OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

San Francisco Police Commission Meeting - April 5, 2023

Police Commission — Wednesday, April 5, 2023
BodySan Francisco, California
SessionPolice Commission
DateWednesday, April 5, 2023
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Which it stands under God.

0:03

Indivisible liberty and justice for all the President Elias would like to take roll.

0:10

Please.

0:11

Commissioner Walker.

0:13

Here.

0:13

Commissioner Benedicto.

0:15

Here.

0:15

Commissioner Yanyez.

0:16

President.

0:17

Commissioner Byrne.

0:18

Here.

0:18

Commissioner Yi.

0:22

He's not here.

0:25

Commissioner, I'm sorry, Commissioner Yee is in route.

0:28

Vice President Carter Oberstone also in route.

0:31

President Elias, you have a quorum also with us also with us tonight.

0:34

We have Chief Scott from the San Francisco Police Department and Executive Director Paul Henderson from the Department of Police Accountability.

0:40

Thank you.

0:41

Hello, everyone.

0:42

Welcome to our April 5th 2023 meeting.

0:45

It is already April.

0:46

I can't believe it.

0:48

Fellow Commissioners and people watching the Commission, we have a new agenda item that we will be starting from this point forward.

0:56

It's called the uh weekly officer recognition certificate presentation.

1:00

And uh based on the feedback we received from the command staff and the great ideas that were generated from having the conversations we had with them.

1:09

Um we would like to have this agenda item on a weekly basis every week so that we can highlight the great work that our officers are doing in each station.

1:19

So we really want to give a few minutes to highlight and recognize the great work that they do and also to inform not only the commission but the community of the great work and sacrifices that are made while doing this job.

1:33

Um so this is what we will be kicking our meetings off with from this point forward.

1:37

I'm gonna turn it over to you, Chief, to uh give a little more background if you'd like and introduce the uh people.

1:43

Thank thank you, President Elias.

1:44

And first of all, I just want to say thank you to you and Vice President Carter Overstone and the other commissioners for for doing this.

1:52

It's really important to highlight the good work that our officers and our members are doing.

1:58

And I know with everything going on in policing, sometimes we don't always hear you know these types of things, and it's not always the Medal of Valor type of actions, but it's the day-to-day, just good work that's being done.

2:10

Community work, you know, good arrests and and things like that.

2:13

And so I just really appreciate you all listening, uh, listening to that request and that that plea to recognize the officers, and this is a great star.

2:24

So I just want to say thank you, and then I'm gonna kick it to uh our assistant chief Lazar of Operations.

2:30

Yes, good evening, President Elias, uh members of the Commission, Chief Scott, Director Henderson.

2:35

Thank you very much, President Elias, for your leadership on this and all of the commission.

2:40

Uh, I know our officers are very excited to see the officer recognition each week.

2:44

And uh, I wanted to be here tonight to kick off the first one.

2:47

So thank you very much.

2:48

Uh without any further, I'd like to introduce acting captain Doug Farmer, commanding officer of Central Station, who will present this week's award.

2:56

Great.

2:57

Thank you, A.C.

2:58

Lazar.

2:59

Welcome, Captain.

3:00

Thank you, President Elias.

3:02

Uh, thank you, Commissioners.

3:03

Uh, thank you, Chief Scott.

3:05

Thank you, uh, Director Henderson.

3:07

It's my honor to be here, and thank you, uh, Chief Lazar.

3:09

Appreciate it.

3:10

It's my honor to be here to um recognize one of the hardest working cops at Central Police Station.

3:16

Um, Officer Jason Nord is a member of Central Station's incredibly hardworking plain clothes unit.

3:21

Before Officer Nord joined the plains plain clothes unit team, he was a little it was a little over a year ago, and he fought crime in uniform on the day watch, where he consistently displayed the characteristics of a great cop.

3:32

I was the day watch platoon commander then, and I would always rely on Officer Norr to accomplish any assignment I gave him and to make the big arrest.

3:39

He was so good, in fact, that Sergeant Matt Pera, the leader of the plain clothes team, requested Officer Nord be placed on the team.

3:46

A loss for day watch was a gain for crime fighting in general and central.

3:50

Officer and Officer Nord soon showed his worth on the plain clothes team, always eager to learn and to do, always willing to go the extra mile during investigation to get the critical piece of evidence or put in extra hours of surveillance to get the suspect in custody.

4:03

Those were the hallmarks of Officer Nord's work at work ethic.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Police Oversight███████████████████████████████31%
Homelessness███████████████████19%
Public Comment█████████████13%
Public Safety████████████12%
Procedural█████████9%
Public Health█████5%
Evidence Management████4%
Community Engagement███3%
Personnel Matters█1%
Summary of Proceedings

San Francisco Police Commission Meeting - April 5, 2023

The San Francisco Police Commission met on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, at 1:45 PM UTC. The meeting included a new weekly officer recognition segment, consent calendar items, reports from the Chief and DPA Director, commission reports, a discussion on the Compassionate Alternative Response Team (CART), and votes on several resolutions and department general orders. All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted.

Consent Calendar

  • Item 3: SFPD Collaborative Reform Initiative Quarterly Update – Received and filed unanimously.
  • Item 4: Adoption of Minutes – Minutes from the previous meeting were adopted unanimously.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Yolanda Katsalko expressed concern about the implementation of no-knock warrants without public comment and urged that any funding for a compassionate alternative response team be used to work with the homeless.
  • Paulette Brown spoke about the unsolved homicide of her son Arbor Abercasa, requested more resources for solving such cases, and called for improved public comment access for mentally disabled individuals.
  • Vaughn Foster described a negative encounter with police and alleged that his complaint to the Office of Citizen Complaints was not properly addressed.
  • Jennifer Friedenbach (League of Women Voters/SF) supported the CART program, noting it arose from a robust public process and urged the commission to support city funding.
  • Jennifer Friedenbach (Coalition on Homelessness) highlighted the CART program's commitment to hiring peers with lived experience of homelessness and emphasized the importance of extensive training and clinical supervision.

