standing here 30 years ago. it's nothing new. we have a 150 bed juvenile hall that's about a third filled. we've got the log cabin ranch. we've got an array of community based resources. there is no reason for ever sending a kid to a state correctional institution again. we can create a model here in san francisco by -- [inaudible] >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. thank you. next speaker. >> good evening. thank you for having this hearing. my name is casey lee, and i was a juvenile defender down in los angeles, and i currently am a juvenile defender here in san francisco, and i also am assistant in overseeing the panel that oversee our youth here. i do want to emphasize that we need an immediate solution, an alternative to the ranch. right now, as we heard earlier,

and i think the statistics are important. if we're sending kids to d.j.j., if we look at the old civil grand jury reports from 2011 to 2013, we'll see that the recidivism rate was 80%. if we look at the ranch recidivism rate, it was 14%. we know now that without an alternative, we have an uptick of recommendations to d.j.j. three things that our ranch focused on was the missouri model that came out of the juvenile justice detention alternative -- [inaudible] >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> thank you. my name is michael whelan, and do juvenile defense work. have been doing so 35 years in three different states. we need to refund log cabin

ranch or an alternative asap. it's a very important alternative for kids that are in a certain category but can't go home or go out of state. some of the providers that told you they were unfunded, they need to be funded. they're fabulous providers, in this juvenile justice program. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> i want to say the politicians have to listen to the youth. and i know you've heard this, i've heard this for 50 years, but we must listen to the youth one minute. and i understand the crowd and all the logistics, but i'm just saying if you want to get involved for real, you've got to listen to these young people.

up here, i think we're just moving it along, going through the procedure, but we must listen to the young, we must listen to those who have been there, and we need mental health, and we need log cabin ranch. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> good evening. i'm julie tron, well known to supervisor fewer. also district eight resident and voter. i'm the director of the juvenile association at the bar of san francisco. i bring a group of attorneys to log cabin ranch on a regular basis. we had a trip planned shortly after the closure occurred. i have a lot to say about the ranch. was it the best program? no. was it a good program? no. it was a good program, not the best program.

could it be improved? yes. i think we have to shine a light on the role of the c.b.o.s and how we are providing independence to our judges so that we can make the best possible decisions and the best possibilile placements fo our youth. bar association has stood ready to be a part of this announcement which took place in july. [inaudible] >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is kimberly alberto, and i was formerly incarcerated. i believe we should have more programs ran by the youth because in the end, we really know what we need. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is michelle lessons. i'm an lcsw and clinical case

manager. [inaudible] >> -- i really wanted to speak specifically to the fact that -- or the impact that the referral policies that we have. so much of the work that we've done over the years are with youth that have previously been involved and being able to continue those relationships long-term to help keep them out of trouble and help them find meaningful relationships in their communities is the reason we've seen just a decline in the youth on probation overall. and i think the continued opportunities for all of these organizations to do that and really meet these youth out in the communities on their terms is what's going to continue making all these young people really successful. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker.

>> first thing i wants to say is research has shown that kids thrive when they're in their community and not in detention. right now, we're sending kids out of state to be placed. we have no place locally for our young people that are out-of-home placement or need some mental health care or our young women or young boys that are being trafficked. there is no place locally to place them. we need to redistribute those beds up at juvenile hall and reconform log cabin ranch for placement for our kids. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm with the mission peace collaborative, and i'm one of the cofounders of the juvenile justice providers association.

i want to thank you for this hearing, because you gave equal voice to the community. this gives me hope that the same thing that everyone is saying up here, that we need reform, that we need innovation will happen under your guys's leadership, and i have hope that this will happen. ernl to personally thank you for holding this hearing. i know it was supposed to end a long time ago, but i thank you. i want to thank the judges for coming out, and i want to thank the probation department for listening to the community, and hopefully we can work with the juvenile justice providers association and come up with some solutions for you guys to consider. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. next speaker.

