And just overall President Clay, like to take roll?

Yes, please.

Commissioner Techie?

Yeah.

Commissioner Scott is in route.

Commissioner Leung is in route.

Commissioner Yi?

Here.

Commissioner Elias?

Here.

Uh Vice President Benedicto.

Present.

President Clay, you have a core.

I'm also with us tonight.

Our Chief Derek Liu from the San Francisco Police Department and Executive Director Paul Henderson from the Department of Police Accountability.

All right, thank you, Sergeant.

Welcome everyone to our regular meeting for March the 4th.

Sergeant, you want to start the agenda, please?

One housekeeping item, uh line item number one, the weekly officer recognition is going to be taken off from this week's agenda.

So line item two, general public comment.

At this time, the public is now welcome to address the commission for up to two minutes on items that do not appear on tonight's agenda but are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the police commission.

Under police commission rules of order, during public comment, neither police or DPA personnel nor commissioners are required to respond to questions by the public, but may provide a brief response.

Alternatively, you may submit public comment in either of the following ways.

Email the Secretary of the Police Commission at SFPD.commission at SFGov.org.

Or written comments may be sent via U.S.

Postal Service to the public safety building located at 1245 Third Street, San Francisco, California, 94158.

If you'd like to make public comment, please approach the podium.

Good evening.

I like to use the overhead.

I'm here concerning my son is always every Wednesday to bring awareness to unsolved homicides.

As I mentioned last time when I was here, that my son's birthday is coming up next month on the uh August 6th.

And this is something that bothers me a lot that I can't uh see or hold him or only thing I can do is go up to the graveside and leave some flowers.

Or stand there and look in wonder and wonder and wonder why I don't have him with me.

People say you should be over this by now.

I'm not.

I'll never be.

And I know you guys see me, and she here she comes again with the same story.

But you're not in my shoes.

I still hurt y'all.

You have family members.

If you lose them, you miss them.

But I birthed this boy.

Nine pounds, ten ounces.

He was a big boy.

And he grew up to be a handsome teenager.

The perpetrators that killed my kid, my child.

I want them in prison.

I want them in jail.

I want to go see them and say why.

Why did you do this?

It gets harder for us mothers every birthday and any every anniversary.

It gets harder.

This is not easy.

But I will continue to come.

I'm having his anniversary on August 14th again every year as I do every year to bring awareness to unsolve homicides.

This needs to be out there even more.

Mothers are still suffering, self-medicating.

My son would be 36.

It's so been so many years now, and forgot how old he is.

Thank you.

If any member of the public has information regarding the murder of Abre Abercasa, you can call the anonymous 24-7 tip line at 415-575-4444.

That is the end of public comment.

Line item three, consent calendar, receive and file, action.

Limited English Proficiency 2025 annual report, audit of electronic communication devices for bias, fourth quarter and end of year 2025, and the department's use of non-city entity camera policy quarterly report, third and fourth quarter 2025.

Commissioner Techie?

So uh I just wanted to say before we put the motion out there.

I just want to say that we I would request to remove the limited proficiency, English proficiency presentation.

I would like to have a presentation in future based on that.

So uh my motion would be to basically um uh receive and file motion, but to take away the limited LEP for future presentation.

I will second the motion to receive and file only the second two items, the audit of electronic communication devices and the department use of non-city entity cameras policy quarterly report.

If any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item three, please approach the podium.

There is no public comment.

On the motion, Commissioner Techie, how do you vote?

Yes.

Mr.

Ticki is yes.

Commissioner Yi?

Yes.

Commissioner Yi is yes.

Commissioner Layas?

Yes.

Commissioner Lyas is yes.

Vice President Benedicto?

Yes.

Vice President Benedicto is yes.

And President Clay.

Yes.

President Clay is yes.

You have five yeses.

Line item four, adoption of minutes, action for the meetings of January 7th and 14th, 2026.

Motion and adopt the minutes.

Second.

If any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item four, please approach the podium.

There's no public comment.

On the motion, Commissioner Techie, how do you vote?

Yes.

Commissioner Yi is yes.

Commissioner Lyas?

Commissioner Lyas is yes.

Vice President Benedicto?

Yes.

Vice President Benedict is yes.

And President Clay.

Yes.

President Clay is yes.

You have five yeses.

Line item five, Chief Cephor.

Discussion.

Weekly crime trends and public safety concerns.

Provide an overview of offenses, incidents, or events occurring in San Francisco having an impact on public safety.

Chief Luke.

Good evening, President Clay, Vice President Benedicto, Commissioners, Director Henderson.

Just to start with some uh business from last week.

Uh Vice President Benedicto just wanted to let you know Lieutenant Springer and her team are working on your request for polling data for the last seven years regarding the percentage of sustained and not sustained uh allegations.

Thank you.

So we're still working on that.

Commissioner Scott's not here.

Okay.

All right.

I'll move on.

I'll move on to the weekly crime trends.

Okay.

Overall part one crimes down 35 percent year to date compared to 2025.

Total violent crimes are down 28 percent for the year.

Uh specifically addressing homicides.

As of this uh this reporting period, uh, there are eight homicides.

However, including this morning, there are now nine homicides year to date uh in 2026 compared to one in 2025.

Looking at total gun violence, which is defined defined as the number of people injured in a shooting incident, add to the number of persons killed by a firearm.

We are down uh five percent compared to 2025 in this reporting period.

However, including uh this uh today's incidents were at 21 versus 20 victims.

Incidents of reported rapes, which includes attempted enforceable rapes are down three percent.

Assaults for the year are down 20 per 21 percent, with a decrease of 42 percent in assaults by firearm.

However, just a note, week over week, uh we're up 72 percent, 29 versus 50.

Um just taking a look at that data, we we did not find any discernible pattern.

Robberies are down 41 percent, with robberies using a firearm declining by 53 percent.

Human trafficking incidents are down 29 percent, with five incidents being reported so far this year compared to seven uh last year at this time.

Total property crimes down 36 percent.

Burglaries are down 42 percent, motor vehicle theft down 41 percent, and larceny theft, including vehicle burglaries down 33 percent overall.

