Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

Morning everyone. The meeting will come to order. Come to the thursday, october 3 meeting of the government audit and Oversight Committee. I am supervisor gordon mar. It i am joined by supervisor brown, and supervisor peskin. I would like to think matthew and korman at sfgovtv for staffing the meeting. Please ensure you have silence your cell phones and other electronic devices. Copies of any document you have to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. Items acted upon today will appear on the october 22, 2019 board of supervisors agenda. Thank you, mr. Clark. Please call items 12 and three together. Agenda items 13. Three ordinances for item one, 190832. Memorandum of understanding Fire Fighters including Firefighters Union union local 798, units one and two, to update the Union Security serve update provisions and Laborers International union local 261 to open date the overtime compensation and Health Insurance provisions. Thank you. I would like to invite carol to present on this item. Good morning, chairman mar, and supervisors. Before the amendments to existing labor agreements. I will start with a firefighters agreements. The first environment involves the security provisions. At the time we negotiated this labor agreement. Not yet fully developed, it is on administrative processes for Union Security, and union dues deduction. We have since resolved that issue. We have worked it out with all of the unions. As promised we are circling back to the firefighters to update their language on Union Security. That is what that person is about. We agreed to that premium in 2018 negotiations, but we had many errors in citation of the firehouses and where those individuals would be house. We have corrected that administrator lee, and now we are asking you to allow us to update that in the labor agreement. With respect to the laborers union, once bargaining had concluded, both parties were somewhat dissatisfied with two separate portions of the labor agreement. After discussion we agreed to modify both of those sections. The controller has deemed them both to because neutral. One involves the employees contribution to family medical, involves overtime calculations. Thank you. Colleagues you have any questions. Thank you. Are there any members of the public that would like to speak on this item . Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Colleagues, can we recommend these items to the full board without objection . Great. Thank you. Mr. Clerk to please call item number four. Agenda item number four is the hearing on the 20182019 civil grand jury report entitled joint Terrorism Task force balancing Public Safety with civil rights thank you. I would like to welcome harvey of the civil grand jury who will make brief remarks and introduce the Committee Chair, Janet Andrews. Ms. Harvey is not here. Are there representatives from the civil grand jury to present on this item . Okay. Well, i do want to thank the civil grand jury for all of your work this year. At our last government audit and Oversight Committee meeting we had hearings on three other important reports that you issued. The report today on the joint Terrorism Task force and San Franciscos involvement in it. I think its also very important. I get so much for your work on that and highlighting that issue. I did want to note that there were responses to the civil grand jury recommendation in this report issued by the mayor and Police Department. Consolidate a. There was also a response from the chair of the Police Commission. Those have already been a part of the Public Record for the civil grand jury report. You know, i guess actually in order to have a fuller public understanding of the important issues around the joint Terrorism Task force. I did want to invite a special expert member of the public to speak on this, um. So, um, that is mike who is a fellow at the Brennan Center for justice. Um, mr. Jerman is going to make a five minute presentation. May be able give you a little bit more um adequate in deduction. Regularly called upon and share his expertise with congress on f. B. I. Related subjects. Um, he is a former f. B. I. Special agent who, during his 16 year career, specialized in domestic terrorism and covert operations. On two occasions he used constitutionally sound techniques to infiltrate two different groups of violent White Supremacists to prevent terrorist attacks. He recently published a book entitled disrupt, discredit and divide. How the new f. B. I. Damages democracy. Congresswoman and chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus says his a critical insight into the initiative taken up by the f. B. I. In the aftermath of 9 11 is a none. We appreciate this opportunity to supplement the civil grand jurys report findings, and recommendations. To expand and enhance our discussion. Thank you very much. I do want to thank the members of the civil grand jury, respectively the subject is not capture the scope of what i request. Detailing how post 9 11 alterations to the f. B. I. s guidelines, and changes to electronic surveillance laws meant to that f. B. I. Intelligence collection programs and investigations now lack the reasonable criminal predicates that were designed to help the americans from unwarranted government scrutiny. It would be extremely difficult for San Francisco Police Officers operating under these current guidelines and having routine access to the databases containing information collected without suspicion of wrongdoing to meaningful comply with local ordinance and general order 8. 