Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

Henderson from the department of police accountability. Thank you and good evening, everybody. This is the december 4, 2019 meeting of the San Francisco Police Commission. I am expecting to have a lengthy meeting tonight so Public Comment will be limited to two minutes. And we want to congratulate phil lowhouse and his family for their new baby born yesterday. He is working for the commission. He couldnt be here . He couldnt be here. [laughter] first item, please. Line item 1, adoption of minutes. Action for the meetings of november 6 and 13, 2019. We have a motion to adopt the minutes. So moved. Second. Any discussion . All in favor . Aye any opposed . Okay. It passes. Next item. Line item 2, reports to the commission, discussion. Chiefs report will be limited to a brief description of the significant incidents. Commission discussion will be limited to determining whether to calendar any of the incidents the chief describes for a future Commission Meeting. This will include a brief overview of any unplanned events or activities occurring in San Francisco having an impact on public safety. Commission discussion on unplanned events and activities the chief describes will be limited to determining whether to calendar for a future meeting. Okay. Good evening, chief. Good evening, president hirsch, Vice President taylor, commission and executive director henderson. Ill start off this weeks chief report with the crime trends. Starting off with homicides. We are at 34 homicides for the year, which is about 19 percent below where we were this time last year. With that, we have an opportunity provided at the end of the year ends well with homicides, to be as low as weve been in probably 40 years. So in the last five years, year to date numbers, the lowest weve been at this point in the year is 42. So at 34 we are tracking well, which really speaks well of the city and the work that the men and women of the San Francisco Police Department are doing. There were no homicides in the month of november. And we had three in october. So really good news to report to the commission on homicides. Overall, our part one crime is down five percent. That breakdown is five percent reduction in property crime and six percent reduction in violent crime. We have really across the the board we have fewer incidents in all categories. Burglaries down 16 percent. Auto burglaries down. In terms of violent crime, homicides down 19 percent, gun violence is down nine percent. This year weve had 98 shooting incidents with 118 victims of gun violence. Of the 118, 20 sustained fatal injuries so 20 of our 34 homicides are gunrelated which is still far too many so we will continue to work that number of people that have been shot and killed in our city down. In terms of major events, my report is out of order. Excuse me one second. Major events, we have 32 planned events in the city this week. The biggest event coming up this week, the Golden State Warriors have two home games this week. The new york nicks. And concerts around the city including the sf symphony on thursday, which is going to be a full crowd there. On thursday and saturday, actually. Other large events include the continuation of the circus next to the headquarters building. And this saturday marks the 25th anniversary of santa time. So we will have santa clauses across the city this saturday. Our department will be very heavy for that. We support that. We dont anticipate any major problems. We havent had any major problems in the last couple of years. This saturday, San Francisco Police Department officers and myself will participate in the brave the bay. It will be at aquatic park. This is an annual event, cosponsored by the department that benefits the make a wish foundation. So it culminated culminateds wig in the ice cold water of the San Francisco bay. On purpose . On purpose. We raise a lot of money. Also during that event we have a tip a cop event that happens at one of the local restaurants where we are serving customers and the tips go to the make a wish foundation. So its a very worthy event. The director of the dpa should join the jump in the bay. I will take pictures. All in favor . You could wear your turtle neck it seems cold to me but i support it on the side. On another note, i want to also mention traffic, vision zero is still a priority for us. There have been 26 traffic fatalities year to date. And that exceeds how we ended the year last year. Our Vision Zero Task force has been very active. Our citations enforcement has increased over the last year. But we have a lot of work to do. Our high injury corridors, thats where we have been deploying the Vision Zero Task force. We want the public to slow down, Pay Attention to your surroundings, Pay Attention to traffic laws. And that goes a long way. The Biggest Issue that we have had this year has been pedestrian fatalities. We have had 16 people who have lost their lives in our city walking on our roadways, and thats far too many. One was a cyclist, two were passengers of motor vehicles, one in a motorcycle and six were drivers. So, again, way too many. And well be out there continuing to enforce the law to try to bring these numbers down. And that concludes this portion of our report. Is there any questions from the commission . Thank you, chief. Its going to be a particularly cold and wet day on saturday, just so you know. I have a question about the homicides and the reduction. Do you have any feel for what may be driving that number . Well, i will say, i think part of whats driving the number is weve had now second really good year, three good years of clearing homicides. Last year our homicide clearance rate was 100 percent. Year to date, we are at 83 percent this year. That includes prioryear cases. But i think we are of the belief that when you focus on the right people. And a lot of the individuals that have been arrested and