very helpful because it lets us see that it's not in any one neighborhood, but that it's in every neighborhood, and it definitely goes underreported, or we seem to think it's only happening in one community. but this'll give us a better snapshot of where it's happening and we can do better preventative work. >> supervisor fewer: do you have any data from sfusc. >> we have a hearing coming up on the 25th, and the school district, the fire department and the da's office have all been invited to come. one of the things is how do we collect data in a better way. i've been working to try to get a better handle on data. we have a better anecdote wial. we're going to do some work with the counselors next week. there's a two-day retreat, and we'll do a workshop with them. >> supervisor fewer: there's a risk assessment that they do every other year. it really talks about lgbtq students and what they are experiencing in our schools, around violence, also. and i know the numbers are pretty high. while i was there, i wrote a resolution, actually. we are recommitting to our commitment to our lgbt students -- lgbtq students, and so there is a now one fte person who deals with just lgbtqq students, so i think he or she could be a good source of information because they are the ones who hear stuff right on the ground that's happening. they're connected on the ground with our wellness centers, too. >> well, i will definitely follow up, because we've been working how do we expand some of the curriculum and introduce audrey lord and other folks to try and think about how we talk about this work and linking it to some of the modern day artists, so that's very helpful to know. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. >> and so the next one is just the key findings. and again, for us, it would be really great to look at where we are now, compared to in 2015, and to think about how we can also evaluate the tools and strategies that we've been using to measure whether those have had any impact. that is going to be a big -- the equity measuring social impact is something that our office is really pushing across the board to have all the departments report out. the controller's office just did a survey to all the different departments for us to get a better understanding of how they're measuring their impact on equity, and this is something we'd like to be able to look at in the future, as well. and then, the key recommendations, and we have been grateful through the different supervisor's offices and the different ad back processes. i will say the one thing that we fell prey to, which we are actually pushing all the departments to think about is when we talk about culturally competent, and we fund agencies, we don't always get to the folks who are actually doing the work or are on the ground, and we need to think about how we invest in capacity building for those organizations so that we don't continue to give money to the larger organizations that have the infrastructure to write great grants and that have the infrastructure to do really awesome reports, and then, we forget about the people on the ground that are actually doing the work and aren't being compensated in a way that allows them to live in the city. so that is one of the big ways that as we think about the funding and as we think about moving this forward, what does it look like to do capacity building and what does it look like to invest that. not just say that our community needs to be stronger, but to actually put money towards that. i think that's something we struggled with this year and we need to definitely do a better job. >> supervisor sheehy: can you talk a little bit deeper level. i kind of hear what you're saying, and i kind of have a sense of what you're saying. there's traditionally well funded, well organized institutions, and i've seen that in my work. and a lot of time, people are doing the very innovative work, traditionally where people don't have access. >> they shouldn't have to ask those larger organizations to subcontract with them or to respect their ideas, and i think you alluded to it in your opening remarks, is that we see that it's happening statewide, but when we mix the intersectionality of people of color with their sexual orientation or preference, then we see that they are even further marginalized, and they are not being supported to actually move the work. and that for me is a tragedy, and that's something that we really -- we made -- we made a hard decision this year, and we funded a larger organization at the expense of a smaller organization that was doing the work. and that organization now has to ask other enter at this times to recognize them as leaders in that work. it's almost like we took their credibility and their validation way by taking their funding. so we don't have the money right now to invest in building their capacity, to either get a grant writer or to hire someone who's focused on the optics, because they're so focused in dealing with the day-to-day work of struggling -- i think we feel san francisco is a mecca, and the people that do that work are not being supported to support those folks, and that concerns me. and so as we continue to get more and more funding, it doesn't mean that the funding is getting to the people who need it. >> supervisor sheehy: yeah. let's continue. i want to continue this discussion, because i -- especially where intersectionality is concerned, i always feel that that's been a weakness in the community and really recognizing and supporting work that actually stresses that. >> right. i think if we look at the numbers of who's experiencing the hate crimes, i think that we'll see that