>> what we need right now immediately is a girl's shelter in san francisco. we have none. we need an alternative to the ranch so that i have an alternative when i believe that structure is important. other than d.j.j., i have no such option right now. mental health services are completely inadequate for our youth right now, and the special needs of unaccompanied minors can be more fully addressed in san francisco. it is more difficult working with them and the needs that they bring. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. are there any other members of the public who wish to address us during public comment? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor mandelman: supervisor fewer? >> supervisor fewer: well, i

just want to thank everyone for coming out today and spending your afternoon and evening with us, and i want to thank chief nance and his staff for a thorough presentation. i have a comment, though, after hearing the presentation from chief nance. so i have to say that i think, chief, that we have seen the juvenile justice model stay the same for over the years and decades, and including, i believe, even when my husband was incarcerated. do you feel that we're adequately serving youth in this system? could they be better served in the community or a home setting? >> well, again, supervisor few fewer, thank you for the question. i want to punctuate the fact

that san francisco, a county over over 800,000 people has barely 14 kids in our system. can we do better? can we do more? absolutely, always, so i'm heartened by the feedback that we heard today from the community agencies, from the young people. we were all -- from my staff, taking copious notes because we value the information. we believe that there is an opportunity to strengthen our partnerships. we believe that there is an opportunity to reenvision the way community supervision is delivered, and we're committed to working with our community and working with community agencies and our young people to make that happen. so yes, there is more that we can do, and we're open to exploring that.

>> supervisor fewer: thank you. and i've heard from several people that there needs to be an immediate alternative to log cabin ranch, and is it true that we have seen an uptick of young people being diverted to d.j.j. since the closing of log cabin ranch? >> two things in what i heard. yes, there needs to be an alternative for log cabin ranch for our young people, and i wish we had more local options for young people. my department as well as statewide, counties are working very feverishly to develop alternative foster care options in family home settings for young people here in san francisco. and so i agree that we need an alterna alternative. in the interim, we have seen an uptick in the number of commitments to our juvenile hall facility where we have the

space and the capacity to keep those young people safe and on the right track academically and therapeutically, but it needs more commitment to a more broad-based program strategy, as well as building out that facility in such a way as to support longer-term commitments in that environment. so i think that in the so short-term, that we have an opportunity to develop an opportunity for young people to have a place to be safe and to continue to -- to thrive and to address the rehabilitative and therapeutic needs that they have within our juvenile needs facility until such time we can determine whether log cabin ranch will continue to be a viable resource to that population of young people that we serve. as to the question of commitments to the division of juvenile justice -- and i want to be very, very clear about

this, san francisco has not increased its number of referrals to the juvenile justice -- the state jufl justice agency since the closure of log cabin ranch. there have been two people that have been committed since that time. when you look at the number of young people that we've committed overall, that number continues to be relatively low. so while there may have been an increase in recommendations coming from probation officers for commitments to log cabin ranch, in view of the -- i'm sorry, the number of commitments to -- recommendations for commitments to the division of juvenile justice, the fact remains that these young people are receiving either a commitment to juvenile hall or a community based alternative. so the -- >> supervisor mandelman: but it sounds like that's because the public defenders are fighting it. >> no, because the judges

recognize what's in the best interest of young people and that we don't give up on young people. while i believe the state facilities have made some significance changes in the state institutions, it's clear across the state, inclusive of what san francisco has developed as the road map, the reduction in the number of young people going to the state institutions continues to be relatively low and flat. and so our officers balances public safety, they balance the needs of these young people, and we also have to be concerned about what is going to happen in their future. i cannot ignore the fact that when i visit san bruno jail, and i'm on the transitional age youth pod, that five former log cabin ranch youth come to greet me in that environment, and that they are all there as a

result of homicide charges. i can't ignore that. and so while i agree that we need to have good models of intervention for young people in san francisco and our juvenile justice system, i don't think we should continue to throw money at a strategy that feels good but doesn't necessarily yield results. >> supervisor mandelman: you find if i ask a question? >> supervisor fewer: no. >> supervisor mandelman: setting aside the log cabin question, i was struck -- and i know this wasn't the issue at hand, but what seems like an overall trend in referrals to facilities stayed wide, it seems like we since 2008 have gone in the other direction. when do we refer -- i'm new to this. supervisor fewer is the -- the pro on this. but i'm curious about when we refer someone or when we send