Uh specifically looking at auto burglaries, uh there's a 41 percent decrease over 2025.

Okay.

Getting into the significant incidents.

So again, for the reporting um period, one homicide uh during the the week ending 3126.

So for eight total homicides year to date.

However, like I mentioned, nine homicides, including uh this morning's incident, which I'll uh I'll explain a little bit more.

No homicides.

Let me uh nope.

Okay.

One homicide in March.

Overall clearance rate for 2026 still at 129 percent.

Okay.

Uh up for this reporting period for the year, there are a total of uh 17 up to this reporting period, 18 including this morning, resulting in 20 victims.

All right.

Getting to the summary of non-fatal shootings on 3-1 uh uh 2026 at approximately 1240 p.m.

in the Bayview.

San Francisco police officers responded to the area of Evans and Selby.

They located a victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.

Officers rendered aid and paramedics were transported the victim to SFGH with non-life threatening injuries.

No arrests have been made, and it's currently an open case.

Today, at approximately four uh zero four hundred hours on the 700 block of O'Farrell.

PD located uh a victim with a gunshot wound.

Uh that victim was transported to SFGH with life-threatening injury.

Uh it's currently an open investigation with no arrest.

Moving into homicides on 227-26 at 1004 a.m.

Uh in the Bayview at uh Dakota and 25th.

Two victims were located suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

One of the victims succumbed on scene.

Second victim was transported with life-threatening injuries.

That's current currently an open and active investigation, and no arrests have been made at this time.

For today's uh this morning's homicide, uh it occurred in the southern district at approximately 1.31 a.m.

Officers responded to the 100 block of 6th Street regarding a shooting.

They located a victim suffering from gunshot wounds and rendered aid.

That victim was later transported to the uh to SFGH with life-threatening injuries, and despite life-saving efforts of medical staff, the victim was declared deceased uh at the hospital.

This is an open and active investigation.

We had a notable uh arrest that I want to mention.

Um officers arrested a suspect in a hate crime vandalism of a San Francisco church on Saturday, February 28th at approximately 8:45 in the morning.

Officers responded to a report of anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti uh at a church on the 2800 block of California.

Officers arrived on scene and found the church buildings and city utilities graffitied in fresh paint with swastikas and other anti-Semitic and homophobic words.

The officers located a suspect and established probable cause to place him under arrest.

The total damages exceeded 20,000.

Suspect was booked at San Francisco County jail for multiple charges, including felony vandalism with a hate crime enhancement.

We had a fatal vehicle collision on 227, 2026 at approximately 8.55 p.m.

Officers responded to the area of fourth and channel streets regarding a vehicle striking two pedestrians.

Victims were transported to a local hospital.

Despite life-saving efforts, the child victim was declared deceased at the hospital.

The adult was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver remained on scene and was cooperative.

In terms of large events, we have lunar new year coming up this Saturday.

Um we would invite all of you to attend and march with us.

So between security as well as uh police, um, you know, it was it was a difficult situation to get through.

We did have a significant after-action report done.

So upon their this event's return, we'll be implementing the suggestions that that uh uh after action report uh uh gave us.

Okay, in terms of First Amendment activities, um, with regard to the um Middle East and Iran uh demonstrations.

We had a demonstration on Saturday, February 28 uh 28th that originated at 97th Street, the Federal Building.

Approximately 500 showed up, and that was uh facilitated by PD.

It was largely peaceful.

And on Monday evening on the 2nd, there was uh another demonstration at Embarcadero Plaza, also with no issues.

And then just moving into recruiting.

Um report back on the recruit uh recruits in the academy have now exceeded 100.

We welcomed the 289th recruit class uh with 39 officers or recruits.

And uh, in terms of applications, in January of this year, that uh I think I mentioned this last time.

We broke a record for one month uh with 803 applications in January.

Uh and this last week of February, we saw 220 applications come in.

So that's the single highest week we've had in five years.

So we're on pace for over 10,000 applications overall.

So uh good positive signs uh recruiting just continues to be strong.

And that concludes my my uh report.

Thank you, Chief.

Um I had a couple questions.

Uh first, my understanding is um well, first of all, congratulations on the the numbers for the new recruits, and my understanding is that the number of applications is at a historic high in terms of people wanting to be a police officer.

And with that in mind, my question is regarding promotions.

My understanding is that there have been promotions within the department, uh particularly in the command staff and the sergeant ranks.

And I was wondering if you could provide some insight and clarity on how promotions are done specifically on SART with with respect to sergeant rank and even commander ranks because my understanding is that this year um the promotions have deviated from past practices in terms of people being uh taking a test, being ranked, and there being a list of individual candidates based on that um ranking system.

And so I was hoping that you could provide clarity and transparency to uh us as the commission and to the public on on how that worked and and what they members and individuals can expect moving forward in terms of these promotions.

Yeah, thanks, Commissioner, for bringing that up.

Um with respect to the civil service uh rank tests, um we we knew that this would generate quite a bit of uh concern and interest from our um rank and file taking these tests in particular because it's a departure from what's been done in the past uh seven, nearly eight years, I believe, which is to go in strictly rank order.

Um I'll just say from the 30,000 foot view uh the way I look at things and I believe the command staff as well, is that sorry.

Uh is that really our belief is that one a one-day performance on a test uh it isn't indicative completely of uh someone's fit for a position.

So in other words, you know, a a test, one day's performance simply doesn't equate to, you know, or negate, let's say just say 10 years of experience uh that someone may have.

Um so we decided to look at um secondary secondary criteria, which is ultimately your resume, as well as performance on it on an interview, which is looks into you know your ability to logic through questions uh and really to articulate.

Um we felt that that would give a greater picture into how someone's evaluated as to as opposed to just a test.

So uh just to address some of the concerns, we really were we tried to be thoughtful about the concern that would come about.

So what we did was we reached out to the folks that were you know passed over and said, hey, you you've been identified as someone who was considered within this band, and however, you weren't selected in this round, and we offer you an opportunity to come speak to myself and command to uh really understand what our thought process was.