it's a group of folks that have -- whether it's their immigration status, whether it's there socioeconomic status, whether it's where they live that they're experiencing it at higher volumes, and they may not feel comfortable going into some of the higher functioning organizations that have the resources to support them. so it's just something for us to think about. and we will continue to do some of the work around the citywide public education campaigns. i shared with you some of the curriculum that we've developed. i also wanted to share some of the -- this is from one of the schools that we were working with, roof ttop, so again, not maybe a school that we would immediately identify, but they asked for support to deal with equity in these issues largely, so this is a toolkit that students developed for those workshops, to talk about school community. we have the -- after, the possibility of the patriot prayer event, we started doing weekly conversations. and i know we've been talking about supervisor sheehy's office about hosting one in his district. we have a lunch group that'll happen today with jana barkin, and we're doing more of those workshops, in terms of public education and awareness. and then, really trying to focus on the most vulnerable. sney has been working with aria, and so there is some work going, and we want to be able to continue to do that, but we want to make sure that the most vulnerable populations do not feel that we're overlooking for them for the organizations that have the funding. so just highlighting some of the partnerships, which is also listed in the books that you have, and then, the policy. i did want to be mindful, because i said i was going to go quickly, and i have not done that. so just thank you again for the opportunity to kind of elevate and share the work. and ultimately, we are hoping to see more funding and more support specifically for data collection and analysis for building the capacity of organizations who are on the ground that are doing the work, but how they tell their stories, so that they can be recognized and accepted and validated in that work. and then, just to continue thinking about how we do more of this public awareness and public education for folks to know, not just what their rights are, but where to go if those rights have been violated, but where to go if it's a hate crime. i think that's the largest challenge for our office, if they know that somebody is not treating them nicely, and it's based on their orientation, but it's not necessarily a hate crime, how do we continue to offer support and space for that, and what that looks like. thank you again for this opportunity, and we look forward to working with each of you. >> supervisor sheehy: thank you, and please keep in touch as we go into the budget season. i think these needs are not going to decrease. >> supervisor fewer: miss davis, how much is allocated to you for the needs assessment? >> so currently, do you remember what that amount was, initially? 50,000, so it's not a large amount. >> supervisor fewer: no, right, absolutely. thank you. >> supervisor sheehy: and to the extent we can have discussions that will improve the relationship with the school district, as someone who has a 12-year-old, almost middle school, with boots on the ground, that is a particular place, and a particular time when -- and it's not just around certainly orientation or gender identity. a lot of it's about how people learn to respect women and girls, and i think that you see some broader culturation. the culture seems to influence our kids in a way that sometimes is a lot of times isn't consistent with san francisco values. >> right. i will say that after the election last year, all of the schools experienced an up2id ck in not just necessarily hate crimes, but light weight bullying, and people saying things that they shouldn't, and so beginning to have those conversations and those dialogues is really important, and so that young people can feel comfortable saying, you know what, i think there's a culture or a shift that needs to be addressed, and i think that's the biggest thing that we've been working on, is how to go into schools and talk about that culture shift. even just people saying oh, you know whether somebody is acting like a girl or if they're too sensitive or things like that and just be able to start to address that earlier on before it escalates into something larger. and we've seen -- and schools have been great about asking for support and resources in that way. >> supervisor fewer: you know, after having been on the board and work odd this issue primarily, i was the lead on the board on it, is what we are also looking for is an interruption with adults, that when they hear it, when they see it, that there needs to be interruption, and they don't just let it go. teachers need to say, we don't say that here, or we don't do that, or that is very harmful or hurtful. my frustration is they ask for resources, and they get them, but then, they don't pass it onto the students. sometimes role models for students, coaches in particular, that they're the ones that really have to speak up and say something, and i think that is the reluctantance of many staff members. adults also can't perpetuate this type of behavior. you know, having had a child in the public school system that's lgbt makes some experiences, i think are really harmful and hurtful, and i think it -- this is happening every day in the classrooms, and i think it's something that we should really be addressing. so it's not just sometimes the students, support for students. it's support for students, but i think it's also an interruption