10. [reading notes] targeting communities of color, american muslims, immigrants, environmentalists, activists, and black activists protesting police violence. I can provide that written testimony for the record in the brief time i have i can focus on particular concerns with the grand jury report. First, the grand jurys allegation to nonparticipation in the jttf versus San Francisco, cuts communications with sf ed. The f. B. I. And sf ed have multiple information and nothing bars cooperation in the most important cases. Those where there is a reasonable basis to suspect somebody is breaking the law. More importantly, jttf participation is no cure to communication breakdowns. The Boston Police department was a trade participant when the f. B. I. Received warnings that it was a terrace that. Information in that case was not properly shared among jttf members before the Boston Marathon bombing. The orlando Police Department was a jttf member before twice investigated, committed mass murder and in the local nightclub. The department of defense investigators a review of the 2,009 fort hood shooting determined that the data explosion within the f. B. I. Hindered proper identification and sharing a information. Participation in jttf does not reduce the risk of communicator breakdown. San franciscans are safer when Law Enforcement resources is not evidence and not bias. Certainly innocent victims of abusive jttf activities would not be safer if San Francisco Police Officers assisted the f. B. I. In and intelligence collection practices. Second, the grand jury of formal complaints against Task Force Officers ignores the nearcomplete secrecy in which they operate. Jttf agents play subjects and preliminary investigations without reasonable suspicion on terrorist watch list, without revealing the impact of people. Likewise, being referenced in jttf investigations secretly influencing whether a person under investigation receives or loses immigration benefits. Sfpd officers dont themselves carry out these Immigration Enforcement actions. Its meaningless if the information they collect in unreasonable investigations is involved in such decisions. Finally, i am troubled by the grand jurys finding in the general order, a. 10 is ambiguous and confusing. The reasonable suspicion standard is one Police Officers are trained to use and multiple contacts. From kelly stops to criminal intelligence sharing under federal regulations. The suggestion that sfpd officers assigned to the jttf find ambiguity as to the meaning of a criminal investigation because it suggests they have adopted and often repeated f. B. I. Physician the tactics used in intelligence investigations do not need to comply with legal requirements of criminal investigations. It would be meaningless protection if sfpd officers can systematically collect information about the person and activities of its City Residents in intelligence databases without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, simply by claiming they were not conducting a criminal mastication. Counterterrorism policies and practices are most impacted when they respect the Constitutional Values in a rule of law, and are subject to stringent oversight and public accountability. As an undercover agent i found this a reasonable standard made my investigations more effective. Focusing my efforts and resources were evidence directed. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Colleagues, do you have any questions . Thank you. Thank you. I understand the civil grand jury representatives are here. I did want to invite up harvey who is the foreperson for the civil grand jury. They will introduce Janet Andrews, the Committee Chair and issue im sorry the Committee Chair for this report. Good morning. I am am raja harvey, the foreperson of the 20182019 civil grand jury. Thank you chair mar for calling this hearing, and supervisors brown and omar mateen for being part of the committee. I also want to acknowledge and thank the members of the civil grand jury who are here today. Could you please stand . Thank you. In addition, i would like to think city leadership, Law Enforcement, legal professionals and Community Advocates who provided a variety of perspectives on San Franciscos involvement with the joint terrorism given the sensitivity and the seriousness of this topic, we appreciate their input. The jury firmly believes in accountable and problem solving San Francisco government trade which brings us to our topic today. Public safety is on the minds of many san franciscans. Because the evidence of this and the news stories are on property crimes, and concerns around the quality of life a city that attracts millions of visitors from across the globe. San franciscans come at the end of the day, want to feel safe while ensuring our government protects the rights of our communities. It is in the jurys view that we explore a clearer flow of communication between our federal, and local Law Enforcement partners to uphold our San Francisco values. I want to introduce Janet Andrews house the Committee Chair for this report who will provide additional remarks. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you, supervise supervisor mar, supervisor brown, and supervisor peskin for allowing me to talk today. My name is Janet Andrews, i was chairperson for the Public Safety committee. Do to the hard work of the jury, i feel we wrote an excellent report, and i would like to thank you for allowing me the time to present our grand jury report entitled joint Terrorism Task force, balancing Public Safety and civil rights. Initially we spent an extraordinary amount of time researching several topics to report. The jttf seem to come up repeatedly in our interviews, and had a sense of importance that cannot be ignored. So our committee, with the approval of the jury decided to concentrate our efforts to find out why San Francisco, a major metropolitan city is no longer a participant in the jttf. The jury was of the opinion that the ordinary san franciscan residents was unaware of the cities nonparticipation. To be candid, i prepared an entire speech outlining the facts, the findings, the recommendations of our report. Butts, reiterating the details of the report that you have read, and you have in front of you seemed redundant. I decided at the last minute it would be better to speak from a broader perspective on what i hope we all agree on regarding this important subject. The grand jury has a unique opportunity to interview important individuals in San Francisco government to gain insight from the perspective about the topic at hand. When we started our investigation we quickly identified the key agencies involved in making the decision to join, or to not join the joint Terrorism Task force. Which included the Mayors Office, the chief of police, the sfpd, the f. B. I. , Police Commission, and Civil Liberties organizations. We were pleasantly surprised with the level of cooperation we had with all of the after mentioned agencies in getting a high level representative to speak with us and answer our questions. Several of our witnesses did not work for city agency and comply with our interview requests voluntarily. Although there were differing perspectives, and opinions on the subject of our investigati investigation, they did have something in common. They all wanted a safe San Francisco. So the question arises why has there been no publicly known progress made on this issue since february 1, 2017 . Why cant representatives sit down at the table and work out the issues if in fact they all agree on a common goal, a safe San Francisco. Why cant San Francisco continue to be a leader that others will look up to for guidance, or how to communicate and work through the tough issues . Or, are we just afraid of the political fallout . As we stated, in our report, the San Francisco civil grand jury is not recommending that the San Francisco Police Department join or not join the jttf. What we are asking is that the mayor, the chief of police, the representatives from the f. B. I. , the Police Commission, and the Civil Liberties sit down with each other and start having a meaningful dialogue that will move this issue forward. We were encouraged by the positive responses we received from the Mayors Office, the chief of police, and the we depend on our Public Servants to do the right things for the citizens of San Francisco. We deserve a safe San Francisco, and the jury is confident that if the stakeholders start meaningful conversations with each other they will be able to achieve that goal. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Colleagues, do you have any questions . Thank you. Thank you. We can go to Public Comment right now. Oh yeah, i did want to acknowledge that um present at our hearing, we have a representative from the Police Department that is deputy chief who is sfpds of field bureau. He is available to respond to questions that might come up. Why dont we go to Public Comment. There has been some Public Comment cards submitted. Speakers will have two minutes to speak. Please state your first and last name. [ name indescernible ] fifth. [reading notes] if you can please step up. Actually if your name was called on the side of the room, and then step up to speak. Thank you. Should i start . Okay. My name is [ name indescernible , im with the asian law caucus, and nonprofit in seven cisco. For almost two decades now, the f. B. I. And the jttf have targeted our communities for engaging in innocent First Amendment protected activity such as a simple act of attending a mosque the abuse against our communities will document and continues to this day. The civil grand jurys report on sfpds with the jttf is riddled with errors is particularly concerning to our community. I would like to focus on two specific issues. The report finds there was no noncompliance when sfpd was part of the jttf. However, in 2014, an sfpd officer assigned to the jttf violated local policies when he question a Muslim Community member about his First Amendment protected activities without any suspicion of wrongdoing. In 2016, the department of Police Accountability concluded that this was due to inadequate training in the department. This whole episode is missing from the grand jury report. The second issue with the report is that many of the reports findings and recommendations aimed at revising sfpd order a. 10. We thank the commission of her recognizing both of these issues on his response for not agreeing with the related recommendations. Belle foz seven cisco remains out of the jt tf we continue to see examples on targeting Community Members and interact them, and in many instances refusing to honor their right to legal representation. We urge the city, the police chief and the mayor to ensure that past violations, training and compliance issues, before any consideration is given to rejoining the jttf. We also urge that officials do not make thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. My name is [ name indescernible ] i am an