Um a number of officers took us up on the offer, and I think by and large we got good results and people felt good about our transparency and just wanting to explain our thought process behind uh the departure from what we did in the past.

Um we then also met with PEG groups to explain the same thing, and you know um we are extremely transparent about what we're trying to do.

Um in particular, I really do think that this is you know, I owe it to the department and continuity and future to select people that are most qualified, because sergeants will become the next lieutenants and captains and all the way up to the chief of police.

So we really need to create ranks with the most qualified people.

So that's the general 30,000 foot view of why we decided to do what we did.

And will you be providing the members with sort of clearer like written criteria of what you will be evaluating for future promotions?

Because I think that will be helpful for the members that are you know either that were passed over or that are aspiring to take the the promotions.

I think that the clarity would be helpful to them.

So you know what one of the things that we're we we did or trying to highlight or underscore is that in the past under the past uh practice we did interviews and secondary criteria, but we still went rank order.

So what we're saying is we're doing interviews, secondary, secondary criteria, but we're we're looking at those things.

So the idea is please prepare.

And are there things that you're gonna or or can the command staff go to the district stations and really I think reiterate to the to the members what you're looking for in leaders or future leaders here in the police department so that the members are clear of what you're looking for and what to adjust their expectations and aspirations?

Yeah, I think that's something we can do, and we've been certainly speaking to other the other, you know, the union and and um like I said, the peg groups and you know, people with network.

So yeah.

And then is this the same sort of criteria or methodology or thinking with respect to the command uh staff uh promotions and the team you're putting in place there?

Well, I think command staff is a little bit different.

It's not it's not a tested um, you know, they're not tested positions, but certainly it's uh it's the same idea of body of work.

And the OB also will you also lay it out to the members of what you are if I guess what the goal is in terms of what your what you want your command staff to look like and what um attributes and characteristics you're looking for uh for people who aspire to be commanders.

Yeah, I mean I think it's a very similar uh uh discussion about making sure that you're curating your career and taking interest in how your career goes and how you've developed and how you've um um added to added value to the department.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate that.

Um the other question I had is um I'm hoping that at our next commission meeting you can give us an update on the chief hearings.

Um I know that uh when we last left off on this discussion, there was a backlog and there were efforts made by the department to clear that backlog and some of the challenges with the backlog in terms of the number of cases, the availability of um uh command staff to hear those cases and move them through.

So I think it would be a good opportunity for you to give an update and see where we are on the numbers and any solutions that you've implemented to address that problem and to clear that backlog um of cases that are that have been there from DPA uh NIA.

Okay, we'll do it.

Appreciate it.

Commissioner Benedicto.

Thank you very much.

Uh President Clay, thank you for that update.

Uh uh just a couple of quick things.

Uh thank you for letting me know that um Lieutenant Spear is working on that request.

Uh if you could please convey to her if she has any I know it was sort of a a broad request, and if she has any questions about like the specifics that um rather than having to go like multi back and forth here, she's welcome to reach out uh and I'm happy to coordinate with her to make sure that we get that data presented in an efficient way.

Uh so please convey that, Chief.

Uh for the 289th Academy, so uh that's the class that just started or or they just started.

They just started.

And so their anticipated graduation would be in approximately seven months.

Um question I had uh like uh Commissioner Lyas, I'm really glad to see the these larger academy classes.

I know something that was a topic the Commission was interested in.

I know I I've talked to uh Cynthia Jones about it many times has been Academy attrition, and uh which is obviously very important when we had the the small classes, but remains very important now.

And so um I wonder if we could get a report sometime in the late spring or summer on uh efforts uh on on how those attrition numbers are looking and and on some of the various initiatives and efforts uh that the department's undertaken to reduce that.

I know, for example, I know that EVAC has been a persistent problem with with the attrition.

I know there's been efforts to make sure there is extra support given there.

I know there was some extra support added for the written tests and things like that.

I uh I think it would just be good to get a holistic um update on uh efforts to reduce attrition of the academy so we can continue to support the department.

Sure.

You're specifically speaking to graduation rates.

Yes, to graduation rates.

Okay, graduation rates and then what problematic areas that and and how we're addressing them.

Yeah, because it's yes, exactly.

That's correct.

Okay.

Commissioner Techney?

Thank you, President Clay.

So um a couple of questions, not related to your report, but um I would like to see is in future report if you can give us a brief about uh how the transitions are going in regard to redistricting of the boundaries of the new police boundaries, it would be good to know because I'm assuming it would happen most likely effective from April, May or June or something like that is what I heard.

So it would be good to know because I am sure people in Southern Station, people who are are very interested in seeing, and so is Tenderloin.

So that is one.

The second thing I would like to uh I mean it's great to hear the recruitment numbers are up, um, which is amazing.

But I also would like to hear, because when we went looking for chief, I mean what what do people want to see and achieve?

What do people want to see in SFPD?

But there was a lot of request for community policing, there was a lot of requests for food beats.

So I would like to see I know that we are not there.

We it will take a couple of years.

But that being said, uh are we going to see some more increase, like a change, a shift um in the policing is what I would like to see if there is any plans for what is going to happen with the new recruits and what what what differently are we doing in the stations to address the community um ask?

As we gain officers.

Yeah.

Got it.

Commissioner Elias?

Yes, thank you.

Um sorry I lied.

I have one more question.

Um in looking at the homicide side rates uh this year for the for San Francisco, they've obviously the numbers are are um jarring, just looking at numbers alone, right?

So I think context is important.

And my question relates to, you know, there's several budget cuts, several programs and a huge deficit San Francisco is facing, right?

Resulting in these uh programs and resources, particularly for our youth being eliminated.

And uh we all know that there is a correlation to, you know, when when particularly young people don't have anything to do, sometimes that leads to uh unfortunate things and violence and certain things, categories of incidents can tend to go up.

And I'm wondering what the police department is doing to help alleviate that situation, if there are any outreach efforts by the department or any other resources that the department is providing um to try and address the increase in homicide rate um given sort of budget cuts, program cuts, resource cuts, and the community really feeling um cuts all across the board from every angle.

Yeah.