by adults in the building, also, that they have to be able to speak out. >> well, i will say that the one challenge i have is also with some of the curriculum around african americans is that people will be like oh, i don't have -- i don't have someone that looks like that or that is experienced like that in my classroom or my school, and i think we have to have people understand, that doesn't have to exist in your school for us to talk about it and gibb begin to have those conversations because at some point in time, that will exist in your world, and that you need to be prepared for that to not be unusual, but you need to accept that as every day occurrences and not waiting for that one person to make that relevant. >> supervisor fewer: yeah, and actually, especially in our schools, is that we are creating a whole generation of students and a culture around a whole generation of san franciscans, so even more important. but i'm also worrying about parochial and private schools, because they also educate a large section of san francisco children. >> i don't know if you know, supervisor fewer, my experience is working in public schools, so working on that, we have been doing quite a bit with independent and parochial schools. i think it was a couple of years ago, like, one of the private high schools had an issue where one of the young ladies wanted to wear a tuxedo in the graduation picture, and they wouldn't let her picture be in the yearbook, so we are trying to work with them. >> has the arch diocese been supportive? >> i don't know. i haven't reached out to them yet. >> supervisor sheehy: okay. that was very helpful. now, i would like to introduce claire farley from the mayor's office. thank you. >> thank you all so much, and i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and thank you, jeff, for inviting me to speak on this important hearing. i have notes, and i recognize that i'm speaking to the choir, so i recognize all of your alliship. if we look at every 90 minutes, a reported hate crime occurs in america, and there's, you know, thousands of ones that are unreported. across the country, trans rights are being stripped away for marginalized communities across america, so we're seeing that this larger systemic vials is really a moment where we need to look at and reflect on both the lives, the safety, and the well-being of all diverse communities, so i really think it's important that we look at how we're building those bridges. 2017 was one of the moment deadliest years for transgender people. we had over 27 transgender people murdered in the u.s. due to fatal violence, gun violence, or other violent means. across the world, over 325 murders of transgender people have occurred last year, and so these numbers continue to grow despite the public awareness of transgender people across the country. so with visiblity also comes vulnerablity, and so looking that there's programs, as hrc mentioned, that can track these trends, but also making sure that we're addressing them as a community. you know, as cheryl mentioned, violence occurs in the home, on the street, in the workplace, in public transit, within our schools, so we really do need to look at strong strategies and partnerships with victim services to make sure that communities feel supported and that services are tailored for their needs. you know, furthermore, in san francisco, we are a leading city. we're a beacon. people are flooding here from across the country as rights are being stripped away, and so people are looking at us to continue to push the needle on this issue, and i think it's important that we do more. i won't go into all the specific data, but i think in my work with the lgbt center prior to this role, i was the director of economic development, and we were able to partner with hrc and sney on the needs assessment, and there were some really great quotes. and i think sometimes bringing the voices of the community that we serve into the room is really helpful. one person says, "it's sometimes really sad because this is supposed to be the town and the city where we are free to be ourselves, and sometimes it isn't." another person said, i stay home a lot since i don't feel safe in my neighborhood. and then, in terms of the call to action, someone said" what a person who experiences violence really needs is practical help, an advocate when talking to the police, an assistant to find an attorney or legal help, support while in court. these are the practical tasks to interact with providers who are often not lgbt sensitive, or really critical in healing and supporting trauma." and then, you know, i think just to bring it even closer to the community, last year, we lost bubbles in september in the tenderloin. there's been a string of other hate crime and antilgbt violence that we often forget about in our city that i think is important to bring up. we saw violence in the pacific center, the lgbtq latino memorial in 2015, trans women have been attacked on muni. we lost taja dejesus in the bayview, which led to a great program that the hrc funded that advocated for transwomen. so in closing, i feel like we need to continue to look at how hate and violence is systemic across the country, but how that's also impacting our community and neighbors. and furthermore, as cheryl mentioned, i feel like we need to continue to get more data so that we can advocate for more collaboration with more funded organizations, whether that's antiviolence campaigns throughout the city and other departments, but really looking at how we can support and mobilize future change. thank you so much for your time. >> supervisor fewer: i have one question. so are we in