marilyn mario? >> good morning, honorable chair and good morning members. my name is marilyn morelo, and i am an active member of the community here in san francisco. but before i tell you about that, i'd like you to know that my father was an undocumented immigrant, and i understand the crisis that our immigrant community is facing here in san francisco under the current president and the policies that are adversely impacting the most vulnerable in our community. as someone who actually experienced it, with a parent, i can tell you that it's a very, very damaging experience to families that are impacted and then the legacy that the family is left with. however, i've overcome that. and i'm happy to say i will be receiving my doctorate in education on may 11, from the university of of the pacific. and i'm an expert in technology adoption, which is relevant to the police commission because there are emerging technologies which the police commission has considered in the past and will consider in the future, and tasers are one of them. i believe that we need to look at the wealth of research that has become available with the large number of deaths that have been caused by tasers just in the last year. and in neighboring counties, san mateo county and others. we need to revisit that, look at that. we cannot just keep doing things the same way and disregarding research and facts. we see that in a current presidential administration, and that has negative consequences on the community. so i would like to be involved with the police commission, and my experience with technology adoption and comprehensively analyzing benefits and constraints of technology adoption, just as i did comprehensively analyzing faculty adaptation to emerging technology in higher education teaching, those skills are relevant here because we need to comprehensively evaluate the benefits and the constraints that the taser policy and its impact on the community is. and i believe that the community is asking us to make well-informed decisions as opposed to rash decisions that can have substantially negative impacts on the most vulnerable that come into contact with the community. speaking of that, as a formerly homeless resident here in san francisco, i have unique experience with the most vulnerable, again, that come into contact with the san francisco police department, the homeless community. and so i am on a board of directors of tenderloin that serves holiday dinners. we interact with the homeless one-on-one, when a lot of other people are closed and not accepting the homeless. that's three times a year, tenderloin has the holiday dinner, and provides free holiday dinners to the homeless and needy children on easter sunday, 1 to 4, and thanksgiving, 1 to 4, and christmas day, 1 to 4. we provide them with meals, entertainment, free clothing. we have a partnership with st. anthony's foundation. the clothing is usually gone by 2:30. that is a testament to the unmet need in our community. the most vulnerable in our community know they can come and get free clothing at least three times a year, and there is no limit on what they can get. they need a lot. so we provide them with paper bags and they can take as many clothes as they need because when you go to different organizations that provide clothing, there is frequently a limit on items that are available because there is such a huge need that they have to make sure that the items are dispersed. so i'm aware of the challenges with the homeless community. and that's something that is critical to the san francisco police department, to the board of supervisors, and to the san francisco government and the homeless as well. not only that, i have firsthand experience with heroin addiction. my brother -- one of my brothers -- i have several, so i'm not going to identify which one -- but one of my brothers is a heroin addict and has been since i can remember. i'm 50 years old, and i can remember, since i was a toddler, he was a heroin addict, and he still is. and he's been in and out of prison. so i am away of the debilitating impact that heroin addiction has on individuals, family members, and on the community. and i fully support the mayor's plan to provide alternative treatment in dealing with the heroin addiction crisis that we have now. and that's something that the police commission may be heavily involved with, and we need someone that can advocate with that and to have an understanding of the impact that that has on the community. because not only does it impact individuals that are heroin addicts, it also impacts businesses. it also impacts other citizens. it also impacts the police officers that interact with the victims of heroin addiction. and we know that we need more mental health services, more health services. and having this unique set of skills that i bring, with -- dealing with the homeless community, understanding heroin addiction and the impact on families and businesses, i can bring those skills to the police commission. and i'm an expert in communication, and i can help with the challenges that there are with the communication that the police department because effective communication builds trust, and we need that. >> chairman: thank you very much. is aisha everhart present? i don't see her. is gloria barry present? i don't see her. is sean richards present? i don't see mr. richards. is there any other applicant to the police commission that is present? okay, seeing none, i will open up this item to public comment. if you would like to speak, you'll have two minutes to speak in favor of any of the candidates. please line up. in no particular order, to my left. thank you so much. do you want to begin, ms. mandel. >> thank you so much, supervisors. i'm donna mandel, i'm the legislative policy analyst for the public defender's office. this past friday, jeff asked me to come here today and speak on his behalf in favor of reappointing cindy alias to the police commission. he told me to say she is a long time activist