someone to d.j.j., and why that number would be larger now than in 2008, particularly when it seems like in the rest of the state, it's been going down? >> well i think that first and foremost, the rest of the state was way out of whack with respect to the number of young people they were sending to the state. we were already ahead of the curve, we're talking barely single digit numbers for san francisco. we had two young people that returned to the community since from d.j.j., and i think we have a total of ten people from san francisco committed to the state institutions. so comparing the practices of san francisco in comparison to what's happening to the rest of the state isn't a good comparison because san francisco had already made the commitment to not send young

people to d.j.j. so the small numbers that people are describing today are no comparison to what is happening in the rest of the state. i think the rest of the state is getting to where san francisco is, and they're driving those numbers down. as i stated yes, we need to do better, and we are commit today that. we will ensure that we create different alternatives to young people, that our judges create dispositions that make sense for young people and families. >> supervisor mandelman: is it feasible that we get to a point that we send no referrals to d.j.j.? >> i think if we do it will be because we have created a strong alternative within the community because again,

balancing the public safety risk and also the risk of harm, even to the young people who are out there, engaged in the conduct that they engage in, is something that we have to be concerned about, as well. and sometimes sort of stemming the bleeding, stopping the bleeding is the best thing that we can do in the short-term, recognizing that that shouldn't be the long-term plan for these young people. but if we ignore the fact that some people require secure -- a secure setting in order to focus on the rehabilitateative goals and objectives, i think that we could do more harm than good. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you. >> supervisor fewer: it just seems, chief, that when we look at the budget, and your budget has increased, but i would imagine it's also some staff costs, also, and the cost of living. but the fact that the incarceration rate has gone so low, i have to say i actually

do think that it might be a time to actually reenvision a little about what we can do here. san francisco has always been the city of innovation and other places follow us. and i think because we have such a low count -- and i have to say kudos to everyone working on that. that is remarkable. i remember when it was -- we were saying -- and i have to give kudos to margaret who didn't want a 150 bed facility. >> that's right. in 2008, we exceeded capacity. >> supervisor fewer: it was shocking. to get it down to this point is remarkable, and it reflects a great level of success. but what i'm hearing, is even with this increased budget, there were increased needs of the youth you were serving and much more case management. it seems what you're looking

for today is not only about the individual youth, but is about what their family's experiencing, the homelessness, the, you know, unemployment, all those type of factors that actually play into a young person's life and helped shape to where they are today. or even having a home that you can go back to or whether or not there's not a safe place. and i just think that we are on a cusp now. we have an opportunity with this low incarceration rate, the fact that we've built up 20 years-plus of community-based organizations that have affected how to serve our youth. it's other services, employment, employment for the family, housing, all these other things that are a safety network. i think it is actually time to

actually just look at this in a way because it's an opportunity. it's not like we have 150 kids incarcerated, we have 40. this is a time to reenvision what juvenile justice looks like. i have just been hearing from folks about probation officers. i know my husband was incarcerated many, many years ago, but it just seems as though it's kind of the same format of what they do and sort of the function of a probation officer. and are not our youth maybe looking for something more of m mentorship, of a trusted ally for friendship? and i am just wondering where the room for that is in our juvenile justice system? >> well, i think there's a lot

of room for that in our system. much of what we do is statutorily driven with respect to operating a juvenile hall, court services that we provide, community supervision. but we have seen movement towards a different type of engagement, where probation officers are part of a team of individuals inclusive of the young person in the family in problem and decision making. that's a significant shift from where we were in traditional probation services, looking at the opportunities to partner with our schools and work with alternative schools and strengthen the way probation officers work with those schools to get young people back in the classroom when they've been chronically truant

and working toward their high school diploma. we've seen a tremendous shift in the way probation officers work to engage young people in post secondary educational opportunities, getting them into colleges and universities and supporting that. we have probation officers that are visiting -- and social workers, as well, that are visiting young people that are placed out of state as nonminor dependents, and creating opportunities. but where we need more assistance is in some of the mental health programming that was described, some of the substance abuse treatment that young people need. our transitional age youth need more housing support, they need more housing opportunity so that they he don't add to -- that they don't add to the homelessness prabs that we see in the city. there are a variety of program that's can support at the community level the needs of our young people.

