San Francisco Police Commission Meeting - April 1, 2026

On April 1, 2026, the San Francisco Police Commission convened at approximately 1:45 PM to discuss crime trends, departmental reports, and language access policies. The meeting included a consent calendar, the Chief’s report on weekly crime statistics and a notable SFO incident, an update from the Department of Police Accountability (DPA), a presentation on the 2025 Limited English Proficiency (LEP) annual report, and a vote on revised Department General Order (DGO) 5.20 regarding language access services.

Consent Calendar

• Line Item 3: Unanimously approved to receive and file the Safe Streets for All fourth quarter 2025 update and the Police Commission report of disciplinary actions for the first quarter of 2026.
• Line Item 4: Unanimously adopted minutes from the meetings of February 4 and 11, 2026.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Marlene Tran (community advocate): Expressed strong support for the LEP pilot program (language proficiency pins for officers), noting her 30-year advocacy for language access and appreciation that the sheriff’s department had adopted a similar idea.
• Annie Jiang (Coalition for Community Safety and Justice): Urged the commission to delay the vote on DGO 5.20, arguing that the latest draft was shared only on March 30 and that more time was needed to address concerns such as undefined terms (e.g., “preferred language”) and weak language (“should” vs. “shall”).
• Janice Lee (Chinese for Affirmative Action): Asked for a postponement to refine outstanding requests, stating that “should” versus “shall” makes a huge practical difference and that the community and SFPD are very close to a final version.
• Laura (Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Spanish speaker through interpreter): Emphasized the need for proper language access services, noting that without translation the community feels disconnected and unable to trust police during emergencies.
• Alma Santana (Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Spanish speaker): Requested a delay in voting so that the community and SFPD can resolve pending language access issues, highlighting the frustration of not understanding proceedings due to lack of interpretation.

Discussion Items

• Chief’s Report (Line Item 5): Chief Liu reported overall Part I crimes down 28% year-to-date compared to 2025. Violent crimes decreased 19%, but homicides rose to 14 (compared to 4 in 2025) with 13 closed by arrest. Gun violence (people injured or killed by firearm) increased 18%. The Chief detailed four recent homicides, an attempted Bay Bridge takeover (85 bikes seized, 85 citations), a bomb threat at SFO, and a large peaceful rally. He also addressed a March 22 SFO incident involving ICE, clarifying that SFPD had no pre-coordination with ICE and that officers responded only for public safety, while reiterating the department’s commitment to immigrant communities and state/city sanctuary policies.
• DPA Director’s Report (Line Item 6): Executive Director Henderson noted a recent collaborative meeting with SFPD, a spike in cases related to the SFO incident, and statistics: since March 18, 85 new cases opened and 99 closed (196 open investigations). Complaint volume is 16% higher than the same period last year. Eight cases have exceeded 270 days, and 48 sustained internal cases remain pending with the department.
• Commission Reports (Line Item 7): Commissioner Yi reported on a Chinatown community meeting about traffic safety after a fatal accident and a stabbing; Commissioner Scott announced Crime Victims United Month events on April 19–20.
• LEP Annual Report (Line Item 8): A presentation covering 2025 language access statistics: 468 certified bilingual members (573 total), over 36 languages represented, 4,840 calls for service requiring interpretation, and 13,000 total interpretations. A six-month pilot program for LEP identity pins will launch at five stations (Central, Mission, Ingleside, Bayview, Richmond). Vietnamese was newly declared a core language, requiring document translations by June 23, 2026.
• DGO 5.20 Language Access Services (Line Item 9): Director Steves reported on three community listening sessions (Feb 26, Mar 12, Mar 24) held after the commission’s February resolution. Based on feedback, the department proposed revisions including: adding Vietnamese as a required language, clarifying restrictions on using family/children as interpreters in criminal incidents, expanding training to all public-facing employees, and moving from a “periodic” to a “two-year” training cycle (amended from three years). The department recommended approval with this amendment.

Key Outcomes

• Consent calendar and minutes were approved unanimously (6–0).
• DGO 5.20 was approved with a motion to advance the proposed revision, including an amendment to require language access training every two years instead of three. The motion passed 5–1 (Commissioner Benedicto voted against, citing the need for more time to review community input). The DGO will now proceed to the required “meet and confer” process with affected bargaining units (POA, SEIU, Local 21, MEA) before final adoption.
• The commission acknowledged the extensive community engagement and directed the department to continue refining language access policies through future working groups.