SEPTEMBER 8, 2021                                                                        REMOTE MEETING VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE

                The Police Commission of the City and County of San Francisco met via videoconference at 5:39 p.m.

PRESENT:             Commissioners Cohen, Elias, Hamasaki, Yee, Byrne

ABSENT:               Commissioner Brookter

(Commissioner Yee joined the meeting at 6 p.m.  Commissioner Hamasaki was excused at 6 p.m.)

GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

                Susan Buckman, Wealth & Disparities, spoke of the work Berkeley is doing about eliminating racial bias through traffic stop.

                Unidentified spoke in regard to Commissioner Hamasaki and his professionalism and bias and stated that Commissioner Cohen seem to allow status quo and appears to turn a blind eye by allowing Commissioner Hamasaki’s conduct to continue and asked who will address the removal of John Hamasaki.

                Kit Hodge, Wealth & Disparities, spoke of eliminating racial profiling through traffic stop.               

                Unidentified spoke in support of John Hamasaki and stated that his engagement in social media had engendered trust in the policing establishment in San Francisco and thanked Commissioner Hamasaki for his time and attention to social media and that he is doing an excellent job showing that there is humanity in the criminally unjust mass incarcerations.

                Sergeant Reynolds read a public comment under the Americans with Disabilities Act:

                “Last week, John Hamasaki tried and failed to defend the posting a video that appears to show someone kicking milk crates out from under an officer and commenting “I fully support any cops who want to try this.”  When he says no one assaulted the officer (which is true), Hamasaki did not know that when he posted the video, as evidenced by his response to the person who posted, “ So that guy is going to end up with assault charges for kicking the crates from under him?  That was a shitty thing to do.”  Hamasaki responds, “yea that’s not part of the challenge.”  It’s clear at the time he posted the video Hamasaki thought the person intentionally kicked the crates.  If Hamasaki now claims he knew it was a joke, then why didn’t he post the version of the video that shows it was a joke?  Hamasaki is disgraceful.” Maria H.

Chief’s Report

-              Weekly crime trends

-              Major/Significant Incidents                

                Chief Scott reported on crime trends:  Part 1 Violent Crime, down .12 percent:  Homicide up 9 percent; rape down 30 percent; robbery down 8 percent; assault up 11 percent; human trafficking up 5 percent.  Property Crimes,  up 1 percent:  Burglary up 1 percent; motor vehicle theft down 2 percent; arson up 8 percent; larceny theft up 1 percent.  Gun violence up 74 percent.  There were 4 shooting incidents for the week ending on 9/5/21; a total of 128 incidents resulting in 155 victim YTD.  There were 2 homicides the week ending on 9/5/21; 36 homicides YTD:  2 homicides in September; 4 homicides in August; overall clearance rate is 92 percent.               

Gun Seizure:  115 ghost guns recovered YTD.

                The Chief talked about the homicide in the 700 block of Kirkwood, the victim left the house on an errand.  The girlfriend heard shots and heard knocking on the door and found the victim on doorway suffering from gunshot wounds.  The victim was transported and later succumbed to his injuries.  The 2^nd homicide was a shot spotter notification.  When officers responded at San Bruno and Silver, they located a 15 year old male was shot inside a van, no suspect identified.  The Chief gave an update on an arrest made on a homicide that occurred on August 17^th in the Tenderloin District.  The victim was a 48-year old male who was privately transported to the hospital and later succumbed to his injuries.  The investigation revealed that the victim was assaulted by a number of suspects in the 800 block of Larkin when one of the suspects shot the victim.  One suspect was arrested in Oakland on September 1^st.  A second suspect was arrested on September 3^rd.  The investigation is ongoing.

District strategies:  14 additional officers placed in the Central District to patrol Union Square, Market Street, Powell Street, Chinatown, lower Grant Avenue, Pier 39, and Fisherman’s Wharf.  The Chief announced that the ambassador program has reached its 2^nd phase and hired another group of retired SFPD members and announced that they are very well received by the community.  Additional officers are deployed in Golden Gate Park on bikes.  Southern:  Focusing on car break-ins along Powell and Harrison Streets.  Increased visibility with support from the Honda Unit.  Park:  Deployed 2 additional officers in addition to the regular footbeat officers to work the Haight Street commercial corridor to help with quality of life issues.                