and a long-term public defender. she has worked tirelessly for police and justice reform. he said there is no one he would recommend more strongly. i don't need to tell you how much jeff believed in criminal justice reform and in m police reform in particular. he wanted to see the police commission lead the way in making the san francisco police department a 21st century force that is open and accountable and respectful of all of our residents, regardless of race, wealth, or immigration status. we need the police commission to ensure the recommendations issued in 2016. we need a more robust review of officer-involved shootings. we need the police commission to take action on the department general orders in a way that reflects progressive police reform. we need a re-examination of the taser policy, in slight of the recent deaths on the peninsula. san francisco needs police commissioners who are in touch with the compts who commus who have the most police presence. and commissioner alias is honest, thoughtful, and a fierce advocate for reform and for fairness. so i urge you to reappoint her to the police commission. thank you very much. >> thank you so much. next speaker, please? >> good morning. th thanthank you for allowing me to speak. i'm here to speak on behalf of cindy alias. i'm the assistant manager at glide's harm reduction programs. i met cindy when we were working together on the lead program. as a result of the work that we did together, i found that she is a passionate and tireless advocate for the city's most vulnerable citizens, the homeless, people of color, people who are drug-involved. she has been a great ally with glide, and particularly with the harm reduction team. she understands and shares the compassion that is at the heart of harm reduction, and that is very important to the citizens that she serves. she has always gone above and beyond in her support for social justice for the poor, the disenfranchised, and for people of color. she has always gone above and beyond in her support for glide's mission of inclusivity and compassion for all. and i have come to believe, in my work with cindy, that she is a social justice warrior. and the city needs a social justice warrior at this point in time. so we at glide, and particularly on the glide harm reduction team, firmly and unequivocally support her reappointment. >> thank you so much. >> good morning, everyone. my name is jacques wilson, and i'm with the san francisco public defender's office and the racial justice committee. obviously, the city suffered a tremendous loss, and i know that mr. adochchi, i adochi, if he we with us, would be here today. one of the things he was big on was transparency and accountability, and about a fair san francisco. a san francisco where we all felt safe. a san francisco where we were protected. a san francisco where people who did their jobs, did it honestly and fairly. and the reason that that is so important in these times is because we've had such a great loss that we've had members from the community who have already spoken out and wanted to know who was going to protect them. the police commission is that protection. and the individuals who are on that commission are part of that protection. they are the gatekeepers. they're the folks who look out for the average citizen. they make sure that folks who are on the police force are held accountable. and that's what ms. alias brings. she brings diversity, she brings knowledge, she brings her experience. and she is going to make sure we have a transparent and accountable san francisco. there is sb1421, and the people are entitled to know what police are doing. and with that being said, we support cindy alias 100 that is. thaalias100%. thank you all. >> thank you, mr. wilson. >> good morning, supervisors, my name is rachel kilshaw, and i'm here on behalf of commissioner alias, and ask that you consider her for reappointment to the police commission. i'm a fifth generation san franciscoan, and still live with my city here. i recently retired from the san francisco police department after 28 years. and during the last three years with the department, i was assigned to work at the police commission office. i have known commissioner alias since she joined the police commission last year. she was appointed by the board of supervisor to fill the seat that was vacated by then president termon's sudden passing, and she certainly had big shoes to fill. over the past year, she has definitely risen to the occasion. she has taken her role on the police commission very seriously, and she has worked diligently on all of the matters under the police commission's authority, from adopting the policies that officers follow to handling police officer discipline, and overseeing the implementation of the u.s. d.o.j.'s 272 recommendations far the s.f.p.d. i know her to be fair, thoughtful and hard-working. she has taken on a number of projects that are important not only to the members of the s.f.p.d., but also members of the mr. speaker. thanpublic. thank you for your time, and, again, i ask you to reappointing ms. alias so she can continue to work on the important work that the police commission does. thank you. >> hi, my name is peter sanina, and i'm an attorney in private practice, but i worked with cindy alias, and i'm here to speak on her behalf. i worked with her for 10 years at the public defender's office. other people have spoken to her principles, and that's utterly clear. but i think she actually has something much more than that, which is an incredibly rare gift to be human and to be loving and to be brilliant and funny with literally everyone. so she would be fighting incredibly hard for her clients, but unlike some of us, she would still also have very positive relations with prosecutors and very positive relationships with police officers. and she was also somebody who never betrayed her principles but could -- she was able to access a common humanity in literally everyone. so i think she has