charged with these murders have had histories of Violent Crimes so theres not a single incident. I think that does make a difference. Because a lot of our shooters are prolific. Our gun, crime gun Investigation Center i think played a part. We put that up two and a half years ago. The whole mission of that Investigation Center is to focus on serial shooters and serial crimes, collaboration with other agencies in the bay area, as well as the bay pf who partners with us on that. And the casings are very much identifiable. And weve been able to tie guns to several crimes. Not only in San Francisco but in other cities. And thats made a difference because weve had good cases there as well. The concept behind that is the most prolific people that use guns are usually serial offenders. So we can focus on that, we think we can make a difference on the gunrelated violence. So thats thats played a part. With the gun buybacks, the more guns you take off the streets, the lesser being used. So thats been an effort in partnership with Community Efforts with some groups. All those things have played a part. Weve made some good arrests, Community Engagement plays a part. We had a gun crime summit that our director of crime strategies put together. And a lot of people came to that and were at the table to try to work on Community Solutions to gun violence, particularly in the bay. And those are all anecdotal, but we do think those are effective strategies that have helped us. Helps to have good partnerships and good prosecutions as well. So we just keep plugging away at those things we believe are working. Its the right trend. Thank you, Vice President taylor. As for the homicide, i would note thats one area where our partnership with agencies like the f. B. I. In particular have been fruitful. I was formerly a supervisor of the organized crime unit in the u. S. Attorneys office and some of the most prolific killers in the bay area have been taken off the street because of the partnership between sfpd and fbi in helping to solve those murders. Thats one area where sfpd has been very helpful in being able to wrap up a number of murders and a number of killers and gotten them off the streets of San Francisco where they cant hurt other people. I had a question about the vision zero, whats the percentage increase . Last year, year to date, i think we ended up with 22 or 23. Lets see if i have it in here. Year to date total was 19. I believe we ended up with 22 or 23 last year. So we are above that by three already. And we still have three weeks to go, three and a half weeks to go. Commissioner mazzucco. I was talking to chief earlier today. And people complain about crime in San Francisco. We talk about 34 homicides. When i was a young assistant district attorney, we were over a hundred homicides. And i think people need to appreciate the hard work of the men and women of San Francisco Police Department with our federal partners, i too ran on the trigger walk task force, the u. S. Attorneys office and also the community. Theres more cooperation from the community with these cases. And the chief is right, when you bring people involved in these homicides in, they are charged and put in custody, they are generally the next target. So i think thats lowered the rate. Its great work with the community, great work on behalf of the Police Department with our federal partners. And that number is amazing. I told the chief today i was shocked. People all they want to say is things arent good because our windows are being broken and other issues which are big issues but in the bigger picture, 34 homicides is incredible for a major city. I think baltimore is up to 300, a city the same size as ours. So a lot of negative things are being said but this is positive. So thank you for your hard work. And for working with the community. Thanks to all the officers that are doing the job. Thank you. Next line item. Line item 2b, dpa directors report. Report on recent activities and announcements. Dpas report will be limited to a brief description of dpa activities and announcements. Commission discussion will be limited to determining whether to calendar any of the issues raised for a future Commission Meeting. Good evening. Good evening im going to go through some of the updates i typically provide. Im going to do the staff at the end because we have a presentation so we can talk about our presentation to go over some of the details that the commission asked me to talk about at this meeting. So our, in terms of the quarterly report, online we were talking about them at the next Commission Meeting but if people want to look at them ahead of time, the reason im talking about them is ive redone them to look similar to the annual report, so instead of just the data, there is interpreted analysis and charts so they are a lot more readable. Youll get the full presentation next week, but they are up there and up to date on the website in case people want to look at them. Our mediations are going particularly well. We just did this is just a case note, one of our mediations from last week was two and a half hours, pretty regulated and scripted. They are about an hour so we get the input from both sides, and they are structured. This one was particularly interesting, because both sides were frustrated from the community, the person that came into make the complaint and the officer that was involved, which took a lot longer to do. But we are talking about it because one, it took longer and it ended with the officer offering the complaint a ride and driving them home after the mediation, which i dont think has ever happened before. We are leaning in heavily into mediation to make sure that it continues to grow and expand professionally to address the need of the folks that are coming in making complaints. So im excited about that. In terms of outreach, i think ive talked about it briefly about doing the review in all the stations. Some of