                The Chief announced that Saturday is the 20^th anniversary of 9-11.  There will be a memorial service led by the Fire Department on Saturday morning.  The department is also meeting with its Federal partners for a briefing on what’s going on around the nation in regard to terrorism.

PUBLIC COMMENT         

                Ms. Paulette Brown spoke in regard to her son, Aubrey Abrakasa, case and spoke of how his case is still unsolved and thanked the Department for being at his vigil and hopes that her investigator will get in touch with the witness.

DPA Director’s Report

-              Report on recent DPA activities, and announcement

-              Presentation of the June & July 2021 Monthly Statistical Reports               

                Director Henderson reported:  18 new cases in the past week:  37 percent behaved or spoke in a manner unbecoming an officer; 15 percent failed to take required action; 4 percent displayed threatening, intimidating, or harassing behavior; 4 percent prepared an incomplete or inaccurate incident report; 4 percent discourteous behavior or statements were related to ethnicity or race; 4 percent failed to properly process property; 4 percent pending complainant interview; 4 percent discourteous behavior or statements were related to ethnicity or race.  540 cases opened; 590 cases closed; 312 pending; 35 sustained; 23 past 270-day; 25 cases mediated.

                Director Henderson presented the June & July 2021 monthly statistical reports.

                Audit:  Today, the DPA and the Controller’s Office had their conference with the SFPD for their audit of how the Police Department handled complaints of officers’ misconduct.

                Outreach:  Can be found on  community calendar on the DPA’s website and posted on Tweeter, Facebook, Instagram and on DHR’s website.  Virtual presentations at the monthly district community meetings including Mission Station, Tenderloin Station, and the Bayview Station.  On Sept 2^nd, participated in Mega Black organization with the HRC Director.

PUBLIC COMMENT

                None

Commission Reports

-              Commission President’s Report

-              Commissioners’ Reports

-              Commission announcements and scheduling of items identified for consideration at future Commission Meetings.

                Commissioner Yee announced that he just came back from the Chinatown Night Out and stated many of the communities are out and enjoying themselves and thanked the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and thanked all the elective officials who showed up and all the officers who are making Chinatown safe.

                Commissioner Byrne met with the Chief to discuss what is going on in the Tenderloin.  He also reported on going to the 50^th Anniversary of the death of Sgt. Young at Ingleside Station.  He stated that also present was a civilian police worker who was also shot when Sgt. Young was killed.  He stated that it was very touching and very good of the Department to remember one of their own.

                Commissioner Cohen reported that she is still working to bring other elective leaders to come and join the meeting.  She also spoke of having a conversation with Ms. Felicia Jones of Wealth and Disparities.

PUBLIC COMMENT

                None    

PRESENTATION OF THE DEPARTMENT’S COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT KIT EVIDENCE AND REPORTING OF RESULTS TO SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS REPORT, PER COMMISSION RESOLUTION 16-28

                Acting Deputy Chief Vaswani presented the Sexual Assault Kit Evidence and Reporting of Results of Sexual Assault Victims Report.  Also present is Lt. Tim O’Connor of the Special Victims Unit.               

PUBLIC COMMENT

                None

DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION TO APPROVE REVISED DRAFT DEPARTMENT GENERAL ORDER 5.16, “SEARCH WARRANTS,” FOR MEETING AND CONFERRING WITH THE SFPOA AND THE SF MUNICIPAL EXECUTIVES ASSOCIATION POLICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW

                Captain Jim Ahern and Attorney Kara Lacy presented the general order.  Captain Ahern thanked DPA’s Sharon Woo and Janelle Caywood for their input on this DGO.

                The Chief stated that there will be  a 90-day training on the policy changes.

(The Commission recessed at 7:17 p.m. and reconvened at 7:40 p.m.)               

PUBLIC COMMENT

                Unidentified stated that the policy should not be decided in such a rush and to take a moment to get outside commentary.

                Brian Cox spoke regarding SFPD military tactics and spoke of no-knock warrants and asked the Commission to vote no on this DGO.

                Danielle Harris spoke of concerns of the legal accuracy of parts of this order and asked for additional time to evaluate the general order.

                Motion by Commissioner Byrne to put over next week, second by Commissioner Elias.  Approved 4-0.

  Ayes:  Commissioners Byrne, Yee, Elias, Cohen

Absent: Commissioner Brookter, Hamasaki

                Put over next week.

ADJOURNMENT               

Thereafter, the meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.