a rare gift and an opportunity that shouldn't be missed here of appointing her -- reappointing her to the commission because cindy is somebody that you can count on to work with people to get the right things done. thank you. >> thank you so much. >> good morning. my name is mano raju. and i'm the manager in the public defender's office. previously was a trainee director and a line deputy -- felony line deputy in the office. it was in that context that i got to know cindy. and i wanted to echo and emphasize what mr. santini just said, which is that cindy has an ability to communicate like no one i've ever met. whether she is talking to an immigrant mother, whether she is in a board room, in a holding cell, at a community meeting -- her ability to make everyone feel heard and welcomed is unparallelled. our office really prides ourselves in client representation. and it is a lot of our clients that are the ones who are often the subject of police action. and one way that i would like to do -- and i have done trainings on client-center representations. what i like to do is say, just be like cindy. if you can be like here, you get it. there is no one who is more loved by our clients. there is no one who exhibits more love to our clients than cindy. i'll often get people calling me as a manager and say, hey, can you get cindy on my case? i can't get her on all of the cases. if i would, i could, but there is only one of her. that is, in many ways, a testament to the bruta beauty of her spirit and her heart. i think she is someone who can move mountains to make the police commission what it should be for both the police officers and the people of san francisco. thank you. >> good morning. i name is brian pearlman, and i'm the current misdemeanor margin. i had the pleasure of working with cindy for many years. she is one of the most compassionate, loving, caring advocates i have ever been with, ever worked with. i thought, we're all having a tough day today, with jeff's passing, and i thought what better way to honor his legacy than to come here and support cindy. the way i've seen her deal with the most difficult clients, the most difficult cases, the most difficult situations and approaching that with so much love and caring, and spending hours and hours at the office with her clients and with her cases, i just could not think of a better person for you to reappoint to be on this commission, and to honor the work that we do in making sure that this city is a just and fair place. thank you. >> good morning. my name is mara evans, and i'm the chair person for the racial justice committee at the san francisco public defender's office. and i'm also a member of the san francisco bar associations' criminal justice taskforce and the chair person of the bia subcommittee. and this year i'm part of the cohort for our office that is participating in the government alliance on racial equity. and when i was -- i've been at the public defender's office for 20 years. and i've had the opportunity to work with cindy during that time. and some of my colleagues and former colleagues have spoken to her unique qualities in that capacity, so i won't go over that again. i want to also speak to cindy's capacities as a commissioner for part of the last year, and her ability to connect and reach out to community organizations, to connect with people on the bar association's criminal justice taskforce, to connect with officers. i've actually seen cindy personally in the executive sponsor working group meetings. she is prepared. you can see the effort that she puts into this work. and so based on all of those, i know i'm over my time, but just the community needs someone who is able to reinstore trust in the police commission, and cindy is uniquely positioned to provide that to the community, a sense of trust in the process. thank you. >> hi, my name is tamara acres, and i'm a paralegal to the office of the public defender. i'll try not to repeat what everyone else has said. having worked with cindy in the capacity of a paralegal, she is a tireless and fearless and innovative advocate for the community at large and for how she deals with those that she has to work with on the other side of the courtroom. i am also on the racial justice committee, and i've had the privilege of attending some of the working bias groups as the police department, and i've seen cindy come in in her role and capacity as a police commissioner, and i have seen how she interacts with everyone in the room. she is able to ask pointed questions, but also maintain wonderful relationships with everybody there. she seems to really get to the heart of the issues as well as being able to have conversations with everyone there that fosters working together and solving the problems that are unique to the police department here in san francisco. so i strongly advocate her continuing position here in the police commission, and thank you for your time. >> thank you so much. is there any other member of the public who would like to speak? now is the opportunity. seeing none, public comment is closed. [gavel] >> why don't you start, supervisor walton. >> thank you, chair. the one thing about the police commission is this is a very serious commission. in fact, as we look at the social justice and equity, which is more prevalent now, since we've lost one of our major champions, the fight and this type of work, we're going to need our commissioners to be willing to do and capable of is even more weighted at this point in time. one thing i did want to ask each candidate the same question, and so if you all could come back up. and the question is: what's our biggest task ahead to ensuring police accountability and building trust between community and law enforcement? >> you all don't have to rush up. >> i'll go first. it's really accountability. i think that -- and transparency. because what i've found in doing his work for the last year and speaking to the communities, is that they don't feel trust with the police