions i believe those are questions that would probably be better served for someone who had been on the san francisco police station commission for at

least a year. so i come to ask your support for an latina who has done an amazing job everywhere she has gone. so i ask your support for the appointment to the san francisco police station for sonia melara. thank you. >> supervisors, sonia melara -- i don't know if you remember that the first parking commission was formed, it was in 1989. and we were serving on the commission. she is an excellent choice for the police commission.

>> good afternoon supervisors. and thank you for your time. my name is martin and i'm the president of the san francisco police officer association. i am here to offer the support of the poa, for sonia melara as our next police commissioner. miss melara has proven herself time and time again as an activist in san francisco and believe she will only enhance the current make-up of the police commission. as you have heard here today yourself from miss melara she has a very impressive resume. from reading her resume and hearing her today it's clear that she is a pioneer in the field of activism in san francisco. as the co-founder of las casas de la madres and serving on the national advisory council on juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, these

were actions done many decade ago and they have proven to be national models now. we believe that she would further enhance the police commission and we recommend that the rules committee forwards her name with an approval to the full board of supervisors recommending that she becomes one of our next police commissioners. thank you. >> good afternoon. honorable chair yee, honorable tang and honorable campos, my name is carol ito and i have been a professional colleague and friend of sonia's for 30 years and actually where met in preschool and we were both employed by santa clara department of social services in the late '70s and 80s and i have seen sonia's dedication

and growth as the executive director for the commission on the status of women and also serving on president carter's commission. i believe that serving on these commissions and three mayorial administrations has served well , et cetera. through the experience sonia has maintained balance and fairness between her advocacy experience on behalf of women, children and i immigrants and seniors. sonia has had the unique experience serving both as an executive director of one of our important city departments and as her role as a commissioner in several positions as you have heard. the important points to highlight in her recent work for the city in our community that make her an excellent choice for the police commission is that she was as

the executive director of the rally project at st. francis memorial, she is directly linked to the public safety of children and a visitation rights for parents. i was a trustee at hospital for ten years and saw how she expanded the program and included more diverse set of families take advantage of the service and increase accessibility. as executive director of the commission on the status of women, she also brought with her her experience with casa de la madres and with the police department to investigate police department to protect officers and citizens. i have my statements with a few more points. thank you for your time. >> thank you, miss ito. >> good afternoon supervisors, i'm julie su and peak speak as experience as a commission on the sow so soy status of

women and i speak of great fondness of her and consider her and carol ito as members of mine. she has an incredible depth and breadth of experience. she has always had the best interests of children and especially our seniors, our most vulnerable populations, but just to indicate that broken families don't need to stay broken. she has spoken about prevention, but once a family has been broken about the necessary services for healing a family. she served on immigrant rights commission and served most recently on the health commission and will be an asset on police commission and her experience working with our immigrant communities and making sure that they are

provided culturally and linguistically sensitive services. more importantly has been pointed out by several people, we really have to address our mental health issues and the victims who may be victimized by police shootings because they are mentally ill. and also gun safety in the hands of mentally ill. i wanted to add that the mayor has a task force on human trafficking and it's really important to take a holistic approach and with sonia's background we can work on the issue of not only domestic violence, but of human trafficking which disproportionally affects our communities of color. thank you. >> hello supervisors. my name is cathy black and i'm the executive director at las casas de la madres.

we're pleased and proud to support the nomination of sonia melara to the san francisco police commission. sonia started something big in the city that would change the course of history for women and their children seeking violence--free lives. in the face of opposition they started one of the world's first shelters for victims of domestic violence and from there a remarkable movement took off. addressing public safety and public health issues associated with domestic violence crimes have been a hallmark of sonia's career. as the department of department on the status of women she created a safer san francisco by supporting programs aimed at reducing domestic violence. many of those programs actively collaborate with law enforcement. at both areas she changed the lives of many by developing and

implementing programs that provided economic empowerment and that is for many the way out of poverty and violence. sonia has attracted much-needed federal department of justice dollars to san francisco that address safety -- addresses safety of families struggling with high conflict issues including child abuse and domestic violence. in this work she has convened law enforcement, probation, the courts, communication organizations to address safety of adult victims and their children as they navigate the family court systems. sonia has a keen understanding of how the city and the county of san francisco works and she strives to provide a city that is healthy and safe for all. and i really urge you to unanimously support her nomination. thank you. >> honorable supervisors, i'm dr. edward chou, president of the health commission and speaking here as an individual

and sharing my experience. sonia has been with us for five years and she has left her mark with us as both president, vice president, and in her roles as committee member of the health department. i think you have already heard here today why it this would be important, because that asset, coming to bring a health perspective along with her social background and with her very strong interest in immigrant rights and for the poor and for the underserved will add an asset and balance to our police commission. in fact,, i see that she could, in fact, help bridge between commissions in the city and improve our understanding and our working relationships. we already do work with the police department in many areas

as you know. in order to achieve our goals in trying to work on behalf of the mentally ill and to work on behalf of our citizens, we have collaborated with the police department in many areas. i would hope that with commissioner melara on the police commission, we would be able to help develop the same type of relationships or even an improvement of that beyond what we currently have with the fire department and with supervisor campos work on the health planning that we have put in place working together with the planning department. i therefore urge the support of her nomination put forth to the full board this coming several weeks. thank you very much. >> thank you, dr. chou.

gabriel medina. >> thank you, members of the rules committee. my name is gabriel medina and i wanted to speak on behalf of sonia melara for her appointment and support to the police commission. i can attest that sonia has great and longstanding history with latino community in san francisco and that is a voice that we need an additional voice on the police commission, in issues that have been occuring lately. i know commissioner melara is very sensitive not just from her work with the casa de la madres and where i met mer many, many years ago. so i would urge this committee to approve her appointment. i know that as a member of the latino community, i look forward to having this additional voice on our behalf on the commission. in addition, to the work of

commissioner dejesus. thank you very much. >> thank you. last -- it could be the last up, i really want to apologize, i didn't notice dr. morassi is the executive director of san francisco department of status of women. >> good afternoon members of the rules committee. i had a prepared statement, but sonia melara's opening statement was so comprehensive i don't want to repeat that itch . and that is on the issue of human trafficking, which supervisor katy tang has really led and i wanted to follow up on commissioner su's remarks because she co-chairs the collaborative against human trafficking. when the police department

shifted prostitution from vice crimes to special victims unit was really a seismic shift in terms of addressing this issue. and one of the very creative ideas that is coming up, we are convening sex wockers social service agencies and victim survivors on how to tackle this issue is to look at the safety of trafficked victims and sonia melara when she was executive director led the effort on the theory that all women are entitled to safety. and so one of the ideas that is percolating up is having police officers distribute information about predators, about bad dates, that may be circulating around and to really give some

valuable information to those who are in the sex industry. but her very deep involvement and understanding of domestic violence is really key to helping to solve the human trafficking issue, because many of the folks who are trafficked do not believe their pimp is creating a crime. they feel very loyal to them and it's very much the dynamics of domestic violence/intimate partner violence. so i feel very strongly that adding sonia melara to the police commission will be very important. >> thank you doctor. any more public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you to the public for making these comments and your testimony means a lot. i also want to thank

commissioner melara for her statement. i felt it was very well-done, shows your passion to do this work and certainly what i have heard in your statements is the connection between your past experiences and how it could be a very useful and helpful to the police commission. so commissioner tang. >> thank you, supervisor yee. again, i want to thank you everyone who came out. i think i have seen many very well-respected communities members here who are in support of miss medical examiner yawn melara and thank you very much for coming out. i am very supportive of this nomination and we heard the