Um so I share the same concern.

Um I'll tell you specifically with regard to gun violence.

So um with all the these events, shootings, homicides, especially with this spike, but regardless, we have a I would say a very successful program where we do what is called a shooting review process that was implemented uh some years ago, where we do a very deep dive of every shooting incident that occurs.

And the goal of that um shooting review process is to figure out what we consider to be more one off in nature type incidents, and then what is retaliatory in nature, which I think goes towards a little bit more what you're you're talking about.

When we determine something to be that um more retaliatory in nature, we figure out what's the best course of intervention.

And it could be a law enforcement uh intervention.

It's just you know criminal investigation is necessary for whatever reason that would fit that criteria.

The other piece of it though is determining if if it is not a law enforcement intervention that's most appropriate, then where do we go?

Um we I believe we just lost our funding from Cal VIP that allowed us to pay for some of this work.

We will, you know, it's a priority of mine, we'll figure out a way.

But um that also leads to programs that you are talking about where if there is an intervention that we think can be what we call like a direct communication type of intervention for someone that we think is at risk for continuing, then we partner with we used to partner with SVIP.

So that sort of model is is is is really important to me.

So we'll continue to work through that.

Um, kind of it will be more challenging, clearly with budget call uh budget reduction, but it's something that we're gonna work through.

I think in the future it may be helpful also to sort of present to us the programs that you know, like you mentioned that have been cut, but that the department is absorbing to try and alleviate some of the concerns um and problems that those programs were aimed to resolve.

So just on a piggyback on what Commissioner Elias was saying, Chief.

I was looking at this is trying to understand, you know, generally you have your spike in the summertime versus the winter time, and you kind of say what is what's going on here, because this is this is winter time.

And then secondly, the issue is of these one offs are the retaliatory when the old days you would get a lot of that.

So in these groups that you just found, yeah.

So in these groups that you just found, what are you what is there any pattern besides the fact everybody has guns and they shouldn't probably have them guns?

But what what do you find?

Yeah, I mean it's a little bit interesting.

So actually the number of the number of shooting incidents is down.

Is down, but the number of homicides is up.

You know, so it's it's it's it's a difficult thing.

Is it there's obviously some you know, luck and that that sort of thing involved, right?

Just it's it's it's probability and happen sense.

But um as far as patterns are concerned, you know of of what we have had this year, we don't think any are related.

We think they're there there they are one off of them, or there are some that are retaliatory in nature, yes.

But we're working through that.

So getting back to the and and I I got that part because the idea is you may have the same number of shootings, but not everybody gets gets killed in the shootings.

And the question is are these shootings and where the people are are have been shot and died, are they close up versus farther away?

Right.

And so I so in terms of that, I I'm not certain what we know about that, but yeah, we we get a lot of shootings, but the question is who lives or dies, that's a whole different issue.

And generally when they are closer up, then you have that the the fatality type of thing.

So kind of changes the narrative versus retaliatory or someone's away versus someone up front in person with each other.

So thank you very much there, uh President uh Clay.

I just want to uh just ask about the gun seizure.

Um I guess 2025 versus 2026.

Is there I I know you don't have the data in front of you, but uh well for 2026, huh?

You know, year to date.

Um do you have the total uh gun seizure and then as uh uh commissioner Scott would say ghost guns.

Those uh I know there was in Daily City the call one of the manufacturers over there that's thank you, Daily City, PD for doing that, because we're next door neighbors.

So I'm just seeing if you uh you have a total of the seizure on there.

Yes, sir.

152 uh firearms so far this year, uh of which 13 are ghost guns.

Okay.

And then um maybe do comparison with you know, next time you come back, whether in 2025 we have more gun seizure.

Uh maybe that's the reason why preemptively we uh took the guns off the street before it happened makes a lot of difference.

That's why officers that do confiscate the firearms.

Um possibility of one less shooting and one left or many less shooting victims, and uh hopefully uh we have less homicide on our streets.

Thank you very much, Chief.

You're welcome, sir.

Any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item five?

Please approach the podium.

Hold on.

Like Commissioner Scott, she had she didn't press her button quick enough.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Um thank you, uh Chief.

I wanted to ask was um the increase um I know um the trafficking of guns.

The trafficking of guns is also played a major role, I believe, also in the increase of the shootings and the homicides.

Um what did we what is the percentage of of guns that we have found and uh gun trafficking?

Um is there a number?

So ma'am, you're asking you're asking of of the uh guns that we have seized, what percentage were taken from, for example, a gun trafficking operation?

Right.

I'll have I'll have to look into that.

Okay.

If any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item five, please approach the podium.

Yes, I'd like to use Jova here again.

Um I like the fact that you you're talking about uh and thank you, uh Ms.

Elias for bringing this up about uh children dying on the street, and there is no resources for them.

We brought up this last time about um ways to pay tipsers to come forth.

Summer is coming up, and that's when if they don't have anywhere to go or any gyms to go to or or any resources to go through.

Children are gonna still be murdered.

And I mean murdered.

I'm not saying killed, murdered.

You said there was nine homicides, and and this is even isn't even working.

If this gets out there more, bring an awareness to tell the people that there's ways to to testify and be anonymous, maybe some of these killings will stop.

I have all the names of the purpose perpetrators that murdered my child.

Here is all the unsolved homicides that are going on that have not been solved.

Here are more unsolved unsolved homicides.

We have you have a commissioner sitting up there now that lost a child.

So what do we do as mothers?

This is what the perpetrators left us mothers.

I bring these because I can tell you, but if I can show you, you'll know.

Again, these children need places to go and to and resources to go to.

And there's none.

I'm worried about my grandchildren.

I have 12 of them.

And I'm worried about them.

I don't want to lose another child or grandchild.

Where are they gonna go?

I can keep them safe.

But I can't if if there were sources for them to go to, I can send them there.

I can go with them.

I have none of that.

I already lost a child.

And there is no further public comment.

Line item six, DPA directors report discussion.

Report on recent DPA activities and announcements.

Executive Director Henderson.

Thank you.

I just want to start off.

We we did the we approved the uh items on the consent calendar.

