president of the police commission, loftus, and many others, help me welcome police chief greg suhr. >> thank you and on every marked police vehicle in the san francisco police department there is one bumper sticker and on the back of every single car as you see the police vehicles traveling around and it simply says that there is no excuse for domestic violence. and because, there is not. and much has been made in the national media about how come this happened and that happened and how about just no, there is no excuse, period, for the domestic violence. >> and the san francisco police department is a critical piece of that as we respond to any calls for domestic violence in san francisco and as the mayor pointed out, we did enjoy a period of some 40 plus months where there were no dow mist i can violence homicides in san francisco.

and now, it is having suffered three, even though we are in a record low, homicide, here, almost ten percent and better than ten percent of the homicides that have occurred in san francisco, have been domestic violence related. and we continue to provide the assessment for the training for the police officers and increased the limited accomplish training because we don't want somebody's inbility to communicate in english to be a deter and we want to insure that all survivors that san francisco is a sanctuary city and that there is status in the united states will never be called into question and they need to report, because again, there is no excuse for domestic violence upon anybody. our special victims unit continues to thrive without 16 additional investigators to the special victim's unit just in the calendar year, 2014. and the things for most as we see it work here best in san francisco and as we continued to have the domestic violence

advocates located in the special victim's unit and, the celebrates their 10th anniversary this year, and being, emerged in our 14 and the ten yard audit, and in the backlog and we contracted with the vendors to clear it back ten years by the mid 2015. we initiated an asap protocol, in january of this year and so there will never be a sexual assault kit backlog again. >> so again, i know that there are other speakers and i don't want to take me more time and i just goted gonzaga the to keep

saying it and we kelt that it was important enough to put a sticker on the cars when it is the only one there it speaks volume to have it committed we as a city and a police department and how much we enjoy the partnerships and we are committed to nobody being able to make a excuse for domestic violence, thank you. >> please help me recognize the members of the police commission and the police department. [ applause ] >> next is our district attorney george cascon who has championed effort to intervene and prevent acts of violence against women and he is exciting news to share, please welcome the district attorney. you know, it is exciting to see it here today. and but i like to for a moment, all of us coming together and

they see and that no more violence. come on. >> no more violence, you know, still, one out of every four women in this country, report being the victim of domestic violence some time in their life. and so while we often get together, and especially during this month, to celebrate the accomplishments and to talk about all of the great things that we are doing, and there is still a lot of work, and this year, and 3 homicides and do not indicate that there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. and especially those, who are working in the domestic violence, and i want to thank the supervisors and the mayor for the monitorry support that

we received last year, and to beat all of the resources. and for it to support, and insure, and in order to do the work. and we have the resources and the conviction rate and that are significantly increased. and we have it in front of and getting the victim services to the big victims and to the suppliers very quickly. and most people think that in the district attorney office is a prosecutor, and when it comes to the domestic violence, and it is a great deal of, and and it to make sure that we get the restrainingorders and to make sure that we deal with the

custody issues and and for the survivors, and to be able to move on with their life. and you know, recently, you know, we were just talking to some of the other people that we work with and some of the survivors and we have the women who said, you know, i was so, so afraid, of going to court and she walked in, and she met one of the victims services counselors, and she said that you know, i felt that all of a sudden like i was at home and that makes a difference, not only in being able to begin, the healing process, and but, also being able to hold the aggressors accountable and you know, we tell the people that actually if we do our work well, and we intervene earlier, we have an opportunity and that all of us can prevent the future acts of violence and assuming that the family wants

to stay together, we can actually help the families do it together. and that is not the cycle of violence goes on for years, and it usually does by the way, if you do not intervene early on, it will increase the frequency and it will increase in the level of migration, and sometimes by the time that the police and we get there, there is very little that can be done. and unfortunately that is not only bad for the family, it is bad for our community and it is bad. and you know, i have saw this before and you know, i have used it and i am stealing this work from everyone else and i heard once that a few, engaged in domestic violence in your home and you are almost guaranteeing that your sons, will grow up, to be abusive themselves and end up in jail. and we need to work together, to win this cycle of violence and we need to get to the day,

for having, this meeting and this come ration of success to suppose to still talk about one out of every four women being the victim of the violence in their life and i am really honored for the company that we have hear today and we have a lot of work to do and i look forward to being able to continue to work with you. thank you. >> before i introduce my commissioners i want to report that thanks to the leadership of eric mar and human resources director cal ahan and her staff, every city employee will receive this brochure on recognizing the signs of dow domestic violence and the resources that are available later this month, and next, please help me to welcome on the commission on the status of women, the senior member of our commission and long time activist on women human rights issues and the chair of the oversight panel, she is going to talk about our final report.

