MARIJUANA OFFENSES
OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
MINUTES
November 29, 2007, 10:00 am – 11:30 am
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton Goodlett Place, Rm. 278
1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
The first meeting of the Community Oversight Committee was called to order at 10:15 a.m. Camilla Field, Committee Co-Chair
Present:
Patt Denning
Camilla Norman Field, Committee Co-Chair
Michael Goldstein, Committee Co-Chair
Richard Rendon
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion to approve minutes from July 26 and October 11 meetings made by Camilla Field and second by Patt Denning.
Ayes: Camilla Norman Field, Michael Goldstein, Patt Denning, and Richard Rendon.
Nays: None.
Absent: Cathy Smith and Mira Ingram.
Committee still to approve minutes from the November 29 meeting.
Ms. Field will ensure the approved minutes are posted to the Website.
3. Presentation by Deputy District Attorney Sharon Woo
Deputy District Attorney Sharon Woo was unable to attend the meeting – to be rescheduled.
4. Discussion and Approval of Incident Report
Ms. Field has agreed to revise the form based on the committees agreed upon recommendations and disseminate the form via email.
A question was raised regarding which Federal benefits are affected by a marijuana arrest and/or conviction.
Ms. Field tabled this question for future committee meeting for committee to investigate and report back to committee.
Ms. Denning agreed to write a short paragraph on interviewing questions and protocol in order to create a simple standardized format to be followed by interviewers.
Ms. Field announced that revisions and the passing out of the questionnaire will be discussed at the December 18, 2007 Committee meeting.
Public Comment:
Mikki Norris had questions regarding the format and procedure that questionnaire will be completed.
Michael Aldrich recommended interview training for whoever will be collecting the information for the Community Incident Reports.
5. Committee Updates
Office of the District Attorney (Camilla Norman Field and Cathy Smith): Ms. Field will reschedule Deputy District Attorney to present at a future meeting.
Board of Supervisors (Michael Goldstein and Camilla Norman Field): Ms. Field confirmed with Zach Tuller (Legislative Aide, Office of Supervisor Ammiano) that translation services are available for the Community Incident Report. Ms. Field is still trying to contact Dan MacAllair (Executive Director, Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice) who can provide insight – and possibly assistance) – on gathering data from San Francisco's law enforcement departments and hopes to have an update at the subsequent meeting..
San Francisco Police Department/San Francisco Police Commission (Michael Goldstein, Cathy Smith, and Mira Ingram): Mr. Goldstein passed out blank police incident reports to the committee and will be sending a blank copy via email to committee members. Mr. Goldstein spoke on the addendum to the incident report and the need for the committee to review the current incident report and make suggestions. Michael Goldstein will be reporting on accessing marijuana offense data from the police commission, but warned that police commission meeting is in January and may impact reporting deadline.
Office of the Public Defender (Aleem Raja, Patt Denning, and Richard Rendon): No update.
Community (Mira Ingram, Cathy Smith, and Richard Rendon): No update.
Other: Ms Field announced that she will be leaving her current position at the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) but will continue as a consultant for DPA to work specifically on the Committee through April 2008 (and issuance of the first report to the Board of Supervisors).
6. Public comment
Public commented on the importance of looking at age as a demographic in the police data.
Public was very favorable on committee progress
7. ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Field adjourned the meeting at 11:25 am.