Discussion Items

  • Chief's Report (Item 5): Chief Scott reported 13 homicides year-to-date (8 by firearm), overall Part I crimes down 10%, and notable arrests including a homicide suspect and an invasion of privacy case. Fentanyl seizures increased 169% year-to-date. The Chief provided data on pending Chief's hearings (103 total) and BIBUS arrests (22 year-to-date plus 18 from Tenderloin officers). Discussion included the backlog of discipline cases, narcotics enforcement strategies, and the need for updated tactics.
  • DPA Director's Report (Item 6): Director Henderson reported 22 cases over nine months old (17 tolled), 91 cases pending with the Chief. DPA's audit of DGO 8.10 won the Knighton Award. He also mentioned a key issue report on monitoring communications for bias.
  • Commission Reports (Item 7): Commissioners reported on attendance at recruitment events, a mission town hall meeting, working group progress on DGO 7.01 (juvenile interactions) and DGO 10.11 (body worn cameras), and meetings with command staff. A procedural debate occurred regarding the formation of a committee to hire a police commission analyst.
  • CART Presentation (Item 8): Chris Herring (UCLA) presented on the Compassionate Alternative Response Team, aimed at eliminating police as first responders to homeless-related calls. He cited research showing 90,000+ such calls annually, the ineffectiveness of policing, and negative impacts on unhoused individuals. The CART model uses community-based teams, a hotline, and a budget of $6.8 million. Discussion included coordination with existing programs (SCRT, SWERT, HOT) and the need for data collection.
  • Naloxone Gift (Item 9): The commission approved a resolution to retroactively authorize acceptance of 900 units of naloxone valued at $48,750 from the state's Naloxone Distribution Project.
  • Labor Relations Resolution (Item 10): The commission adopted a resolution providing labor negotiation instructions for the department when meeting and conferring on DGOs, consistent with prior practices.
  • DGO 6.02 (Physical Evidence and Crime Scenes) (Item 11): Discussion focused on clarifying responsibility for evidence collection at crime scenes. The commission voted to continue the item to the next meeting to allow for amendments on gunshot residue warrant language and minor typographical fixes.
  • DGO 9.07 (Restricting Pretext Stops) (Item 12): After prior revisions, the commission unanimously approved the revised DGO. Key changes included deprioritization language and clarifying exceptions for enforcement. The Chief expressed support, and Vice President Carter Overstone noted collaboration with the Mayor's office on disability and aging concerns.
  • Closed Session Items (Items 13-15): Public comment was invited; none offered. The commission voted to hold Item 15 in closed session and to assert attorney-client privilege (7-0).

Key Outcomes

  • Unanimous approval of consent calendar, minutes, naloxone resolution, and labor relations resolution.
  • Unanimous approval of DGO 9.07 (Restricting Pretext Stops).
  • DGO 6.02 (Physical Evidence) continued to the next meeting for amendments.
  • No formal action on CART, but the commission expressed support for continued exploration and coordination.
  • The commission voted to proceed to closed session (7-0).

Meeting Transcript

Which it stands under God. Indivisible liberty and justice for all the President Elias would like to take roll. Please. Commissioner Walker. Here. Commissioner Benedicto. Here. Commissioner Yanyez. President. Commissioner Byrne. Here. Commissioner Yi. He's not here. Commissioner, I'm sorry, Commissioner Yee is in route. Vice President Carter Oberstone also in route. President Elias, you have a quorum also with us also with us tonight. We have Chief Scott from the San Francisco Police Department and Executive Director Paul Henderson from the Department of Police Accountability. Thank you. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our April 5th 2023 meeting. It is already April. I can't believe it. Fellow Commissioners and people watching the Commission, we have a new agenda item that we will be starting from this point forward. It's called the uh weekly officer recognition certificate presentation. And uh based on the feedback we received from the command staff and the great ideas that were generated from having the conversations we had with them. Um we would like to have this agenda item on a weekly basis every week so that we can highlight the great work that our officers are doing in each station. So we really want to give a few minutes to highlight and recognize the great work that they do and also to inform not only the commission but the community of the great work and sacrifices that are made while doing this job. Um so this is what we will be kicking our meetings off with from this point forward. I'm gonna turn it over to you, Chief, to uh give a little more background if you'd like and introduce the uh people. Thank thank you, President Elias. And first of all, I just want to say thank you to you and Vice President Carter Overstone and the other commissioners for for doing this. It's really important to highlight the good work that our officers and our members are doing. And I know with everything going on in policing, sometimes we don't always hear you know these types of things, and it's not always the Medal of Valor type of actions, but it's the day-to-day, just good work that's being done. Community work, you know, good arrests and and things like that. And so I just really appreciate you all listening, uh, listening to that request and that that plea to recognize the officers, and this is a great star. So I just want to say thank you, and then I'm gonna kick it to uh our assistant chief Lazar of Operations. Yes, good evening, President Elias, uh members of the Commission, Chief Scott, Director Henderson. Thank you very much, President Elias, for your leadership on this and all of the commission. Uh, I know our officers are very excited to see the officer recognition each week. And uh, I wanted to be here tonight to kick off the first one. So thank you very much. Uh without any further, I'd like to introduce acting captain Doug Farmer, commanding officer of Central Station, who will present this week's award. Great. Thank you, A.C. Lazar. Welcome, Captain. Thank you, President Elias. Uh, thank you, Commissioners. Uh, thank you, Chief Scott. Thank you, uh, Director Henderson.

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