the concerns were some of the stations, although now all the stations keep the information in our brochures about d. P. A. And how to file complaints. Some of the stations have run out of some of the languages in particular. So we are trying to figure out a way that we can get better information to keep that information out there. Plus we are looking to see which of the languages are running out faster so we can stay on top of making sure that everyone has access to the information about how to get in contact with the agency and on how to make complaints. We also participated in a job fair on the weekend of the 20th at santa clara just preparing to have law students and interns with us, both in the spring and in the summer. And the audience today, i have case issues come up related to any of our work. Sarah hawkins, senior investigator is here, attorney rosenstein and our chief investigator and one of our new employees is here as well. In terms of our numbers for the agency this week, we are at 686 cases have been opened this year. At this time last year, we were at 591 cases. In terms of cases closed, we have closed 600 cases so far, which obviously is more than the entire number of cases that came into the agency in all of last year. This time last year we were at 539 cases we closed. We have 403 cases pending. This time last year we were at 230 cases pending. In terms of cases that have been sustained through d. P. A. , we are currently at 75 cases have been sustained this year. This time last year, d. P. A. Sustained 36 cases. Cases that are past the 270day mark, we are at 23. And this time last year, we were at 24. For cases mediated, we are at 34 cases that have been mediated this year last time we were at 23. Of the cases past the ninemonth mark, those 23 cases, 11 of the cases are told. And so for the remaining cases, i have my chief of investigation here to present to talk a little bit about what those cases are and why we think there have been some delays and how we are addressing those concerns. Thats it. Okay. Thank you. I have a question about the sustained cases. Of the 75, did any of those end up as mediated cases . No those are cases where you decide theres a charge . They were purposefully and specifically excluded. If something is in mediation, it is not sustained as a charge. The cases that are sustained are their own independent investigations that have been sustained. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions . Seeing none, next item im sorry. The report. Right. Good evening. Good evening, president hirsch, Vice President taylor, commission, members of the public. Director henderson asked me to provide Additional Information regarding cases that are past the ninemonth mark. I will talk about some of the reasons for the delays and what we are doing to address these delays. For the people watching who may not be aware, under california law, when a misconduct investigation begins, theres a oneyear statute of limitations for imposing discipline. Our goal in the city charter is to complete our investigation within nine months to allow everyone involved to review the case and take appropriate action before the oneyear deadline. This is what we often refer to as the 304 date. Of the 23 cases the director mentioned, 11 of those cases are told due to criminal investigations pending. Some of those cases are told because the officers are unavailable because they are either on disability or some sort of military leave. When the case is told, the deadline for imposing discipline is extended or told. Of the remaining 12 cases, eight are in final stages of interviews, and the remaining four cases, the investigates need to write up the case for closure. A few factors have contributed to the delay. As we mentioned in the past police Commission Meetings, d. P. A. Switched to a new case system in july of 2019. District had a lot of training and adjustment from our staff which caused a significant delay of some of our cases. D. P. A. Has increased in the last two years. Last year our complaints were up 20 percent or 129 cases compared to 2017, this year they are up again. If you were to compare the numbers we were getting now compared to 2017, our complaint are up 52 percent. To address these delays, we are focusing a lot on training our staff on our new Case Management system and also developing written standard operating procedures. We want to make sure the information entered in the system is reliable and accurate so that well be able to produce reports at a later time. This is an ongoing effort, and we are starting to notice a significant improvement. D. P. A. Staff are being more comfortable with the system and moving cases towards closure. We recently filled three of our four investigate vacancies, and we have more candidate going through a background process. Filling these vacancies will help us better manage our caseload. It should be noted that we didnt miss any 304 deadlines in the last couple years. This completes my report. I have a question. I may have missed the number. There were 33 that are beyond nine months . Is that right . 23 cases 23, all right. Thats what i got wrong. Any questions from commissioners . Thank you. Thank you. Anything else from d. P. A. . No, when i starletted july 1, 2017, there have been no 304 deadline misses. And i will continue to work to try and make sure that doesnt happen. But as you noted, those numbers started creeping up towards the end of summer for many of the reasons that we just talked about. So i just wanted to make sure we were clear about what was going on. I think weve got it under control, but i dont anticipate us ever blowing any of those deadlines. But i appreciate the attention and the opportunity to just talk about what those numbers mean and whats behind them. I feel like a lot of people ask me about what 3304s are and how they work. So this was helpful, i think, for the agency, for people to have a better und