attorney at the aclu of northern california. Thirty years ago the city and county of San Francisco on this board led the nation in protecting the rights of immigrants when they adopted a sanctuary ordinance. In 2013 the sport adopted the due process for all ordinance. Together these policies ensure that city resources including the San Francisco Police Department resources are used to benefit all San Francisco and regardless of immigration status. The citys policy not to assist in the Immigration Law and not to ask individuals about a decision that the San Francisco Police Department rejoined the f. B. I. Joint Terrorism Task force undermines the cities and sang policies. The civil grand jury reports minimizes the citys sanctuary obligations and incorrectly minimizes the risk to immigrants. If sfpd rejoins jttf, sfpd officers will be cross designated as jttf agents. Sfpd officers will be required to collect information, during their assessment and investigative activity pursuant to the f. B. I. s baseline collection plan sfpd officers will be required to conduct u. S. Persons status checks. In other words, checks of immigration status and federal databases of all people who are subject of an assessment. This information is recorded in the f. B. I. Case files and federal databases that are accessible to u. S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. This standard jttf activity is performed for the f. B. I. By sfpd officers violates the city sfpds Department Order 5. 15. It does not matter that the immigration status information is sought from federal databases or from individuals. It does not matter if the sfpd officer makes use of the information during the jttf assessment investigation. Travertines policy prohibits the inquiry from being made at all. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. I am john crew. A retired attorney from the aclu speaking for myself. I was a Police Practice specialist for the organization for 20 years and have worked extensively on these issues. I want to thank the supervisors, and their aides for the diligence in holding this hearing and performing this oversight function. Its above and beyond, especially since you dont have a recommendation youre acting upon. I think bringing light to this issue is very apartment. I also want to thank Police Commissioner president bob hirsch for the detailed way in the careful way he has studied up on this topic that is reflected in his responses. Anyone who wants to fully understand the issue should read president hirschs responses. Let me quickly say, i appreciate the grand jury looking into this topic. When i met with them, i warrant that this is a complex topic filled with misinformation. They wanted to promote a discussion. I appreciate that. The discussion needs to it has been grossly oversimplified. You have letters, correspondence and quite a bit of material. But, this issue from the standpoint, ill tell you what we agree on, we we agree with that. The f. B. I. Is good. They do some good things, they also did some bad things, as you heard therefore, being in the f. B. I. Jttf is a good thing and it is inherently bad that San Francisco, that is not true. San francisco is more safe having made the decision to leave the jttf, there is greater confidence in the Police Department because of that. [laughter] i also think that the assumption that somehow there is less a communication, because they are not in the jttf this a fundamentally false. Commissioner hirsch says that his fall. The Police Department gave an award to an officer for intervening in a situation successfully resolving a violent situation. Why . Because the f. B. I. Picked up the phone and told sfpd about it. It is alarmist and inaccurate to suggest things are dangerous. This is a complex topic and we cannot pretend his history did not take place. The idea that San Francisco does not know this, there were years of hearings and history, and press coverage thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello. Im the Government Relations coronation. Every year, every month we received cases from Community Members of f. B. I. Harassment. The f. B. I. Coming to their doors, their places of work, you know, knocking on their doors, harassing them and asking them questions. You know, we see this time and time again especially with the Muslim Community. To have the sfpd consider rejoining the jttf is incredibly problematic. We would not want that to happen because there is already enough mistrust with Community Members and the police. To add that added level of considering that as a Police Officer could be also a jttf officer, following federal guidelines which are definitely weaker compared to city, county and state guidelines. Federal officers are allowed to religiously profile. We do not want that. This goes against San Francisco values. As the previous speaker said, the jttf can share information with ice and other federal agents which goes against our centroid policies. We do not want this to happen. We need to, you know, take a strong look as john crew had mentioned. This is a very complex issue. We really need to think hard and long about this. With the implications on the problem that there has already been so many violations as is in terms of with the Police Department and their interactions with the f. B. I. We need to make sure that we protect San Francisco residents. We make sure that we have transparency, accountability and make sure that we protect the civil rights. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning, supervisors. I work for local 87. I have Benjamin Netanyahu active member of the San Francisco community for the last ten years. I am here on behalf of local 87 where i am an organizer and a foreman for the association and in the Muslim Community. As a member of the american Muslim Community i have seen and heard the surveillance on racial profiling of my community for the past two decades. In 2012 i went to my community with local 87 as part of the 79 coalition for the state of San Francisco. We work hard to protect our communities from f. B. I. Harassments and finally passed the safe San Francisco civil rights ordinance. We are concerned about the way the f. B. I. Was using the San Francisco Police Department to target muslims and minority communities. [reading notes] our communities and families felt safer, our Union Workers were more protected. To this day, the f. B. I. Continues to compile our communities because of our religion and nation of origin. San francisco leads the nation and we want to continue leading. We help our Community Members can continue trusting our local Police Department. At the end i ask that sfpd to not rejoin the jttf. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for giving us time to speak. My name is [ name indescernible , i am the president of the American Organization in the bay area. First i want to think commissioner bob hirsch for his commitment to all of our community and for paying attention to all of our civil rights concerns. This issue is really important to me, my family, and the Community Members. Our community is suffering from the muslim ban and unjust laws. In San Francisco, we have local laws and policies that protect us from injustice that the federal government carries out against us. We need to make sure that sfpd officers continue to follow laws so that the Muslim Community has protection from the f. B. I. We need to know that San Francisco Police Officers will stay out of the jttf and value the communities which they are swearing to protect. I hope the Mayors Office and board of supervisors and Police Commission will continue to keep San Francisco safe. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. My name is [ name indescernible , i am part of the yemeni American Organization but i prefer to be San Francisco resident. I want to thank commissioner hirsch for their commitment to our community. I also want to thank the police chief and mayor for the response. This issue is really important to me, and to my family, and my community. We need our officers to continue following a stronger local law so that the Muslim Community has some protection from the f. B. I. We need to know that San Francisco Police Officers will not profile the Muslim Community like the f. B. I. Does. San Francisco Police department staying out firmed jttf is one way to protect us. Our local Police Department should be accountable to the community, not to the f. B. I. I hope the Mayors Office, board of supervisors and the Police Commission will continue to keep San Francisco safe from the f. B. I. , and San Francisco. Finally, i am so surprised on in 2019 and people still see my religion and my background. I am a San Francisco resident and i am proud to be. I need everybody to be safe, like me. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning, supervisors. I am an attorney and an immigrant rights commissioner in the city and county of San Francisco. I am also a San Francisco resident of district two. I question the timing of this effort to have our San Francisco Police Department rejoin the jttf. At a time when President Trump has torn our enemies of hard against the racist, bigoted muslim ban. At at a time when our chili children are bullied for the sound of the names, the religion and the clothing that they wear. I had a time when our Corner Stores on homes are targets of a time when the f. B. I. Illegally surveilled our mosques we have waited eight years and continue to wait for the courts to bring justice. Imagine if this was your church or your synagogue. At a time when federal bullies riddled the body, and two years later we did not know why this happened after a fender bender. I question the timing of this effort. We are still seething, and our wounds are still fresh. I will say this. Chief scott and the travertine under his leadership have stood in solidarity with our community. Thank you to them, sincerely. We look forward to being a part of this discussion before a decision is made. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you so much for having us here today. I would also like to thank the Police Commissioner, the police chief and the mayor for the responses to the i am a Community Advocate for the asian law caucus and i live and work in San Francisco. Im a proud muslim and a proud resident of the same state they a add in a city which leads the nations. As members of the arab, eastern and south muslim communities in San Francisco. We appreciate the way San Francisco has tried to uplift our voices and protect the civil rights of our community. From becoming a sanctuary city, since 1989 to banning take over facial recognition technology. We are known for being a city. As you all know, since 9 11, the f. B. I. Has systematically targeted and harass members of the community and carried out problematic sting operations. [reading notes] we know there are countless others i continued to be targeted and accused of crimes they did not commit only because of the religion and national origin. Under the Current Administration we have seen explicit language