department. and the police officers don't necessarily feel trust with their community. i think they sort of feel it is an "us versus them" because that trust has been broken. i think that what has been helpful to me is when i speak to the community and letting them know these are some of the issues that the police officers are feeling or dealing with, and maybe if th we can look at it from their perspective just to gain understanding. we don't necessarily have to agree, but if we can at least gain some understanding, it puts them in a better position. i do that with police officers, too. because at the end of the day, they put their lives on the line and they protect their community. it saddens me to see they don't feel that connection with the community. i'm constantly reminding them of what it is like to be a community member and to interact with the police officers. and that builds trust. we have to be able to say, hey, guess what, i made a mistake and it's okay because it is not the fact that we made a mistake, but the fact we got back up, we owned it and we moved on. i think with those sort of concepts and principles, that is going to help us move forward to gain that trust that we've lost, and to do the things we need need to do because with have 272 recommendations, and it is moving at a snail's pace, and we need to get it going. >> i'll repeat the question: what's our biggest task ahead to ensuring police accountability and building trust between community and law enforcement proceeding. >> thank you for the question, supervisor walton. to begin with, i would conduct a comprehensive assessment of where we are now. there appear to be some challenges on the part of the san francisco police department in implementing the recommendations from the united states department of justice. there may be reasons. are we providing adequate resources to the police department with what we're asking them to do? case in point is the recent issue concerning the strategic communications at the police department, which was tasked with interacting with the community and informing the community. however, we know that there are many ways to reach audiences, and there are many audiences, and not everyone has internet. we know that one out of eight san francisco residents is very low income, to the point where they cannot afford home internet as reported by the media last summer. and i would say that maybe we -- i would want to know who was being tasked with preparing these communications with the community? is it a communications specialist? or is it a police officer that could be on the streets protecting the community? is there someone else with communication expertise that can be brought in to help? maybe not as an employee, but maybe as a consultant. i would want to assess what is going on. because before we move forward and say, well, just get the job done, in science we conduct an assessment. what is going on? do we have the resources? we may find out that we are asking for the police department to do tasks that they need more training for, more assistance, and we have funding in this city that we can take some time and evaluate what is the situation here. let's talk with the police department and ask them, what challenges are you experiencing with implementing these united states department of justice recommendations, as opposed to just saying, get this done, get this done. we want it done the right way. if we can understand what the situation is, then that's half of the solution. i know this much: we can't continue doing things the same way that we've done in the past. and i believe there is someone that says the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. so i would submit let's look at what the assessment has been in the past. what there ever an assessment of the police department's capacity to implement these recommendations? or was there just this recommendations, saying, we found all of this, now do it. do we have the skill sets in the right areas? do we need some consultants? as an expert in organizational. ( buzzer ) , which iorganizational behavio, which is my bachelor's degree, were you want to have implementation and change, but you want careful and contemplative change. so let's examine this. let's assess where we are now. do they have the tools they need? do they have the skills they need? if they don't, let's provide the funding. let's make some changes. let's do things differently so we can have a different result. that is the greatest challenge i see before us. thank you. >> do you need me to repeat the question? >> please. >> what's our biggest task ahead to ensuring police accountability and building trust between community and law enforcement? >> thank you for that question, supervisor walton. just to echo what has already been said, accountability and transparency is essential. however, here in san francisco, we have the unique opportunity to have lots of higher learning institutions here. i think we need to involve our higher learning institutions that are willing to get involved to create training centers where folks who are dealing with quality of life issues, folks who are formally offenders, can be in a classroom setting, in learning environment, with people who are on the streets, and they can begin to have a community exchange in an educational environment that would increase understanding. and i think that would bring more transparency -- i mean more affective communication between those two communities. thank you. >> if you wouldn't mind, i did see any other candidate walk into the room. ms. barry. did you want to present to the commission. we already did open and closed public comment, but i wanted you to have an opportunity to speak on behalf of your applicant, yourself. >> i appreciate that. the last time the process was six hours. so i thought by me being at the end of the list, it would be four hours from now before i would be able to speak. >> of course. just to let you know, because last time was so long, we cut it down and are giving each applicant five minutes to speak. so you'll have five minutes. >> i'll definitely keep it shorter than that so we can move on. thank you, again. my name is gloria barry. and i would actually like to take a few seconds of my time to have a moment of silence in honor of one of my heros, mr. jeff adochi. okay. last time i was here, it was clear who would be chosen to be on the commission. i understand this is protocol, to conduct these hearings, and more importantly increase my chances in the future to be considered. i'd like to highlight my qualifications. i'm probably the only candidate that has had 23 years of youth forced training. 