Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20160216

The collaboration. Director. Good afternoon, everyone this is a tight room so as the u. S. Attorney mentioned im bryan the director of the Departments Community Services Office in short the office was created in 1994 with the task of nationwide nationwide we do have grants and over 14 million in grant and through tech adjoins were here to announce the acholic Beverage Initiative that provides the kind of assessment and tech assistance requested before i get there ill explain fully was we look at policing across the United States we have a defining momentum and understandable high calls for increased taint and accountability the way the police engages our concerns and the tragedy that occurr ed coward in ferguson and new york and last year put together a task force for the 21st Century Policing since that time the task force has put out a report that has recommended for implementation and one as t the executive director how job to make sure we can help Law Enforcement implement those recommendations as bryan mentions in responded to the President Task force we created a policing Accountability Initiative we appoint will youll hear if to work with over 16 thousand Law Enforcement agencies with the United States one of the best ways to implement those and how to build electrotrust that is about this trust and priority the president ae ts and the terrorizing so we look at the acholic beverage form of San Francisco and most of cities were seeing working around the country noble chief ray will talk about that but when San Francisco asked for the process in diego to do this process a process we looked at talked to the attorney general and the Civil Rights Division and looked at it where San Francisco is at and the teaches elected leadership and support of the leadership and whether the Police Commission or the board of supervisors and came to the conclusion that the best services we provide San Francisco at the this specific time and look at the community lisped eir leadership is the review it will be independent and comprehensive it will be very thorough well see a candid response what is and not working and help to equip the San Francisco community to better understand where the Police Department is at and good afternoon them to hold the department will accountable not only to the law but the law is a lower bar but to the best practices of the policing in the country we have a Police Department that can became become a model agency the 21st Century Policing thats your goal and objective and the way to make sure that we, in fact, do engage at a very thorough assessment i want to make sure that before we goat questions or comments that you keep in mind San Francisco a unique opportunity to deal with the challenges not unique to San Francisco the trust and losing the the record will reflect happens around the crisis we know that Many Community of color like the franchise do have a trust the Law Enforcement and we hope that the lessons lenders from San Francisco and others incident will help to guides the 16 thousand agencies we can call it a better perform this is to get the elected professionals and dont deeply into the department what is working and not working and have a public process youll know exactly and come up with a recommendation that will help transform the department that we can be proud that will serve all of San Francisco a department that is a model for the nation so it may seem like American People ambitious goal we tell the department chief and i have had several communications to know exactly what is happening this is asking for transparency, accountability this is what the chief says and the business is facility not knowing deciding not to know and deciding we dont want to know the truth if so fatality to the relationship of Law Enforcement the community that is whether an opportunity to talk about the policing our Public Safety is not just for the criminal justice but to make sure the explicit did living up to the standards of best practices and 72 hours accountable to the community and accountable to the officials and that you have the confidence in the ability to provide those kinds of services this is the first step and it is a volunteer process it requires commitment on behalf of the city and when we decide whether to come to a location part of it we need to see the commitment not only from the police and the mayors making a request but the confidence that the whole city and Community Want that kind of transformation and they play a significant roll in the process from the elected officials to the board of supervisors and the Police Department and everyone has to be reformed this process to work if t sit is not it is not a good process were confident well start with the people are committed and willing to achieve 2 were happy to make that announcement and Work Together ill bring up as i said we created this office as a retro office to find some place to lead this National District court and chief ray is a long dwifshd career in Law Enforcement and known for being a social justice advocate and served time the the president and so someone that practices what we preachers and this is the kind of or more we see this and throughout the nation to work alcohol with the capitol hill and other advanced recommendations e recommendations so we brought him here to make sure it San Francisco is exactly the amount of services and were proud and how importanfor this is to us. Well im not the go going to take long people are starting to sweat. Good afternoon and welcome let me start off by saying ill coffer two things one to explain with acholic beverage reform is so you have a good acceptance of as a federal initiative this is relatively new i want to get into that and talk about the implementation San Francisco as well as talk about the open Data Initiative i understand the mayor and chief has talked about earlier but well talk about that and were formally launching the process for San Francisco Police Department the continue of services the department of justice is calling for it was determined as director davis and hes attorney mentioned the acholic beverage process was the best code of ethics that began with the Technical Assistance 4 years ago in las vegas and the cops offend the Reform Efforts have developed a number of excellent responses and has become a resource that the Law Enforcement agencies across the you understand were currently have reform projects in spokane washington and philadelphia and columbia and california ae and North Carolina and other plays in california and milwaukee the acholic Beverage