and policies come that are racist. It is no secret of the federal government uses Law Enforcement to subrogate immigrant families, keep us incarcerated and violate our civil rights. We urge the city, to engage with civil rights organizations and community memos on this issue and address our concerns before even considering joining the transit jttf pray thank you so much. Anyone else i would like to speak on this matter . Good morning, supervisors. I want to thank you guys are having this hearing in the manner which you are, and allowing the stakeholders i am the president of sei you local 87. I represent about 5,000 janitors that working on the private sector cleaning the beautiful skyline. We love our city of savitz cisco. I represent a very large immigrant population of every nationality you can think of. I represent families that are constantly being the targets whether it is taking their kids to school, whether its on the job, and my responsibility as a Union President is not just stopping at the contract we negotiate but it goes further than that by being able to help our members at the School District that they are sending the kids in, being advocates for them and allowing our members to be able to learn how to become advocates for themselves and their families. I want to start by saying i am most chilling conflicted on come on behalf of our members i want to be able to planted out there. We are not asking you to adopt the recommendations on jttf. Our city and our local governments should be working to be able to shield marginalized communities and are finding more opportunities to communities. It was really refreshing to hear the gentle may give his report, to talk about that even in cities that have adopted these types of programs they were not able to prevent tragedies from happening. This is only an example. However i want to be able to give you a perspective that the grand jury is very disconnected from the reality and conditions that immigrants live in on a daily basis. There are a shootings against mexicans, immigrants, women, muslims throughout the country. I would hope that this commission will allow us, you as supervisors, will allow us to continue to protect the families that we are responsible for. Thank you. Any other members of the public that wish to speak on this item . Seeing then. Public comment is closed. I would like to thank all of the Community Advocates on the Community Members for sharing your perspective and highlighting the very important, and continuing need to protect Civil Liberties and the rights of the Muslim Community and immigrant communities here in the city. I did want to add that in getting briefed on this issue, you know, i did learn in 2017, the f. B. I. Shared a white paper with travertine chief scott which provides f. B. I. Perspective on the impact of San Franciscos law and policies on sfpds prior and potential participation in the joint terrorist task force. The very topic of this hearing. I understand that the f. B. I. s position is that the white paper can only be released through a public foia request and there is pending litigation on this. As a member of this legislative body, i can formally request a copy of the white paper from the f. B. I. Special agent in charge, john f bennett, but i have yet to receive a response. If San Francisco is to make decisions on its joint activities with federal agencies, it is crucial to first access information in the contents of this document about how the f. B. I. Understands our local laws. I would like to add this letter to the Public Record to express the need for transparency on matters of the joint Terrorism Task force. With the committee clerk, adaline in the minutes regarding my submission of this letter, and added to the public file. Of course. Thank you. Since ms. Miranda was making a request to the committee, i did want to ask um deputy City Attorney john gartner to um clarify what the obligation and responsibility of the board action on this item is. Deputy City Attorney john gartner. When the report includes a list of the findings and regulations and designates a city departments to respond to each finding a niche recommendation. Many civil grand jury reports require the board of supervisors to provide responses to findings or recommendations. This report is not. The board is not obligated to respond to any of the specific findings or recommendations in this report. The board could, and a supervisor introduce a resolution at any meeting regarding the joint Terrorism Task force. We have an ordinance regarding the citys participation, as well. Which the board could further legislate. Thank you, mr. Gartner. Um again i want to thank the civil grand jury members on the Committee Members that were focused on this particular report, for all of your work in investigating these really important issues um, you know, how we can balance Public Safety and the need to really protect our city from terrorist threats. Um with also protecting Civil Liberties and immigrant communities. Um i think as everybody spoke today, these are very important um issues today in 2019. Theyre also very complex and complicated issues. Um, you know, i think you report um really helped promote some really important discussions that will continue here, at city hall, and in our city um. Colleagues, do you have any comments . Thanks again everyone for being here and sharing your perspectives. Um, um, i guess, colleagues, he filed his hearing without objection . Thank you. Thanks everyone. Mr. Clark, please call item number five. A