Uh it just has some of the audit stuff in there.

The bias audit uh was in there.

Uh we are still in communications with the controller's office.

They've told me that they should be done with their reviews uh that included the recommendations from bias that we've had in the past uh by July.

But I just want to flag it that it's still being worked on uh and our audit team is watching that closely as well.

Uh last week uh on DPA joined the first of the three working group sessions for the updates to DGO 5.20.

That's the language and access that we were talking about earlier for limited English proficient persons.

I just wanted to thank the commission again and for giving us the directive and the time to re-engage with all of those stakeholders that came here to engage with us.

I met with them after the meeting.

We've continued our conversations with them throughout uh the police department organized the meetings very quickly.

Um and all of the participants came back to the table and are working with us uh dil diligently.

Uh I think the discussions so far have been productive, uh collaborative, and thoughtful.

This way it helps ensure that every perspective is being heard and fully considered.

I think it's an important step to getting the DGO right uh for when it comes before you uh and we will continue uh that work.

Uh in terms of data trends and our stats that I typically present every week.

It's still too early uh in the year to identify a clear trend in data.

Uh but there are some stats that I have for you that I can share just in terms of the analysis.

Uh and the first two months, uh new complaints have gone down just in January and February, almost 20 percent compared with the same time last year.

However, that drop does not reflect the bigger picture because last year's complaints had increased by over 30 percent.

So that's still a 10 percent uh increase in terms of the volume of complaints that are coming into the office that are being managed and processed by the agency uh in terms of putting a number on it that's we are currently at 197 open cases right now that we are handling.

Um we are also completing our investigations at nearly the same rate that we are opening them, which is an improvement from last year and reflects new operational efficiencies and measures and efficiency measures that we've implemented.

Those are our 3304 deadlines.

We continue to not have any 3304 deadlines missed.

Um there are 11 cases uh that are told cases, all 11 of cases whose investigations have gone beyond 270 days are all told cases.

In terms of the budget, our budget submissions uh fully adhere to all of the mayor's instructions for our department, and to date we have not received any additional directions from the mayor's office.

So we're hoping that that continues and stays consistent.

Uh we have 67 cases.

That's a new low uh that have been sustained that are still pending direction from SFPD, and we have three cases that are still pending with the commission.

Uh the full stats on these numbers without the analysis that I just gave are in the weekly reports, uh, and they can be found both on the police commission's uh website, uh I believe.

And they can be found both on the police commission's website, I believe.

But if not, they are also found on DPA's website if there are issues during uh today's commissions that come up.

Uh I'm also here today with one of our senior investigators.

Uh and if folks want to get in contact with us directly or review any of the information.

Any of the information that I was just alluding to, they can contact us through the website, sfgov.org forward slash DPA, or contact us through the phone number 415-241-7711.

That concludes my report.

If any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item six, please approach the podium.

There's no public comment.

Line item seven, commission reports, discussion and possible action.

Commission president's report, commissioners' reports, and commission announcements and scheduling of items identified for consideration at a future commission meeting.

For the public, the commission has not received, we have any new discipline cases or appeals or direct filing, so that's a good thing.

And I know Commissioner Elias raised with you chief some chief hearings on whether or not those will get to us or whether or not the discipline, whatever may or may not be imposed, and people will accept it.

If it doesn't, then we'll we'll deal with it accordingly.

Also, the from the policy department, I understand they're actively working on the DGOs and updates, and they've had uh the last with the last DGO we found out in the meetings of with the community.

So that's that's the uh President's report.

Any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item seven, please approach the podium.

And there's no public comment.

Line item eight discussion and presentation on the department's AB 481 2025 annual report and related community engagement pursuant to California Government Code 7072B discussion.

Good evening, President Clay, Vice President Benedicto, Commissioners, Chief, Director Henderson.

I'm Carl Nasida, I'm Government Affairs Manager for the police department.

I'll give a very brief overview on the requirements of A B 481 generally, and then I'll turn it over to Captain Mason to talk about this year's 2025 annual report.

As many of you know, AB 481 is California's military equipment transparency law.

It governs some specific categories of equipment and requires law enforcement agencies to adopt a policy about acquiring or using those categories of equipment.

The goal of the law is to promote transparency and accountability among the public.

Each year, the department must publish an annual report detailing how the equipment was used, whether it complied with policy, total annual costs, any complaints or violations, the quantities possessed by the department, and whether we intend to acquire additional equipment in the upcoming year.

So this presentation does cover last year, 2025, and fulfills that annual reporting requirement.

I want to thank the Department's legislative liaison, Stephen Lopez, who helped coordinate the submission of this report this year, as well as Policy Development Division Manager Aja Steeves for her work on the policy itself and the annual reporting framework.

I'll talk a little bit about the community engagement requirements of AB 41 and then next steps.

The department is required to host a public engagement meeting within 30 days of posting the annual report, giving community members the opportunity to provide feedback or ask questions.

This year, the department posted our report on the website on January 22nd.

And to ensure accessibility, we conducted two engagement opportunities in February, both within that 30-day period.

One was a virtual meeting, and the other was an in-person presentation at the Southern Station Captain's community meeting.

Outreach for those meetings included a department press release and postings on both Instagram and Twitter.

We didn't receive any public comment or questions at either of those meetings, but the full report does remain posted online for anyone who wishes to review it, and obviously tonight's another opportunity to hear about it.

And following this presentation, the department will submit a resolution to the Board of Supervisors asking them to approve the 2025 annual report, as well as authorizing the continued use of the equipment in the report.

And now I will turn it over to Captain Mason.

Good evening.

Good.

I'm acting Captain Mason and I'm going to go through the AB 481 report.

Section we're going to talk about first talks about unmanned, remotely piloted power ground vehicles.

Basically, we're talking about what we call them throwbots.

They're used primarily in the tactical world.

We have 17 unmanned piloted ground vehicles.

What are those good?

Those are going to be used for critical incidents, high-risk search warrant situations.

We're going to take those before the officers go in, throw them in there, throwbots.

We kind of like to keep it simple here in the police department.