and i'm not opposed to looking at different ways for our office and the probation services and probation office to be a part of those solutions. i don't think we need to demonize ourselves in the process. we have much to celebrate in san francisco because we've made tremendous progress, and we believe that the level of commitment from our probation officers, from our juvenile hall counselors and from our log cabin ranch staff is a contribution to that, and it is part of the partnership that we all experience. and all of the folks that you saw come to the podium today

are all contributing to that work. i know that the r.f.p. processes have consequences that are unfavorable, that sometimes there are winners and sometimes there are losers, but that process, as you well know, is designed to make fair and equitiable decisions about who gets funded and who doesn't. and so you heard from some organizations that got defunded through a fair and equitiable process, they were not the most successful bidder. and that's unfortunate, but i don't control that. and so my commitment to community agencies is no less than it has ever been. it continues to be extremely strong, and i hope that as we move forward and we think about expanding programs and services to meet some of the gaps that we talked about here today, that perhaps there will be an

opportunity for some of the providers that we heard from today to continue to be a resource today. >> supervisor fewer: i think, chief nance, i understand the r.f.p. process, also, and you have no control at all, but when you're putting it out to bid, they're putting it out to bid in a framework that's already designed, versus a new framework that's all income passing. if it seems if the -- all encompassing: what if we resigned it so that c.b.o.s were integrated inside of it, rather externally and sort of design a new model of juvenile justice in our city? i just think because r.f.p.

process is designed -- the way it's designed when it's going out to bid is within this certain kind of framework of what we already have. so we have this framework of j.p.d. and c.b.o.s, but it's not about designing something together about holistically looking at what we really need. it may have a different outcome on the r.f.p. process, and we might be looking at something else that makes the whole circle and the best outcomes for our youth today. and so on that note, is dcyf in the room, i'm wondering, maria, because i know maria does have something over the r.f.p. process, that i wanted to ask maria, if you wouldn't mind looking at maybe alternatives to the model that we currently

have. that really does incorporate c.b.o.s together. i think what the chief said is we do have a lot to celebrate, but we're at a point now where we have 40 incarcerated and we have all of those c.b.o.s that we have invested years and years and years in, and they have invested years this their staff meeting the needs of youth and the mental health that we mentioned. like, is there a way that we can provide other alternatives or needed services? but again, i'm wondering, we probably have to conduct a study or work in conjunction with someone to conduct a study. i think it's exciting that we have within our power here,

supervisor, an opportunity to reimagine and redesign. and working on the successes that we've had. >> yes, supervisor fewer, supervisor mandelman. thank you again for calling for this hearing. yes, i hear from our community that this is a mandate, and i'm also hearing from you for us to do something. it is possible for dcyf to commission --

[inaudible] >> -- around new recommendations for juvenile justice reform. i would be more than happy to look more into that and to forward the recommendations over to the committee here, but if this is something that the committee wants, we would definitely look into working with a consulting firm to start that process, and of course we would do that in partnership with our juvenile probation department as well as our community partners. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. do you concur? thank you very much. because i think we shouldn't be recommending any youth to d.j.j. in my husband's time, it was c.y.a. and he said sandy, everyone that went to c.y.a. ended up in san quentin. i think in san francisco, especially with this rich array of support, that to lose one

person to d.j.j. i think is a travesty. so i think it's great. i also want to commend the chief, that i do think that your willingness to actually look at all sides of this and listen to the c.b.o.s also -- and you're right. it shouldn't be ad -- adversarial at all. i think we have a role to play, each of us, to give our youth the services they deserve. they are the future of san francisco, so we should invest and invest well. thank you very much. i just want to thank -- any other comments?

>> supervisor mandelman: well, i guess i have one more question for chief nance. so it sounds like a bad thing if it is, in fact, the case that this new referral process has resulted in one referral. and i was curious if that's true, and you could say a little bit about it. >> sure. absolutely. so the one thing that we can't lose sight of is that when the new contracts came into place, that didn't mean that all the young people that were already receiving services stopped receiving services. those youth were already committed, already involved in services. and so we would need to take a really detailed look to see which young people we're talking about during this period of time. there aren't a lot of young people that have come through the system during that two or three-month period that we're looking at prior to identifying

how many referrals. but again, there is -- there are -- there is such a heavy saturation of programs and services that there's a lot of demand for every single youth. and so -- and as we described, only 30% of the programs that young people are connected to are youth that are served through the justice services realm. so yes, it is very possible that that number is as low as has been reported, but that isn't because young people aren't being served, it is simply because there aren't enough youth people to sat rate the array of services that we have around us. >> supervisor fewer: but how about those that aren't in the juvenile justice system yet, but the c.b.o.s are preventing