hearing to receive the office of the chief medical examiners annual report on accreditation updates as required by admin code section 2a. 30. Thank you. Supervisor peskin, the floor is yours. Thank you, chair mar as supervisor brown. As i indicated at the meeting before last, when folks were not able to testify great as long as i have been kicking around this building, the issue of medical examiner has come and gone, and come again. I think in 1999, 2,000, the civil grand jury issued a repo report, um, about some of the infirmities and the medical Examiners Office. Um to the city and county of San Francisco has invested i believe 80 million in a new medical examiners facility um, there are still issues out there. I highlighted some of them when we briefly spoke about this. I wanted to um have a constructive hearing about how this very important littleknown function, in government, can be made the best it can be. I think we have that opportunity as we are in the process of recruiting a new medical examiner. This function of government falls under the city administrator. I thought it would be helpful, particularly as the city administrator to make it very public that the board of supervisors is here to help. That we understand how important this function in government is, how it can be improved. There can be a number of issues that the city administrator can help on. Laws are accreditation under the association of medical examiners which is being corrected. Reacquaint numbers of the board with all of the complex functions of this 11 million per year department, or functi function. With that, with your indulgence, mr. Chairman, ask of the and give us a brief presentation about the medical Examiners Office on what our goals are and what some of the challenges are. Good morning, supervisors. Naomi kelley, city administrator. Today i have with me deputy city administrator and the doctor amy hart who is the active chief medical examiner. We provide Forensic Services to San Francisco. They investigate sudden, unexpected and violent deaths. They provide critical information to help attract community health. And they perform direct screening. We are constantly working with the staff to strive with compassion as they interact with families that one of the most difficult times in their lives. Required by law to determine the cause and manner of death for cases under its legal jurisdictions such as suspected homicides, or suicides, deaths following an accident or injury, death that may have occurred due to a criminal act. Deaths of unidentified and incarcerated persons. As supervisor peskin noted, its an 11 milliondollar budget, it is a 24 7 operation. We have currently 36 fulltime employees for that department. There is the investigative unit, that investigates investigations and family notifications. There is a medical division which are for our forensic pathologist doctors. There is a Forensic Laboratory. And then there is administration. A few of the reports that come from our annual reports i thought it would share with you. You can see this is our caseload over the last five years. You can see there are death investigations, in the dark blue, and then there are toxicology cases in the great. You can see where they are compared over the last five years, since 1819, the statistics are preliminary and still we need to review to finalize them for our annual report which will be published later this year. I should note 1819 there has been a spike in death investigations and toxicology cases do to increasing deaths related to fentanyl and methamphetamine. Increased testing for Sexual Assault cases, too. The next report is cause and manner of death. You can see how many deaths have been through Natural Causes, accidents, suicide, homicide, and summers undetermined. And some are undetermined. The manner and cause cannot be definitively identified. Example in such cases include times when the remains are too badly decomposed to analyze, or when evidence in the case is not clearly allow determination between the accident, suicide or homicide. Ms. Kelly, maybe you can go back to that slide . There is a market spike in the currents, not yet finalized year of both Natural Causes, as well as accidents, although thankfully a decrease in suicides. What do you attribute that to . Are death by overdose are those accidents or Natural Causes . I am going to let the deputy city administrator answer that. I will start by answering if any of the professionals behind me disagree, they can jump up. Deputy city administrator, good morning, supervisors. The overdoses would fall typically under accidents. Natural causes would be other. Part of what we want to emphasize is that these numbers are preliminary, it is particularly unusual increase in 418 for Natural Causes, one of the things we are looking at, there may be additional cases that we have taken under our investigation. We receive over 2,000 cases per year, referred to the medical Examiners Office. There is only a set of those cases that we are determined to fall under our and investigate. Then they become part of that number typically that number of cases is 11001200 per year. This spike closer to 1400 is a bit unusual. That is something we are going to be looking in much more detail and as the city administrator said, when we release our annual report later this calendar year we will have detail in their analyzing what we think are the reasons for that spike. Under the accidents, definitely one of the major contributors there is an increase in drug related deaths. That