We throw them in there, can view them on a remote screen, so everyone can be safe.

They were utilized seven times during high-risk tactical operations and search warrant services.

The other robots in this section are utilized by our EOD unit, but only but we're only used for training purposes.

They're not used to articles of years past, kill bots, shooting people.

That's not happening.

They're used to train people to go look at explosive devices that are on the street.

The annual cost of maintenance for all these vehicles was $1,445.

Section B, mine resistant, ambush protected vehicles, MRAPs or armored personnel carriers.

Very militaristic sounding.

That's where this AB 481 comes from for military vehicles and police departments.

We don't have any MRAPs.

I guess technically we have an armored personnel carrier.

It's called a Lenko Bearcat.

I think it's important when we think of a bear cat.

It's really just a armored vehicle, like they used to deliver money in, right?

And we're going to use those primarily in high-risk search warrants and rescuing the public.

If there's an active shooter situation and we need to rescue any member of the public, not just officers, we would want that to go in there.

It wouldn't do any good to have any officers injured when we're trying to rescue people.

Our Bear Cats equipped with a liberator ramp system that can seat up to 10 to 12 operators.

So our liberator ramp system primarily is going to be used.

We have second-story houses in San Francisco.

If we can't go through the primary door in the front, you could use that to rescue people, go into a second or third floor.

Also responsible for the airport, and that's ramp is made to use for airplane wings.

So you could rescue people that could use that to come down.

You can't really put a ladder for that.

Also, the police function is to rescue people and save lives.

So the fire department wouldn't be doing that.

The police department would be doing that, and this is the vehicle we use.

We're seeking to purchase another one the coming year, should become fiscally fiscally possible.

No injuries, violations of use or complaints are received by the department, and the annual cost of fuel for the bear cat was $1,500.

Section C and 481 pertains to Humvee vehicles, Humvees and breaching vehicles.

We don't have any of those in our inventory.

Years ago, other departments would buy those and use those as police vehicles.

I've been in for 32 years.

We've never had any Humvees, or we've never had any breaching vehicles either.

Section D.

Command and control vehicles.

We have five command and control vehicles in our inventory.

That's where they're any big event that we're going to have, we're going to deploy those out.

Mobile command posts.

Pre-planned events, DUI checkpoints.

Annual cost for the five vehicles in 2025 was 100,000 and uh 100-27.88 cents.

Don't want to forget that.

We would intend to acquire one more in the upcoming year with grant funding.

Um Section E.

Battering RAM slugs, breaching apparatus that are explosive in nature.

So SFPD carries an array of breaching tools for people who aren't familiar with breaching tools.

That's how we're going to get into a door, a residence, a vehicle when people don't want to let us in.

Or when someone in a mental health crisis has barricaded that door and doesn't need the help and services they need.

A lot of times with the A B 481, people focus on the law enforcement aspect, not the saving lives aspect.

I think that's an important point to let everyone know about.

So they're used to breach doors during high-risk tactical operations, search warrants, training exercises.

Also, the stations have those too now.

We train station personnel on the acting captain of the tactical unit because a lot of times they're the first responders on these mental health situations when we want to get clinicians and help to them.

We intend to maintain our stock levels based on need and usage, no injuries, complaints, or use violations of received or discovered.

Total cost of the equipment, 2025, $13,252 and 26 cents.

Section F, flashbangs, tear gas, explosive breaching tools, and pepper balls.

Flashbang grenades, pepperball, TAC SF launchers, pepperball VCS launchers, and pepperball rounds.

Um to kind of break it down, flashbangs, just like it says, big flash, big bang, momentary distracts people, auditory and visually, no permanent damage when used uh properly.

Flash banks and parabol systems are utilized thirty thirty-one times and once respectively in two thousand twenty-five during high risk tactical operations and warrant service.

Uh non-life threatening injuries were sustained by suspicious no life threatening injuries were sustained by suspects during deployment.

There's one violation of the use policy that's currently under investigation regarding the use of pepper ball projectiles.

Uh we intend to maintain our stock levels for needs and usage, and the total cost is equipment $15,292 and 67 cents.

Uh TASER shockwaves, microwave weapons, water cannons, and long range acoustic devices.

So we don't have any taser shockwaves, we have no microwave weapons, uh we definitely don't have any water cannons.

We have long range acoustic devices.

We need to think about this.

That's like a massive megaphone.

Right?

They're uh they're called L RADs.

So you want to think about this any time we want to give uh a knock and notice on a high risk search warrant, right?

That's a we're gonna use that in combination with our bear cat to be safe.

If we have a protest, you know, uh 4th of July, we're Dolores Park, a hill bomb, we want to delay declare an unlawful assembly, and we need to let everyone know in a long way.

We're gonna we're gonna use those.

Right?

We're gonna let people know because the megaphone is just not big enough and everyone just yells at the police, right?

We've all seen that on all our social media videos.

So we have four long range acoustic devices, L RADs, uh RL Red was utilized fifty-two times in two thousand twenty-five, only as a public address system, deployed during high risk tactical ops, high risk warrant services for crowd control.

Total cost of this equipment in 2025, $59,660 and ninety seven cents, including new acquisitions, and we don't intend to purchase uh any new ones in 2026.

Specialized firearms, ammo classified as assault weapons, but less than 50 caliber, excluding standard issued service weapons.

So, SFPD, we have 16 fully automatic submachine guns, sixty-four fully automatic short build tactical rifles.

There was one incident where a short build rifle was used in officer involved shooting that result in the death of a suspect.

Officer involved shootings are covered, incidents and trigger multi.

Departmental investigations as required.

All uses were in line with SFP's use of force, no complaints, concerns, or violations were received or discovered.

Total cost of this equipment in 2025, $17,831.88, which includes new acquisitions.

Projectile launch platforms and associated munitions.

SFPD maintains a stock of 229 40 millimeter launchers.

40 millimeter launchers are used for the foam batons, less lethal projectiles.

Think uh uh less lethal that we've all seen, and the 40 mill is just a bigger, less lethal round.

These launchers are capable of using various types of ammunition such as rubber bullets, which we don't have, bean bags, and foam batons.