them? >> that's a great question. i'm going to ask my colleague to come up and answer that because we've had discussions into expanding into those services. >> all right. so thank you, supervisors, for the question. once again, first, we want to celebrate that there are only 40 young people, which is 40 too many in the juvenile justice system right now. however, what we realize is we actually have a large number of really high quality nonprofit agencies ready to serve young people and to really serve them with really high quality programming. so what we did and what was mentioned by our jjcpa -- jjpa partners was that two weeks ago c.b.o.s allowed greater flexibility to serve people outside of the juvenile hall. so they are currently able to receive referrals from the schools, from other service

providers, from other key stakeholders in the community. >> and i want to acknowledge that that was a joint decision because we were invested in that -- that strategy, as well. i think that now is the time for san francisco to pivot whole -- wholeheartedly and full throatedly into prevention, to focus on keeping young people out of the justice system since we've done such a great job of reducing the number of people in the system, those services can be better utilized. >> supervisor fewer: no argument here. >> thank you. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: i want to be clear. you're advocating for this to remain in the committee. >> supervisor fewer: yes, at the call of the chairman man at the call of the chair, and to have a report back from dcyf. >> supervisor fewer: yes. bo-i think director sue has

indicated she can come back with a study, and i think it's important to have that as a study to discuss. >> supervisor mandelman: to the call of the chair? >> supervisor fewer: yes. i make a motion to have that at the call of the chair. >> could i make a suggestion that we can have a study of services adoptions by our juvenile justice coordinator? >> supervisor fewer: thank you to my colleagues for staying so late. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, supervisor fewer. i know yesterday, you had a fever of 102, and so you dragged yourself out of your bed to hear this hearing. we have a motion, without objection. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor mandelman: mr. clerk, do we have anymore items? >> clerk: there's no further business.

>> supervisor mandelman: okay. great. then we are adjourned. >> providing excellent customer service to each other so that we can succeed together. because we're a small division out here, and we're separated from the rest of the p.u.c., a

lot of people wear a lot of different hats. everyone is really adept not just at their own job assigned to them, but really understanding how their job relates to the other functions, and then, how they can work together with other functions in the organization to solve those problems and meet our core mission. >> we procure, track, and store materials and supplies for the project here. our real goal is to provide the best materials, services and supplies to the 250 people that work here at hetch hetchy, and turn, that supports everyone here in the city. i have a very small, but very efficient and effective team. we really focus hard on doing things right, and then focus on doing the right thing, that benefits everyone. >> the accounting team has several different functions. what happens is because we're so remote out here, we have small groups of people that have to do what the equivalent

are of many people in the city. out here, our accounting team handles everything. they love it, they know it inside out, they cherish it, they do their best to make the system work at its most efficient. they work for ways to improve it all the time, and that's really an amazing thing. this is really unique because it's everybody across the board. they're invested it, and they do their best for it. >> they're a pretty dynamic team, actually. the warehouse team guys, and the gals over in accounting work very well together. i'm typically in engineering, so i don't work with them all day on an every day basis. so when i do, they've included me in their team and treated me as part of the family. it's pretty amazing. >> this team really understanding the mission of the organization and our responsibilities to deliver water and power, and the team also understands that in order

to do that, we have a commitment to each other, so we're all committed to the success of the organization, and that means providing excellent customer service to each other so that we can succeed >> all right. good afternoon, everyone. i am paul yepp. i am the kmonding officer of

the central police station. and i want to thank you for being here today. irts to thank o . i want to thank our supervisors for being here today, first of all, mayor london breed, supervisor aaron peskin, and on cue, the chief of police, bill scott. executive director of sf safe, kyra worthy. park and rec commissioner allen low. park and rec area manager zach taylor. chief of the park rangers, mike celeste. president of self-help for the elderly, annie chung. from the chinese benevolent association, charles chow.

