we have a mission to insure police accountabilities by conducting timely and fair and unbias investigations and making recommendations. and here in california, law enforcement agencies must have a procedure for civilians to file complaints. against members of law enforcement. and here in san francisco, the occ serves that purpose. and the staff of the office of citizen complaints is a diverse group of civilians who have never served as san francisco police officers, although some of the investigators on the occ staff have served for other or in other law enforcement agencies, such as the california highway patrol. and the majority of our staff of 35, are investigators, and although we also have attorneys and support staff on the occ staff. so what do we do? we conduct investigations to find out what happened. we obtain evidence, and we do that by interviewing the person who brought the complaint, the involved police officers, and also civilian witnesses. we have subpoena power to compel testimony and obtain the evidence. we get additional evidence from the police department and in the form

used throughout oig history to provide the va secretary and members of congress with independent, unbias, fact-based program reviews to correct and identify deficiency and improve va's program. these reports serve as the bases for 67 congressional oversight hearing including 48 before this committee. during the same six years, our work has been recognized by the ig community with 25 awards for exce excel excelle excell excellence. the loss of faith family members have with the health care system that could not respond to the timely manner. we did not apply the standards of determining medical negligence the findings don't stop a veteran from filing a complaint under the federal tort claims act with the v. decisions regarding the va's liability in these matters lies with the va, the department of justice, the judicial system under the federal tort claims act. this concludes my statement. and i would be happy to answer any questions you or other members of the committee may have. >> thank you very much. mr. griffin and dr. foot you are recognized for your opening statement for five minutes