any way tracking organizations that are trying to infiltrate into san francisco into communities in san francisco with an antilgbt agenda with the goal of suppressing lgbtq rights? are we seeing -- are we tracking that at all and are there influence. and also, who are these groups and who are -- what are they -- what are they doing and are they having an impact? >> yeah, i can definitely get some more detail on that. i mean, there has been several hate watch groups that have been tracking specifically legislation around antibathroom bills that support transgender students across schools. there's been a huge mobilization of organizations that have been trying to stop and create policies across the country. luckily, san francisco, we were able to mobilize on those issues a few years ago and kind of stop some of that push back, but i think as we see these laws being won across the country. i think there was over 100 pieces of legislation, antilgbt legislation last year, so as we see those trends again in this new legislative cycle, i think it's important that we stay watchful because you know as laws change across the country, we need to be diligent that that doesn't impact our policy here. and then, you know, on our team, in my role, i'm really doing a broader strategic plan to really look at the assessment and needs of what programs are currently funded by the mayor's office to support trans and lgbt folks and we're also doing an analysis to see where there's broader missing pieces, and so tracking hate groups is part of that process. and then we'll be building out a trans advisory group committee. that will not only advise us but the mayor's office so that we can really speak to you directly about the information that's coming out of the community. >> supervisor fewer: so this information that you're gathering around these groups, is there any way that the public can know or be warned because sometimes their antilgbt agenda isn't the face of the organization; that they are representing something else, and then their main agenda is to suppress the rights of the lgbtq folks. so i'm wondering, is the public -- can the public with aware of this so if they get involved with groups, they know that these groups -- that when their overall agenda is? >> yeah. and you know i'm not clear yet how our office will be involved with that, but i think definitely partnering with mobile organizations to support that. we're also building out a communication component from my office so that we can make sure to keep people updated on issues that are impacting communities and other issues in the lgbt community, so i'm really hoping the city can continue to have a voice on these issues. >> supervisor fewer: and a lot of the services i know are english -- of course, we're english dominant here, but actually, i think that happen when i've done a language assessment sort of hearing, i'm seeing that there's great need for in these communities -- we're talking about underreporting, trust of the bureaucracy, that is this multilink well, are we offering it in different languages, and is it culturally competent? because sometimes in other communities, lgbt folks are viewed in a very different way, you know, so are we doing these in different languages, and are they culturally sensitive, the information that we give to the public? >> yeah. i think that's a really great comment, and i work to train all of hsa in my previous position, so we developed a train the trainer model which i know is in the process of being translated, but i agree, most of the service providers that are funded through the city, we have to look at kind of noncity funded dollars or grant money to cover translation. i've been a cochair on the transgender day of remembrance for several years, and we have to raise money just to cover translation in asl to bring allies together to honor those who have been lost due to violence over the years, so i do think if we want to continue to make services accessible, we have to identify ways to have translation and services in folks' languages of origin. and then also through education, we need to make sure that we're reaching community groups and departments across the city, so we'll also be having a training arm that will work in partnership with hrc and other orgs that are doing training to kind of get folks at a baseline understanding of lgbt communities. >> supervisor sheehy: just a question on -- and i think i talked to teresa sparks about this a bit. so we are seeing more lgbtq kids coming here and frequently ending up on the streets, yes? >> yes, yeah. working with your office, jeff, to support the lgbt youth provider network, and so our office has kind of been acting as an advisor to the consultant on that project and also wanting to work with you closely to see how we can really address this influx of lgbt youth on the streets. the last homeless count had lgbt youth at 49% of the youth who are on the streets. the broader homeless population, 20% are lgbt, so we continue to see kind of a lack of balance around the funding that are going to these services and the amount of lgbt folks that are able to access these -- these shelters and housing resources. so i definitely feel like there's a lot of ask from the community partners and working with your office to continue to make sure that we're advocating across city departments to mistake sure that those needs are in the fold. >> supervisor sheehy: thank you, yeah, because i do think we have to acknowledge that economic disparities are a form of violence itself. >> and i think my work around economic development and workforce development, it's been more focused, and so now broadening