is also a good segue to talk about how we collaborate with departments and other agencies. The department of Public Health being one of them. We do do regular information sharing particularly around drug related fatalities. Also around wellness checks, as i had mentioned, undetermined designation where bodies are so mummified where the wellness checks happening and there has been a lot of work with the medical examiner and Public Health to start addressing these issues. Their quarterly interdepartmental meetings. There is a death review that happens quarterly. The elder death review, the child death review and the Domestic Violence and death review. Additionally, daily, there is daily notifications in deaths involving children, elderly, homeless or individuals on public assistance, fire related deaths and pedestrian vehicle related deaths. They do consult of work with the state, national and International Researchers and forensic before i move onto the next slide on accomplishments. I should address the administrative challenges that we are dealing with and have for some time. Even though they are challenges that im about to go through, we are starting to roll up our sleeves and address them not only at the city administrative offers but on the chief medical Examiners Office. One is communication protocols with our Law Enforcement agencies. Making sure they are consistently providing the same information to everyone in a timely manner. As you know we are actively recruiting a chief medical examiner, and we are recruiting other positions in the Administrative Office division. The name accreditation, the name as the National Association of medical examiners association, voluntary occur accreditation but its when we take pride in. Unfortunately that lapsed during this last year. I would probably say primarily sell because we were doing a major move from the hall of justice to one new hall. And that move, such as moving people and files all all of our toxicology machines that do a lot of the work and validating all of the instruments that the medical examiners and the toxicologists use in their daytoday job. Nonetheless, its not an excuse, and it should not of happened and we are we need to build trust with the public and community at large. That is something that is a challenge and we are working on that actively right now. I would be remiss to not say there is a lot of great work that happens at the medical Examiners Office. I feel a need to talk about some of the accomplishments. We did relocate from the hall of justice to a new stateoftheart facility and forensic lab at one newhall. We did renew a regulatory requirement, the american board of talks ill just accreditation for the forensic lab. We implemented a new Case Management system with a new Laboratory Information. With new Laboratory Information Management Systems under development. And, thanks to doctor rowe improved our protocols for Sexual Assault investigations. We have partnered with other agencies to respond to increasing deaths. For fiscal year 20, our number one goal which we are actively doing and are actively interviewing right now is recruiting a new chief medical examiner. We will renew name accreditation for the office of the chief medical examiner. Launch a new management including instrument integra geisha as services and Information Available to the public via the website. Improve communications with Law Enforcement agencies, continue to work on protocols for Sexual Assault investigations and improve communications and services with family members. That is my presentation. If you have any questions we are all here to answer. Thank you. Relative to the 36 physicians. You know how many of those are vacant and how many are filled. Just by way of background. One thing we all agree on is that there has been chronic understaffing. There are currently, aside from the chief physician in the medical division it is filled, so we have all of our forensic positions filled. The toxicology toxicology forensic lab Division Recently had two vacancies which we are in the process of filling. Administrative there, there is a position which is vacant that a person will start next month. Technically, right now, we have chief position and to toxicology positions vacant. Thank you. One thing the city administrator did not touch on. Sorry for taking you by surprise, relative to backlogs, how long it takes to produce, i mean, this happens at the worst time, you know, family or friends life, how long does it take to produce the reports as a cause of death. As our backlog in the area . There are two Different Things that are important and what the office does in terms of reports. There is a death certificate itself which of the office it did change protocols under doctor hunter, the prior chief medical examiner. The death certificate itself, the cause and manner of death is issued very quickly, typically within the first ten days. And then the actual final report which often times may be pending further toxicology testing, or may additional investigation. That has taken a longer period of time. The name standard is to issued the final determination and report, 90 within 90 days. Our goal continues to reach that. We have particularly difficult time doing that in 2018, after the department move to the new location. All of our Forensic Laboratory equipment was being recertified. We fell very behind in that part of it. During the last two quarters of the last fiscal year we are now regularly the average of completing a toxicology testing is down to 71 days