August 27, 2010 (DRAFT)

DRAFT

Marijuana Offenses Oversight Committee

Minutes of Meeting

August 27, 2010
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton Goodlett Place, Rm. 34

1. Call to order and roll call. The meeting was called to order by Committee Chair Catherine Smith at 11:05 a.m.

Present:
Catherine Smith
Richard Rendon
Mesha Monge-Irizarry
Gregory Ledbetter
Michael Barbitta

Absent:
Aleem Raja

2. Approval of minutes of April 30, 2010 meeting [Action Item]

Public comment was taken.

ACTION: A motion was made by Chair Smith to approve the minutes. The motion was seconded by Mr. Barbitta and passed by the Committee.

3. Preparation of Semi-Annual Report to the Board of Supervisors [Discussion Item and Possible Action Item]

Mr. Rendon reported that they still do not have the data they need for the report and will also need information from the community surveys. He noted that Mr. Raja has met with some people.

Report structure should include a description of how MOOC undertook obtaining the data, the arrest statistics, the related law, and costs of enforcement activities to the tax payers. Chair Smith reported that the Task Force has the power to make recommendations to the Police Commission and make recommendations on Police policy and how it is carried out.

A recommendation was made to get in touch with Petra from the Commission.

Committee Member Rendon reported that his sense of some of the issues of interest are: Is the legislation being upheld and disseminated out amongst the Police Department? Does the public feel it is the lowest priority with the SFPD? Is the SFPD aware of it being the lowest priority? Do they need a refresher? There are pockets or areas where it is the lowest priority and some areas where it is not. Also, a recommendation may be that there needs to be a better way to track data.

Chair Smith recommended that a small group be formed to assess data obtained. The goal is to get a report out by the first meeting in 2011.

Committee Member Monge-Irizarry suggested that Kelly Dunn, Mental Health, be contacted, as well as the African American and Latino liaisons.

Public comment was taken.

ACTION: A motion was made by Chair Smith to create a small group of the following members to meet with the new SFPD contact, Chief Lazarus: Members Rendon, Raja, Smith, and Monge-Irizarry, and Stewart Rhoads. The motion was seconded by Committee Member Ledbetter and passed by the Committee. Mr. Rendon will set up meeting with Chief Lazarus and the Sub Committee.

4. Preparation of supplementary Police Department form for marijuana arrests [Discussion Item and Possible Action Item]

Committee Member Monge-Irizarry reported that the form was ready; it will emailed to Committee Members.

5. Process for obtaining Police Dept. statistics on marijuana arrests [Discussion Item and Possible Action Item]

Issues to be discussed with Police: What training has been given to officers regarding medical cannabis encounters? What can MOOC do if the Police Department is in violation of lowest priority? Do not go with adversarial stance. The Committee should summarize what MOOC is doing. MOOC recognizes that there should be a large body of data. The costs of arrests are huge, overtime is costly, promotion incentives for increasing busts; meeting/exceeding quotas. This impacts both the medical and recreational users.

Public comment was taken:

ACTION: A motion was made by Committee Chair to collect data (purpose of the meeting). The motion was seconded by Committee Member Monge-Irizarry and passed by the Committee.

ACTION: A motion was made to contact the City Controller as well as the SF Police Department to for data on costs related to investigations, raids, and arrests.

6. Locations for collection of Oversight forms and decision re recipient [Discussion Item]

Marijuana Offenses Oversight Committee Incident Report Forms need to be available at MOOC meetings. Members of the public were asked to complete forms and bring them to the next meeting, or send them through HopeNet/ Axis/ Committee Member Raja’s office prior to the next meeting.

a. Public comment was taken.

7. General public comment was received and discussed:

a. What if person affected is from another country? Not MOOC purview.
b. When doing survey of forms, include geographic consideration. Problems are not at Dolores Park or other parts of the City, but in the Tenderloin with shakedowns and undercover cops.
c. Another member of the public noted that arrests are made in Dolores Park, the Sunset, and Lakeview, at places where they are trying to keep places “clean” and “nice.”
d. Has MOOC liaisoned with harm reduction case managers?
e. Can there be a side-by-side comparison survey of cigarette smokers cited by officers at bus shelters compared to cannabis smokers?
f. 24-hour Hotline now available to do citizen complaints (415) 595-8251 (bilingual English/Spanish). The number belongs to Committee Member Monge-Irizarry.
g. Review of Committee Seats:
Catherine Smith, Dispensary Operator Michael Barbitta, Harm Reduction Practitioner
Richard Rendon, Social Worker Meesha Monge-Irizarry, Civil Liberties Advocate
Gregory Ledbetter, Patient
h. Former SFPD Captain Denis O’Leary, is now second in command of San Francisco National Security, supports cannabis issues.

8. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 12:20 p.m.