that, i really feel i can use those learnings across the public sector and across the city as well. >> supervisor sheehy: thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor sheehy: so next, we will hear from sergeant mcdonald from the san francisco police department. >> good morning, supervisors. i'm lieutenant david o'conor. i'm the officer in charge of the special investigations division of the san francisco police department. the pd handles many issues, but one of our main missions is investigating hate crimes. there are six san francisco police department sergeants that are assigned to the main office in sid. the those sergeants are seven days a week, 24 hours a day. there's -- on call if anything happens after hours, i'm notified, and then an sfpd sergeant would be notified regarding any investigations that arise. sergeant monica mcdonald is the police department hate crimes liaison sergeant, and with that, i'll turn it over to sergeant mcdonald to provide the information that was requested. >> good morning. thank you. we just wanted to give you a quick snapshot of hate crimes and specific lgbtq hate crimes for the last two years here in san francisco. so in 2016, there were 18 antilgbtq hate crimes reported in san francisco out of a total of 36 hate crimes here in the city. this year, in 2017, we had 13 specifically antilgbtq hate crimes out of a total of 40 hate crimes that were reported here in san francisco. >> supervisor ronen: i'm sorry, are these crimes that were charged, arrested, or -- >> our crime comes reported to the police department. >> supervisor ronen: reported to the police department? >> yeah, exactly. so i think we had -- so for 2017, we had 40 total incidents. out of those 40 total, we were able to make 20 arrests for last year. and that is just a comparison between 2016 and 2017 for lgbtq hate crimes and then total citywide. that is all we have for you. if you have any questions, i'm certainly available. >> supervisor fewer: are these misdemeanors, felonies, and what kind of crimes are we talking about? >> it depends. so the hate crime is an additional charge. it's so -- there has to be an initial crime, so there's a threat, there's a vandalism, an assault, a battery that's committed, and then, the hate crime is added onto that. so generally, the police department will charge the felony if possible, but it's based on the initial crime that's committed. >> supervisor fewer: and so what is your criteria in your -- the measure that you use that is a hate crime, what is the criteria? >> so we look at basically, it's the penal code. it's the motivation. so was this the extent of the crime, and then, we look at what -- what the penal code will allow us to charge based on that. and then, we work very closely with the district attorney's office to make sure that we can get obviously the stiffest punishment and the most -- the strictest charge we can based on the incident that occurs. >> so i -- given that you're the only representative from the police department, i was, you know, very sad and not surprised, but sad to see the data from the human rights commission that over a third of the lgbtqi people do not trust the police, and i'm just wondering how the police department is addressing these really dismal statistics? >> absolutely. we do train every person that comes through the academy. in the last two years, we've trained over 500 recruits that come through the academy. we have participated in the it gets better project. we have created a video that was -- is available for the public to view. we attend community meetings. the -- my predecessor, i took over in november , and my predecessor participated in a statewide training video, in the development of a training video that's available for police agencies throughout the state to view to train their officers to deal with victims, to better investigate these crimes, so we can have, you know, good outcomes of people getting punished, and obviously the victims getting the services and support they need, as well. >> supervisor ronen: and have you seen that these trainings and these outreach sort of tools have made a difference? how do you -- how do you track progress in this area? >> i scan say just from our office, we do get a lot more calls from out in the field, where officers are at an incident and things are happening, they're not quite sure what steps to take, is this a hate crime, is it not a hate crime. i don't have a number i can give you, but i can say there's definitely an increase in the number of officers say, hey, is this a hate crime? how do i get there? what questions do i need to ask? >> supervisor ronen: but if it's -- if this community is not trusting -- if such a large portion of the community is not trusting the police, have you done an analysis of why that is and -- >> to my knowledge, we have not, no. >> supervisor ronen: i know this is not exactly your department. >> that's all right. >> supervisor ronen: but that's something we might want to look at further in this committee and bring the chief here because that's an alarming statistic and there needs to be measure on that and improvements in that. i just think we should have a follow up meeting on that topic, but i understand that's not your role in the police department. >> supervisor fewer: it's absolutely right. it's what is the culture within the police department, and sort of what is the culture of police officers on the street when dealing with lgbt folks, too, so i think interesthere's thing about reporting the hate crime and classifying it as such, and there's another thing about going to the police. i'm remembering there's a lot of underreporting also, and