The launchers and their different munitions are utilized a total of 38 times in 2025 during critical incidents, high-risk tackle incidents, and high-risk warrant service.

Non-life-threatening injuries were sustained by suspects during these instances, no life-threatening injuries, excuse me, were sustained by suspects during these incidents, but no other injuries of civilians or officers were noted.

There's one pain investigation regarding the misuse of a 40 milliliter foam baton.

This case is under active investigation, and that's the same case that I referred to about the pepper ball.

It's the same investigation.

It's the same incident.

The total annual cost of this equipment was $562,513 and 30 cents, including new acquisitions for issuance to patrol officers.

SFPD intends to purchase additional 40 million launch 40 millimeter launchers and to maintain the stock levels based on need and usage.

Unmanned, remotely piloted aerial vehicles, drones.

We have 98 drones.

They were deployed a hundred, excuse me, 1,122 times for patrol, training, criminal investigations, critical incidents, and planned operations, flight logs for drones are public available on our website.

Department seeking to acquire additional drone models in 2026.

Annual cost for our drone program is uh five million two hundred and seventy-seven and one hundred and seven dollars, including new acquisitions.

Equipment not in our inventory of SFPD.

The following military equipment noted in A B 41 is not in the inventory of SFPD.

Tracked or armored vehicles that provide ballistic protection.

Weaponized aircraft, vessels or vehicles, firearms or ammunition, 50 caliber or greater.

Any firearm or firearm accessory that is designated to launch explosive projectiles.

Questions?

Elias?

Thank you for your presentation.

I uh wanted to turn to page five regarding the bear cat.

Bearcat?

Yeah.

So is it Am I correct in uh understanding that prior to 2015 this um bear cat was not available to SFPD?

So I was not there in 2015 when they put it in the U.S.

I'm sorry, twenty twenty five.

I'm sorry, I can't.

Oh no, we've had it, we've had it before.

It's been referenced in other reports.

When did we, I guess, when because you SAPD has one, right?

We have one.

It's a regional asset purchased through UASI, so it's a regional asset for the whole region.

What explain what regional means?

Like not only SFED, but otherwise, but most agents it's it's housed here, we primarily use it.

But if one of the participating UASI agencies wanted to use it for a specific operation, request would be made and we would let them use it.

Okay.

And um when did you acquire this vehicle?

Um I'm not sure.

I think we've had it for at least, I'd say conservatively ten years.

Ten years.

Yeah.

And then um you said that um in 2025 that it's been deployed 42 times.

Yeah.

What what is it deployed for?

So if we're going to do like a high risk search warrant, um, and I'm the acting captain of tactical company, we're going to usually deploy that in conjunction with our LRAT, and then we would drive up if they were say assaulting Mr.

Nasita's house, right?

We had a signed search warrant by a judge authorizing that.

We would go there, we would use that uh to prect the officers, and we would announce from there our knock and nose, the police are here, we have a search warrant with our knock and nose requirements, and or the people to come out.

And so would I guess it would be helpful to the public to understand what constitute a high risk search warrant versus regular search warrant?

Because it would seem really aggressive to have this to serve seven.

I think that's I think that might be uh I think more forward thinking in the aggressiveness that maybe in past practices, people would think an armored vehicle is like we're rolling in, there's cops with machine guns.

It's really a mechanism to save lives, to be safe, to save the officers, and to rescue people.

So a high risk search warrant would be determined by um the lieutenant, the captain of investigations of the unit that is authoring the search warrant.

And we also have a matrix in place, uh numerical matrix that defines what a high-risk search warrant is.

Um there's many mitigating factors, armed suspects, um, it could be an active shooter situation, you use a bear cat.

Um it's it's that's the name that it was given back then, the Lanco Bearcat.

I think that um most departments have more than one, actually.

I mean, if you want to talk about this, I think we should have one at every district station where the SWAT team doesn't need to do it, where if uh if someone was shot at an active shooter situation, which we've had going back to James Gelf, officers could drive that in and rescue the public.

And I think that's really there'd be more use for that.

But we haven't had any active shooter situation.

Well, I mean, we had I mean we had a homicide there today, that would be an active shooter.

I'd define that.

Officers have to go in and rescue people who are shot.

And if we have other officers shot, then how are we going to provide aid?

And then uh back to my question of the 42 incidents were or the 42 times that it was used in 2025, were all those for high-risk search warrants, or were there other purposes?

Um I believe they were all over higher use search majority of them.

I can't I really can't comment on that data.

Okay.

It would be interesting to know of the 42 times what were high risk and then what other what were they used for in other incidents?

I mean, my other question is how much are these um bear cats?

Um I don't have the price with me, but I know we're looking at grant funding, they're quite expensive.

They're not, they're not they're not cheap.

I would say at least I mean conservatively 100,000.

Right?

With the grant funding, well, who would provide the grant funding and would the grant funding uh cover the entire cost of the vehicle or where would the uh money come from if the grant funding is?

I hope they would.

I mean, I'm not in the fiscal division, I'm not the admin division, right?

I'm in charge of saying what we need.

Uh huh.

Um so I don't think we're gonna get anything unless we get grant funding.

Okay.

Well, do we have a grant funder in the city?

Uh well, Yuazi is part of the grant.

They work with YWASI grants, and those are regional grants.

I'm not the captain of UASI, but I've been around and put on classes with that.

So there's UASI grants where you put in in the region for what you want to put in for, and there's they their system of ranking I do not know.

Uh DEM works with that too.

So I would hope we'd get a bunch, right?

I'd hope we'd have one in each neighborhood, and the patrol officers could use it, and then they would see more, and people would realize there's not a not a threat and they shouldn't be intimidating.

Hopefully.

But okay.

All right, thank you.

Commissioner Yee?

Thank you very much, uh President Clee.

Um just to continue on the I guess the I guess what B, mines, uh resistant ambush protection vehicle.

Yep.

Uh do you guys have any advanced electronic equipment located in the vehicle?

No, no, it's uh it's a armored vehicle, right?

And there's no advanced electronics.