and from the san francisco police department command staff, deputy chief ann mannix, commander dan perea, commander david lozar. oh, and -- i'm sorry -- oh, and i'm sorry. reverend malcolm fong -- the latest commander for the san francisco police department, darryl fong. congratulations, darryl. this is about you. [applause] >> and of course the executive director for the ccdc, malcom yo. i am proud to share with you the grand opening of the san francisco police department

public information drop-in center, and it was quite a collaboration between city partners and our community leaders. and i can't be more proud to have got this done with everyone in this room, so thank you for that. and let me go ahead and introduce our first speaker, the honorable mayor london breed. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, captain. i'm really excited to be here because this is a really incredible opportunity for the chinatown community. what we ultimately want to do is make sure that people are safe, and part of making sure that people are safe is not only a police presence but it's also people feeling comfortable with reporting crimes. when i first became mayor, one of the first thing that i did was to add additional beat officers here in chinatown, and we're continuing to add more beat officers in civic center and other parts of the city as those new academy classes

continue to graduate. thank you supervisor peskin and members of the board of supervisors for supporting the additional academy classes which will ensure that we are able to get more officers on the streets. but we know that police presence alone can't address some of the challenges that exist, and in particular, in communities where people speak different languages, there are often times, you know, just really a disconnect between the crime that happens and their ability to report those crimes. and so this drop-in center will be used as an opportunity for people who are a part of this community to basically come in to develop relationships with the officers here and to report crimes if they occur. and so i'm excited about that because i know that captain yepp has done an outstanding job in this community with building good relationships with the people in this community and also commander lozar who was the former

captain of this station has also been instrumental in continuing to bridge that gap. this is just the next step in ensuring that people feel safe, that people feel secure in their community. that they have a comfortable place to come and to meet with police officers. and i want to thank annie chung and the work of the self-help for the elderly and all that you do to also work with so many of our seniors in this particular community. we definitely have a lot of work to do, and this is just one of the first steps in trying to meet people where they are and come out into the community so that people are comfortable with having conversations and building relationships with our police department. it's something that is really important to me as someone bho grew up in the western addition and worked really hard to bridge the gap between law

enforcement and one another. it's a way to stop crime from occurring, but once they occur, we have an obligation to work hard to address those particular issues, and this is just one step closer in getting us to a place where people can feel that their voices matter, that they will be supported and protected in their community, so i am grateful to the san francisco police department for providing the bilingual officers who will work with this community. i want to thank chief scott for his leadership. will i i also, i know that supervisor peskin will be hosting office hours in this location. who knows, maybe one day, i'll join you. it's just another way to bring law enforcement, to bring all of these things directly into the community, to make the community not only a better community but a safer community

who every who lives and works and spends time in this neighborhood. so thank you all so much for being here today, and i'm excite thad this space is opening to provide this opportunity for the folks in this neighborhood. >> thank you, mayor, for your leadership and your support. the next speaker is my favorite district three supervisor, supervisor aaron peskin. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, captain nepp. to our mayor, london breed, chief scott, to all of the dignitiaries gathered herein, it takes a village, and what you see in this place are many different agencies and nonprofit partners coming together. so we are here at portsmouth square which is the living room for this very, very dense community. everything that happens in this community happens in this treasured park, and we are on rec and parkland, which is leased to an organization that

has been taking care of this community, particularly the seniors, since 1966, self-help for the elderly. and we have company a. why is it called company a? it is the first police station in san francisco. i like to say all of our districts are created equal, but district three has central station, and we are more equal. why do i say that? because i know the working men and women of central station company a, and they're not just police officers. they do wellness checks, they know the people in the community. a long time ago at the board of supervisors, some 15 years ago, there was a big conversation about community policing. and when it was explained to me, i realized that i had community policing. all of my beat cops, they know the folks, whether they're in the pings or in north beach, and it really is the essence of what makes a safe community.

and they're culturally competent. as a matter of fact, there are 460 officers in the sfpd who speak a multitude of languages, some 30 languages. the beat officers in chinatown speak fluent cantonese. they engage with the seniors, they engage with the children, and this is an unparalleled opportunity for the people to have direct access twice a week in this treasured spot. as you all know, we come here for press conferences, for celebrations. this is a community that has under reported crime. i get to read about it in the journal and sing tao.