so i think that in order for us to really combat this issue, that we really need to have real statistics on what is really happening out there, and i think that this snapshot of it is a really small percentage. which i actually don't really believe these numbers so much. i mean, i understand that the penal code section, it has to meet that criteria, but even when i know what's happening in our schools, i think that this is a very low number for maybe some of it is maybe around the relations, which we know is not under your jurisdiction. >> supervisor sheehy: so i just want to say how incredibly disappointed i am that no one from the command staff showed up today, and how disrespectful that is to our community. we have increased the number of deputy chiefs and commanders, and the fact that not one of them could attend today is a disgrace and a total disrespect to my colleagues. so second, i think the narrowness of the focus on hate crimes doesn't really capture the enormity of the problem. i appreciate the incident when an officer was actually rounded. but when they show up in the castro on halloween specifically to target the lgbt community as they finish their celebration, when we see violence, you know that started at -- that happens at pride, that happens at lgbtq events, when we see violence against sex workers who are trans, those don't count as hate crimes, i understand, specifically, but our community is being preyed upon, and because of the -- you know, really, as my colleague noted, the lack of trust? sfpd, which is validated by the lack of respect shown today by the command staff not having the -- the courtesy to send someone today. you know, i used to do trainings with advanced officers when i was in the district attorney's office on same sex domestic violence and more generally on lgbt issues. and it's disappointing to feel like that we haven't made more progress in the 20 years since i was doing those trainings. to have just the minimum degree of respect to send someone from the command staff to a hearing on violence against my community, so i really don't have anything else to add, but thank you. >> supervisor fewer: i actually would suggest continuing this hearing and sharing that when the command staff is here so we can ask them questions around culture. i understand that isn't your purview. i also want to say i remember, during pride. it must have been about 2012 or 2011, that my husband made an arrest of a group of kids, young men, that were there with -- they had knives and made an arrest. and at that time, kamala harris actually tried it as a hate crime and was very successful, and he was somewhat shocked that actually it met the threshold, and they were really following through of it, because a lot of times, they're suspecting it was a hate crime. but it was right on pride, right on the fringes on vanness. so i'm wondering how many are investigating as height crimes, but then how many don't meet the threshold. so even those crimes, i think that we may suspect are really important actually to collect data on because it just looks like this problem is not a big problem here, you know, and we know just anecdotally is. so i think even keeping the data on the ones you suspect but don't charge as a hate crime is important. >> supervisor ronen: i just want to chime in with my colleague, supervisor sheehy. i agree with you. i feel like the presentation, just a couple of numbers on a piece of paper, we know that this community is being targeted in ways that have increased since the trump presidency. we hear that anecdotally, and just to come here with some vague numbers on a piece of paper that actually showed a decrease in these crimes without really an analysis of what's happening on the streets and even just looking at -- which i don't know if this is the first time that you've seen this data, but that a third of the community doesn't trust the police? we know where that comes from, and there's a very long history where the police targeted this community specifically with violence and malice and, you know disdain, and that's not that long ago. when i started off by saying i'm not impressed with those statistics, it goes deep. at supervisor sheehy mentioned, targeting of sex workers, immigrant, trans-latinas who don't feel safe talking to the police because of immigration status. this is a major issue and problem in our city, and i just completely agree with supervisor sheehy that it just doesn't feel like the department is taking this seriously with the way that you've come here today and addressed that, so i just want to back you up, supervisor sheehy. i completely agree with you. >> supervisor fewer: yeah. i just want to say i support supervisor sheehy. we called this meeting, and it was postponed. it was not on the spur of the moment. we knew it was coming. i also think it's unfair for the city to put you -- because i know in your unit, you have this certain purview in your unit. but i also think if we -- so we would like to also know, like, what are the kind of data could we suggest that the police actually collect and share with us that really gives us a snapshot of what wis happening on the ground? so this is just a hate crime, but also how many lgbt folks are victims of violence, and those type of things, i think, are really important. and then, we should also get data from the office of citizen complaints to find out what kind of complaints are we also hearing about the police force, too, just in the light of trying to protect this community at this critical time, especially when we know nationwide that deaths of transgender folks have been increasing, the incidents of antilgbt organizations