13 years military, eight years in law enforcement, two years in security, and one year as a san francisco police department cadet. i've also had a youth of force investigation conducted on myself. i have real-life experience with being in fear for my life and physically restraining men that were violent and resisting. i also have years of experience in deescalating hostile situations. my experience also includes administering discipline for misconduct. i've held investigations and collected evidence. i've conducted hearings with general orders, standard operating procedures, and the law being the guidelines i used. last year tasers were a topic. i'm glad the board did not approve the budget for them, and i hope that continues to be the case. i personally know someone that has been tased twice, and because of the culture, sometimes that scoiforts iexists in the depart. it wasn't an appropriate use of force. i'm still very concerned with the reforms that were recommended to be complete, along with the recommendations from the blue-ribbon panel. in closing, i would like to say i'm glad to see you three supervisors on this committee. and i'd also like to close bringing up, again, once again, mr. adochi, and i know mr. walton is working on oversight for the sheriff's department, and hopefully some of the candidates you're interviewing will be considered for that endeavor, which is a very important one as well. thank you. >> thank you. supervisor walton had a question for all of the candidates. >> thank you, ms. barry. i've been asking all of the candidates just one question. and the question is: what's our biggest task ahead to ensuring police accountability and building trust between community and law enforcement. >> exactly. for the community side of it, i'm really getting tired of the community being blamed for the trust factor. i was born here. i'm a native, 1969, and police have always broken the trust of the community. and i think the problem bears on their side. i specifically would like to see the police department engage in community -- any type of community-type event, whether it be graduations at high schools or whatnot. i noticed in the bayview specifically, the officers do a good job at attending events. however, they usually send the black officers. and the problem exists between white officers and black people. so if you're going to keep black people with black people, you're not really working on that relationship. so i would like to see a lot of the white officers integrate themselves in our festivals, in our art shows, and just community-build. and i would like the model to be the capitan of the northern station, who i've seen since he started, engage with the community. he didn't just do it when he started. he does it to this day. he is always at the fi filmore heritage center and whatnotment whatnot. i think other departments in the city could follow his lead in that. >> thank you. just one more thing that i just wanted to say. this work of holding officers accountable and making sure they have the ability to do their job, but also are respectful within the communities that they serve is very important. and so we have some strong candidates here today. and i want to thank all of you for applying to serve on the police commission. but i also want to encourage you to continue all of your efforts and work as we work towards the 272 recommendations that the department of justice had. there are taskforces and committees that you can serve on. so please don't let this -- whoever gets selected and moves forward today, do not let this stop you in your continued advocacy because we have a lot of work to do. i want you all to know i can see all of you doing great work in this area and appreciate you all applying. thank you. >> supervisor mark? >> thank you, chair ronan. i also wanted to really acknowledge and thank all of the applicants for this police commission seat. i think just the fact that we have so many qualified and impressive candidates applying for the seat is a testament to the importance of the police commission and the work that is ongoing there, especially the full involvement of the d.o.j., please reform recommendations. thank you all for applying and for all of the work that you're doing. i especially wanted to thank and acknowledge reginald daniels, marilyn marelo, and gloria barry. the three of you really bring tremendous life experience to the work you're doing right now, and would bring that to the police commission. that would be so valuable. and also a wide-range of community leadership and activism around a wide range of social issues that intersect with law form and the justice system. so thank you so much. and, yeah, for your application. i would just echo commissioner walton's points around really encouraging you to continue to be active, as you have been, and explore other roles that you can step into within our city structures. but i am going to be supporting the reappointment of cindy alias, and it is really just for all of the really important reasons that were highlighted in the many people that spoke in support of cindy during public testimony. we are very fortunate, i think, as a city, to have somebody like cindy, who is willing to serve in this role in the police commission and bring her immense and 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