this is an opportunity for people to come in and speak in cantonnese to report what's happening on the street. i'm incredibly grateful to the police department. chief scott, you have a great worker in paul yepp. captain yepp, thank you for making it happen, and -- [speaking cantonnese language] >> thank you. and our next speaker is chief of police bill scott. >> thank you, everyone. and i won't go over the points that supervisor peskin and mayor breed said, but i want to reiterate a couple of things. first of all, thank you mayor breed for her outstanding leadership. you know, part of what makes this work for us is the executive leadership of the city. the budget that we received this year was very supportive,

and it will enable us to continue the path of increasing our foot beat officers and that really speaks to our goal to engage better with the city of san francisco, the residents of the city of san francisco. the other part of that is, you know, this community center will allow us to get to the root of policing, and that's getting people comfortable to report crimes when they occur, because that impacts how we deploy, that impacts how our resources are distributed throughout the city. so this is a great step in that direction. before i go any further, though, all this doesn't work without the people standing in the back of the room, and those are the officers that are assigned to this district, the central foot beat officers and supervision, captain yepp and his team. they make it work in conjunction with the community.

i know they're behind the cameras, but i just want to thank the officers for what they do in this community, because we do have great relationships in this community. we do have some really good things happening in this community. we are a police department that wants to be responsive to the community that we serve, and that all starts with the officers. the command staff, we do what we do. we lead the department, we set the course and the chart and all that, but the work gets done at the field level, and i can't say i'm so proud to have the officers in this room as the team that's doing this work. so thank you for what you do. as supervisor peskin said, we have over 460 -- i think the number is up to 490 officers that speak 30 different languages. we want to engage with our city. we want to get better at that. we want to be better at policing. we want to be the best police department in this nation, and i think with the leadership of this city, we're well on our way to do that.

this is just another step, so thank you for kwbticontributin our city, what we know is a great thank you. thank you so much. >> thank you, chief. as i said earlier, this project doesn't happen without our community partners, and one of our great community partners is the president of the self-help for the elderly, miss annie chung. >> thank you very much, captain yepp, and thank you mayor breed, thank you, supervisor peskin, who knows our place very well because you hold a lot of office appointments here. welcome, everybody to our portsmouth square clubhouse. as mayor breed and supervisor peskin and chief scott said, we know that partnership with the sfpd is very important to our community. we are the second most dense part to san francisco, probably second only to manhattan, new

york, because as you see, a lot of our residents lived in very crowded housing in s.r.o.s. you see a lot of seniors walking on the street, talking on their phone, not a very safe thing to do. because we heard that crimes usually get underreported in this community. no matter how hard, commander lozar, when you was our captain, and captain yepp come around to our senior centers and keep reporting the crimes, no matter how big or small the crimes are. when paul came to me and said, annie, you think you could rearrange a little bit of your schedule to accommodate our drop-in center, i said yes without the blinking of an eye. i know it will be a welcome sight. our merchants, our residents, our seniors who live around here, our children, you are

welcome to see our police officers, especially those who speak the language. they feel comfortable of coming in to ask questions, and i think that through our work, we could also arrange for small groups of residents to come in to get some public safety education with our officers. so thank you, mayor. community policing is all about the community. and if we build our rapport with our police officers, i know that i am krcrimes reportl increase, and i thank you very much for all of your leadership. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, annie. and then, our final speaker from the community is executive director of the chinatown community development center, malcolm yao. >> well, paul, thank you for the promotion. i'm not the executive director, i'm the deputy director of chinatown community center, but i'll ask for a raise.

thank you very much. you know, this drop-in center is really all about community policing. i think we've thrown that term around quite a bit, but captain yepp personified that. community policing is taking leadership and pulling the threads together necessary to make this happen. it wasn't easy, it wasn't from command on high. it came out of paul's head. he knew that reporting needed to go up, he knew that it needed to come back to the community, and this was captain yepp's brain child, and he took the lead in pulling all the threats for doing this. so i really want to thank you for this, captain yepp, for your leadership in the community. i don't say this lightly, when i say that auntie rose would be proud of you. she absolutely hated the koban, but she's going to love this. thank you. >> okay. that concludes the speaking

portion of this press conference, but i did want to take the opportunity to introduce our officers new to the station but well known in the police department is lieutenant doug farmer, sergeant paul rogers, sergeant klobuchu, officer bob duffield, officer pauli tang, officer jennie mau, officer reggie pena, officer matt fambrini, and officer alex anton. [applause] >> thank you very much. [applause]