getting boulder and stronger. all of these things feed in a culture that is anti what san francisco desires, and what the lgbt community of san francisco deserves. it's not fair to put it on you, but i guess it's sort of to the messenger, but i think that a deeper comprehensive look with the police department. we are not going to actually get a handle on this until we actually work collaboratively with the police department because i actually feel like we really depend on your services, actually, to help keep this population safe, too. and are we all working together at the same goal? i think also that we should continue this hearing, and we should also request certain data so we're prepared to actually get a true snapshot of what's really happening on the streets of san francisco for this community that has, as we know, has also been under attack, not just by our federal government, but by organizations and individuals of organizations that believe in a hateful ideology. so thank you very much. >> supervisor sheehy: thank you, and i agree with your suggestions. because if someone waits outside bars in the castro for people to go home and then robs them, that's not necessarily a hate crime. but it's a crime of opportunity. you know, so the violence against the community, it can be -- or people who prey on trans sex workers, knowing that they're very unlikely to report violence for a whole host of reasons. you know, i think the level of detail we need to have on violence, and it should be violence against the community in all of its aspects. the narrow focus on hate crimes -- and again, i agree with my colleagues. it's not fair to hold you up here or lieutenant o'cone or to hold you up. i feel that the castro is less safe than it has been, and i don't feel i'm getting very much responsiveness from my interactions from the department in terms of safety in the castro. so i'm just reaching a level of frustration. i'm on my fourth police captain in the castro, so we actually haven't been able to create any kind of coherent, meaningful, you know, progress moving forward or strategy. i mean, my -- you know, it just seems like -- like i said -- and it's not to you guys, but it doesn't seem like there's the adequate level of respect from my community within the department at this time. thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor sheehy: and then next, i'd like to introduce christine dubarry from the district attorney's office, d.a.'s office. >> i'm technically challenged, so i'll do my best here. thank you, supervisor ronen, supervisor sheehy, supervisor fewer. i'm here on behalf of d. d.a. gascon. in our office, we have an individual within our general felonies unit that's dedicated to hate crimes cases, and that person, unfortunately, rotates at our rotations through the office rotate. i invited brook jenkins to be here with me today, but she's actually picking a jury on a hate crime case, so she was unable to join us. but the d.a., this is an issue he's taking very seriously, as his predecessors, and we have taken the time to try to amplify it in the office to make sure that all the communities in san francisco know that our office is here to protect them when they are a victim of any crime, particularly when they are a victim of social location. there is a question earlier how we define a hate crime, and in our presentation we have the penal code 422.55, which describes to you what are the parameters in deciding whether something is a hate crime. it can be anything from a misdemeanor theft or a vandalism all the way up to very serious felony conduct. and then, below that, you can see the different associations an individual can have or characters an individual can have, such as -- as a vulneraby that can make them a target. we have seen a lot of targeting of communities in our country in particular the last year, year and a half, and unfortunately, san francisco doesn't have a wall to keep that type of activity out. these are some of the groups that we see being victimized frequently in our own city. it's not unique to san francisco. unfortunately happens around the country. some of the earlier presentations indicated from the southern poverty law center indicated increases in hate crimes across the country, and we've seen that here in san francisco, as well. >> supervisor ronen: what does it mean that victims are an example of a group targeted by hate crimes. >> so we've seen an increase of people being targeted, like muslims and people in the arab community. >> supervisor ronen: right, but... >> i think the descriptor might have fallen off of that. we do every time we speak on this issue, want to emphasize the hotline that we have. there was a discussion by director davis the difficulty of getting people to come forward. we experience that as well. one of the things that we setup after a lot of the targeting of immigrants and then in the muslim community by then candidate trump was to emphasize the hotline, so we do have that hotline available to all victims. we do offer language services. as you can see here, we take calls in english, spanish, cantonese, mandarin, russian, arabic, and tagalog. anyone who would like to report a crime can do so on that line. if they speak another language, we'll obviously get assistance to help them with that. there are no immigration consequences for calling this number and reporting a crime. the d.a. has done a lot of outreach to different communities to reassure them that our office was here to be supportive of them if there was actual crimes, if there was information they wanted us to look into, along with the police department, that we're available to do that. and