And I would say uh you lights and there's lights and siren and uh that type of situation, and but it's quite old compared to where their agencies have.

So when you do uh utilize this equipment, uh it's probably for pretty serious stuff.

So I was just wondering if you thought about putting in a drone there to look ahead, be the eyes and ears.

Now that we have the drones due, we would use that.

They were on a tactical operation or a high-risk warrant.

They would the drones work in conjunction, yes, with with the bear cat with the L RAT.

It's kind of a whole package, and they all work with a synergy with each other.

And see if they can add the um special optics so you can see farther ahead.

Oh, I love it.

I like it.

You're speaking by language.

Um night vision?

Yeah.

Uh all our operators have night vision, yeah.

So you know, you get it it would be safer for us all.

Yeah.

Uh I also have um questions about uh I guess page nine.

So the taser shock wave.

Microwave weapons.

Water canyon.

Uh this is the first two, taser shockwave and microwave weapons.

Have we in uh uh deploy those?

No, we don't even have those.

Um I have to do that.

But I hear micro maybe yeah, when I hear microwave weapon, I think like CIA in Cuba where they're sending like microwaves through the walls to drive people crazy.

We have none of that.

I I just cross that out.

Yeah.

The the verbiage here is specifically written into A B 481, so that's why our report is, you know, we didn't really want to put that.

There it misleads people, we don't have it.

Well, my last question is on page 12.

Uh unmanned remote pilot uh aerial vehicles.

You have now ninety-eight.

And you're going to probably accumulate more as we go on.

Does is it disperse throughout the city evenly, or is it uh centralized in one location?

So I can speak to what I know.

I'm definitely not in the Arctic command investigations where the drones are based out of.

I know that they have launching points throughout the city.

Uh I would say I have a working knowledge of what they do, but I'm definitely not the drone expert.

I think we'd want to bring in someone from that command.

Um I can speak more in depth about how we use them in tactical operations for in interior and out uh exterior to be safe when we're looking for a suspect.

But as far as how many are spread around the city, that definitely wouldn't be my area of expertise.

This is a food of thought.

Yeah.

You got you got Treasure Island.

I wonder you can put a few drones over there, too.

Yeah.

I I get it.

Yeah.

Hey, thank you very much for your report.

Commissioner Leong.

Thank you, President Clay.

Acting Captain Mason.

Just a question about the bear cat.

It's armored, is that correct?

Yeah.

But is it armed?

No.

Okay.

No, there's no there's no guns mounted, there's no guns in it, no.

And uh is there any sort of offensive capability associated with the bear cat?

No.

As presently equipped.

No.

Is there a separate listing for armed vehicles, including airplanes?

Armed vehicles?

Was there a separate slide at the end?

Oh.

Yeah, yeah.

There were I know what you are referencing.

If there hold on.

I forgot which slide it was, but let me see.

Has SFPD actually ever had any armed uh weapons uh weaponized aircraft?

None that I know of, and I've been in 32 years.

Thanks.

Yeah.

And just kept into kind of this this AB 481 was legislative mandated so people could get to understand either military type of weapons we had in in particular areas, and that's it's reported.

Absolutely.

And it came from a lot of police departments years ago were buying all this military equipment, right?

And so that's why you see some of the military terms.

We have it historically not purchased the military equipment.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Scott, do you have a question?

Oh, yeah.

Okay, go ahead.

Um I wanted to ask on the um the vehicle.

Um how many do the the uh the department have at this time?

Is it just one or just one, just one bear cat, yes.

Just one.

Just one.

Just one.

Okay.

And you said it was used four to two times.

Yes, ma'am.

And 2025.

Yes, ma'am.

So did you feel strongly that there's a need for another one?

Absolutely.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Thank you.

If any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item eight, please approach the podium.

There is no public comment.

Line item nine, discussion and possible action to adopt.

Revised Department General Order 8.12 in custody deaths.

Discussion and possible action.

There is no presenter on this, but you should have a the sheet for the adoption of this.

And with that, I will make a motion to adopt DGO 8.12 with a 30-day business implementation timeline and an effective date of April 16th, 2026.

If any member of the public would like to make public comment regarding line item nine, please approach the podium.

Yes.

Commissioner Scott?

Yes.

Commissioner Scott is yes.

Commissioner Leong.

Commissioner Leo is yes.

Commissioner Yi?

Yes.

Commissioner Yi is yes.

Commissioner Lyus?

Yes.

Commissioner Lyas is yes.

Yes.

Vice President Benedict is yes, and President Clay.

Yes.

President Clay is yes.

You have seven yeses.

Line item ten.

Public comment on all matters pertaining to item twelve below closed session, including public comment on item eleven, a vote whether to hold item twelve in closed session.

If you'd like to make public comment, please approach the podium.

Line item eleven, a vote on whether to hold item twelve in closed session.

Pursuant to California Government Code Section 54956.

Move to government to close the session.

Second.

Yes.

Commissioner Scott is yes.

Commissioner Leon?

Yes.

Commissioner Leo is yes.

Commissioner Yi?

Yes.

Commissioner Yi is yes.

Commissioner Lyas?

Yes.

Vice President Benedict is yes.

And President Clay.

Yes.

We are going into close session.

San Francisco government television.

Doing on your loom.

Maybe we do.

San Francisco government television.

San Francisco government television is going to be nothing.

I mean it's a don't know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We stayed there for 40 minutes or thirty minutes or something.

So it's all it says.

They say it's they're gonna start it.

Um six o'clock.

So five o'clock.

We're supposed to start.

All we know is we were in the city.

Vote to elect whether to disclose any or all discussion on item twelve held in closed session.

San Francisco administrative code section sixty seven point one two eight action.

Uh motion not to disclose other than nonprivileged information on twelve A that'll be added to the minutes.

Second.

Yes.

Yes.

Commissioner Leong is yes, Commissioner Yee.

Yes.

Commissioner Yee is yes, Commissioner Lyas.

Commissioner Lyus is yes, Vice President Benedict.

Yes.

Vice President Benedict was yes, and present clay.

Yes.

Present Clay is yes, you have seven yeses.