welcome commissioner shorter. >> and good evening, everyone, and it is, and it is with the great honor that i stand here today, to not only represent our distinguished commission on the commission on the status of women, but certainly the justice encouraged oversight panel, and let me tell you, what tremendous work has been accomplished over the last, several years, we know that san francisco we are having not only local impact and it has been described by our mayor, and by our police chief, and by our district attorney, and when you hear in the public discourse, the term that we

started with in san francisco, a few years ago, that the domestic violence is not a private family matter. in reference of what is happening within the national football league and the other arena, we know that we are having the impact and so, we want to applaud all of those persons that stand here with us today, and in unison to have even greater impact this is nationally the report and if it was up to me, i would read the whole report. but i won't do that, but i am going to trust that each of you will get your hands on this report, when it is in your fully bound form and review it. and really appreciate the work that has gone into not the report, itself, but the work

that has gone into making the critical and necessary changes that we have the critical response to the domestic violence in san francisco and let me just give you a few of those highlights etch of which is not more important than the other and each stands alone with great importance. and one, we have been able to achieve the greater accountability for domestic violence, offenders and working with the probation department, and and the others to achieve this end and we have ex-expanded language access for domestic violence survivor and that means, working collaboratively with the police department and the department of emergency management and making sure that we are able to respond and identify those bi lingual officers, who can provide critical response, and

we significantly increased investments in services to women and survivors of violence and their families. and the city did provide increased funding for community based domestic violence agencies with a particular focus on at risk populations. such as the lgbt q and limited english, and immigrant survivors and we have expanded training on the domestic violence for the agencies and the community partner and that means that we work in a very collaborativive way, for just the violence and cross training and training over 437 criminal justice... (inaudible) and that includes, judges, that includes all other personnel that are working within our criminal justice system. and we have also made sure that

we have victim responses to the system to working with the district attorney office, and to work with and there are domestic violence unit, and just all of this demeanor and the felony domestic violence cases and the courts have improved the safety in the court rooms and for the survivors, and instituting, the wait periods and for them to allow for the survivors time to leave the building. and there was a time when the cases could get shuffled and lost along the various, and the other care taking of the other issues and so where the people and the department of the emergency management, and we created new 911 codes for the domestic violence and stalking.

and the medical examiner now tracks, homicides and suicides. and related to the domestic violence. and again, that gives you an outline, and a highlight of what has been achieved over the last decade and then some. and i want to before concluding acknowledge a couple of other persons that are not necessarily and that are not here with us today. and but, i want to acknowledge former commissioner king, and who stands as a giant on our particular commission, and it is legacy for being the first commissioner to lead the justice encourage and then in the justice encourage task force, and so, we really appreciate her vision and leadership, and have done our best to carry on with the same type of vigor and sincerity and serious behindedness that she did. and so it has been a honor to

share this panel. and the justice, and panel oversight, and this is just encourage panel oversight panel sought to honorably serve the legacy, and the people all over san francisco, in the bay area, and know her name and her story. and the depth inspires our efforts and challenged us to do and be better as a community and the choice will forever will be with our will, and the proven ability to transform san francisco response to domestic violence and serve to the inspiration to the communities beyond our golden gate bridge, thank you. >> >> thank you so much, andrea up next, please help me to welcome, someone who represents the heart of this community, my

dear friend, beverly upton. >> i am so honored to be with everybody today. this work goes on, and it is difficult but it goes on. what does it take to shine a light on domestic violence? what does the city have to have? well, tonight we will see that it is going to have city hall lighting up purple. but what does it really have to have at its heart? it has to have leadership and it has to have justice and it has to have advocacy, leadership really starts at the top, and in san francisco, it starts with mayor ed lee and his team at city hall and preventing and intervening and funding those of us who try to stop domestic violence. thank you. >> david chiu, and the board supervisors, their doors are always open to us and we meet with them year round on the legislation and budgetary issues and their leadership shows, every single day.

emily murase, dr. murase, and the department and the commission on the status of women, kandel and andrea shorter and johnson and many, many more show the city every day that women count. and that there is no excuse for domestic violence. >> leadership in the community, when we see swinging here today and sissy and some of you know her, and helped to start a lot of the funding and organization in the community that helped to fund the domestic violence communities today and so we want to thank all of these leaders for their leadership, nufn us would be here without you. >> and when we say justice, we don't just mean going to jail, we mean justice, we mean restoration and we mean healing and we mean justice for everyone. justice takes a strong district attorney office.

george who is team is here today, liz, sam and all of the attorneys and advocates that make the families comfortable as they are going through what can be a long, long, process. and we work together, and it was lucasa and do an excellent job to help everybody navigate that system. >> greg suhr and the department and to make the tough decision and help every day and they save lives and help the community heal and they help all of us stay connected that is what part of the justice is.