we're always available to speak to other communities about this work or other parts of our office. and then, we also have community advisory boards that come in to meet with the district attorney and attorneys in our office. so as it relates to this hearing, we do have an lgbt group, and we have serl other groups based on racial and other identities, and we find in those a lot of intersectionality. we'll find one board is interesting in partnering with one of the other community boards, and so we'll being the liaison that fosters the relation between those communities. in addition to that, we have had a big campaign of reaching out to the consul generals in our city and signing memorandums of understanding within those communities to assist both victims of hate crimes, domestic violence and human trafficking, crimes that we feel particularly -- people that may be immigrants or visiting this country may have even less comfort inn talking to us or the police department, so we work with the consul generals to sign those memorandums with their home country and really making sure that they're aware -- the laufrt supports but maybe more importantly the victim services supports that we can offer people in those situations, so we do a lot of work in that community in speaking at events to make sure we're reaching more deeply into the community. and then, i want to spend some time talking about our local statistics. i did, just before i came, get some 2014 numbers as well, so i'll report those to you. we have certainly seen an increase in both the cases presented to us by the police department as well as the cases we have filed in our office. in 2017, we had many cases that are booked on charges that didn't include a hate crime, but after we reviewed the facts and looked at them more carefully, we've been able to determine that a hate crime does exist, and we were able to add those charges. that's why you'll see in 2017, four more hate crimes than cases that were brought to us, because we felt, the strain of the conversation earlier, mau not have appeared to be a hate crime, but with a little more time in our office, where we were able to consider the facts, we felt that a hate crime is appropriate. what's not represented on here is the 2014 numbers. as i said, i just got those before i came. in 2014, sfpd brought 12 cases to us as hate crimes, and we filed only four of those, so we had a quite low filing rate at that point, and we've had a steady increase over the last four years in both the cases brought to us and the cases we've been able to file. in fact from 2014 to 2017, we've had a 575% increase in the cases that we're charging as hate crimes. and just in the last year from 2016 to 2017, we're had a 93% increase in our caseload in hate crimes, and i think that's consistent, unfortunately, with the trends we're seeing in the country of just a lot more language of hate and targeting, and it is resulting in crimes in our city that require us to prosecute them as such. of the cases that we have this year for 2017, the 276 were lgbt victims, and at this moment, i can tell you that three were trans. it's where a lot of our outreach is, and i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> supervisor sheehy: well, first, do you still have a victim advocate dedicated to the lgbtq community? >> so i just want textis texti our chief of victim services if we have a dedicated worker, and we don't, but particularly within hate crimes, we don't have a dedicated advocate or a dedicated lgbt advocate. >> supervisor sheehy: so my role, when i was there, was a combined role of hate crimes and for domestic violence because domestic violence is a particular challenge. the common assumption that i found at the time, which is borne out by statistics is when you have a heterosexual domestic violence, you know, 95% of the time, i think it's a statistic, the man is the aggressor. but in 99% of the same sex situations, that's not always the case. i don't know how well known this is, but if you've done domestic violence work, you know if there's an injury, someone has to be arrested, and it's automatic. that's state law, and it also includes same sex domestic violence. and so a lot of the training that i was doing was actually trying to talk to officers about being very mindful about doing a complete investigation, looking at the types of wounds people had, defensive or offensive wounds, canvassing neighbors so that you could correctly identify the aggressor in domestic violence. so i think it's disappointing that this office has lost its focus in the last 20 years in that particular area. so that's one. i do think it is useful to actually have people dedicated to that work, and you know, to the degree that people are victims of crime, the awareness that they may have been targeting because of their sexual orientation or gender i identity, that interaction should be -- i just feel -- i guess my census, i guess the criminal justice system is buckety. so if someone yells "fag" as a hate crime, or if you're transgender, and somebody beats you up because you're coming out of a bar in the castro and robs you, that's not a hate crime, but actually, those were targets that were specifically chosen because of that person's identity, and i don't know where the intersection is taking place within our criminal justice system. and then, i also am curious just to how you can work with trans sex workers who on one hand you're arresting, however, on the other hand, you're asking them to report true reports of violence against them, and when there's so much -- i mean, let's say there's so much economic discrimination against trans folks, and unfortunately,