and the next one and mary and we have a family friend here today who will talk to you about bary and we are beginning this process begin with her family, and so while we did go 44 months, we do have 3 new homicides and we have to take care of these families and we must take of these children and when we talk about talking care of folks and we talked about

advocacy and that is the advocates in the da's office and the police department and as the advocates with the district attorney office and the dedicated community based call of the survivors and the families 24 hours a way, and for those of you who are working in shelter and crisis lines, and legal services, and to today, is your day. today is, awareness month and i am so honored to be here with you all of you. thank you. >> thank you, so much, beverly, and many of you will be familiar with (inaudible) was brutally murdered and the case of many, many years, to solve, and we are very fortunate to have this from the district attorney office, and to prosecuted that case, and really took it all the way up to the supreme court that affirms the murder conviction, and so next we honor those that

we have lost to domestic violence, >> good evening for all of the guests and all of the people supporting the domestic violence. and we are altogether and doing well. and through our sadness, we are

very encouraged to see that many good changes have been occurring in the san francisco with the help of the city government to make this a safer place and to help women like claire and i want to thank all of you who have been so supportive of me and my family. please help me, and help us in using clay's memory to help others and to eliminate the domestic violence and no more violence and no more domestic violence and i am so happy that i am here, and very, very thankful to all of you. >> and thank you very much, and it is an honor to be invited to

stand on the stage and although i wish that i did not have to stand here, and thank you for allowing us to commemorate, mary atchison. i love mary for many reasons, but i think that what i loved about her most was her strength, and her smile, and that lighted up any room that she would go into. and her commitment to having fun. and every day of her life. mary was a resident, and a bike messenger and the dot com boom and grew other flowers and others n a plot in vernal hill, and heights. and she worked downtown, at wiki company, and she has a degree from san francisco state, and in zoology, and we shared being big fans of san

francisco giants and the san francisco 49ers and she was actually, a very avid fan of both. mary was found dead in her home on august 26th and the cause of death is blunt force trauma. and according to her neighbors, her boyfriend of 12 years, who she lived with, she would hear her boyfriend slamming her against the walls during arguments. mary did not confide in this and although i loved her i never knew that this was happening a group of us attend every court hearing, for joules, and he has been accused

of homicide, one of our friends has said that following this process and the judicial process is the most painful thing that she will ever do in her life. i am a human rights lawyer, and usually this kind of thing is a professional thing for me and not a personal thing, and i have been living in porter prince and i work for an organization that represents the victims of violence and we help to prosecute cases just like this case. and unfortunately there, the judiciary and the law enforcements don't have the political will to pursue cases like this. and we are grateful that san francisco city and county does, and i am grateful to mayor ed lee for his leadership, in making san francisco a domestic violence free city and i am grateful to the district attorney for his excellent team of domestic violence attorneys

and including district attorney sam tova and the investigators. although, san francisco probably is not perfect, because nobody else, i can tell you how important having the presence of good law enforcement is to,er rad indicating domestic violence but the courts and the law enforcement cannot do all of the work. and this is our problem. each and every one of us here has been a victim of domestic violence or knows somebody that has. and so it is up to us san francisco residents, employees, business, owners, journalists thank you for being here. through

whatever you are passionate about, service will improve your life as well as the lives of everybody that you serve. thank you again, for being here, for paying attention to this. and thank you to mary. for her inspiration. >> thank you, so much, nicole and we also honor the memory of lewis and her family, who are here as beverly mentioned and next we will be hearing from the adult probation, director crystal tuluc who is here on behalf of the adult probation chief, wendy still, and please help me to welcome crystal. >> good evening, thank you to inviting adult probation to

participate in this event, parking san francisco domestic violence awareness month. and the mission statement of san francisco adult probation is protecting the community, serving justice, and changing lives. and we emphasize changing lives because over the past five years with the vision and drive achieved still, adult probation has been elevated as being a nationally and internationally recognized model of how to build a criminal justice service delivery system that is evidence-based family focused and gender responsive and trauma informed. we emphasize changing lives by conducting risk and needs assessments to build meaningful supervision plans. and we emphasize changing lives by providing services that are

gender specific and we emphasize it by being family focused by recognizing that we can help to inner generational criminalty by helping one member, of the family system, and to change their lives. and we emphasize changes lives by being trauma informed. when offering resources and referrals to perpetrators. and excuse me, referrals to victims, and a domestic violence, and insuring their perpetrators are being held accountable and actively participating and certified domestic violence programs. domestic violence thrives on secrecy, denial, and comp lacency it is against the

values of human rights, we stand with the men, women and children that are victims and survivors of domestic violence. we stand with our community justice partners, and victims advocates, and the community to bring to light the issue of domestic violence, and in order to keep it out of the shadows. and we stand with you, to help victims find a voice, safety, and shelter. and adult, probation, stands with you to foster a culture of justice, and support, for the victims and the survivors of domestic violence. thank you. >> thank you, so much chris cal, our last speaker tonight before closing healing song, is board of supervisors president, david chiu. a true advocate in the fight against domestic violence, who even