Initiative is just a collaboration it is important to note that is an independent as what was mentioned and condition to emphasize that objective assessment that the Police Department has entered into willfully and the cooperation to do this is critical for the success the purpose of collaboration to k3406 trust providing a means to trochlgs around specific issues it is not a shortterm solution for a serious efficiency that identifies the issues within an agency that may affect the public trust and offers recommendations based on a comprehensive assessment for how to resolve those issues and enhance the public trust in relationship to the Community Agency participation the acholic beverage process is voluntary i repeat voluntary it covers the agencies they must demonstrate a recommendation and undertake significant changes as efforts to reform i am confident i am indeed confident chief suhr and mayor ed lee and otherser leaders would be involved let me start by assessing how the process starts it starts by focusing on this the assessment process senators by developing some preliminary input did we get to some goals and objectives these are communitybased the Police Department and the community be the community etc. But the goal to create some goals and objectives that will allow us to get to a focus on our assessment following the assessment ill going get to the assessment following the assessment the cops office has a report detailing the specific recommendation there will be a serious of reports were talking about transparent we have to practice what we preach and the report my office will help with the recommendations at a 6month mark and again at 12month mark and again at the end of 6month point is takes over 2 years were roberts rules of order rosters and have our experts and cops representatives that are monitoring the process that is being made the goal of the acholic beverage reform is so change the way that Law Enforcement agencies build with the Community Partnerships and help it to transformer the community and establish reforms with integrated accountable to do this this is at resources that we have on the ground to conduct our work the cops office had been a group of the interprets the field the bright and conducting combrufz with the command staff aeand as well as as long as Community Leaders and advocates and bring in Technical Assistance to conduct interviews and prepare and deliver the recommends for change the city will not ask to contribute many of in their own assets to the assessment other than as mentioned voluntary cooperation and available in support of this 234i6789 we consider this a a valuable errors for the police not only for San Francisco but w will take what we learn from San Francisco and use it as best practices across the nation thats why i have been assigned to the police and practices and accountability we want to replicate some of the things out of the process across the United States acholic beverage remorseful is an opportunity for progressively and better steps and acknowledge there are challenges at various concerns and in the ends the opportunity to part in a transparent process that should improve the best practices and improve the relationships with the community that is the bottom line here when we talk about those things of trust now to start theit is process to start well be back here on february 24th i will also on february 24th is wednesday the department of justice will host the first of several sessions in San Francisco and as of the location to be determined were in the process of determining the location i wanted to emphasize it is several locations we want to make sure we are hearing from month folks that are effected by the issues were here today for so this is a number of locations across the city let me contribution to the last issue and talk about something that is a White House Initiative as a result the present task force the 15 policing the president kicked off in may of 2015 he announced the lounge of the open police Data Initiative peace officer and let me explain what it is about the purpose of initiative to encourage the Police Departments cross the country to make better use of their data and some of you requested data an annual report but that report is summarized and your innovate getting the sense of it but open data you can look at and get a better sense of what guess golden going on so better use of data and 2r5i7b89 and to improve policing outcomes the goal is for agencies around the country to release data in an open format like cops and searchers and use of force and officer involved shooting and complaint etc. The police data helps the last night to leverage data from the processes within the department and weve seen the pro tem developing bras of data and technology the areas of earlier pension systems, body cameras and 340r79 use of force in incidents and the success of this program is really, really taken hold less than a year it was announced in may 30th departments have as i said open to the Police Officers open Data Initiative and have released 50 different data sets from use of force and pedestrian and Community Meetings and a whole lot more San Francisco has signed on to be a site for ltthe police open data initiated which is an important first step the cops office as well as the white house we will cooperate our efforts to move forward with the certificate of appropriateness open data ems to the honorable 3 and 4 clapping. thank you chief ray let me express my appreciation to attorney general lynch and assistant bryan stretch that answered the call that police chief and i made to an independent review of the Police Practices here in San Francisco youve already heard if the chief and director davis what theyre approach will be i want to mayor you knew the request was an open effort to make sure that we have the best practices that we can possibly have and that we measure up to the Police Practices of 21st century as the president s has articulated and the experience of director davis and chief ray and the others that theyll occur to have on the staffs to review the data we will eventually come out with we know that it is an expression that our city our Police Commission our office of citizens complaints our stakeholders and community and the board of supervisors are all working together to make sure we do doing everything we can to rebuild trust between our Police Department and the community it serves and make sure were doing it in a verifiable way in a data driven way in a true way it can be reviewed so that we can off ourselves up in a transparency like never before i think this is good for the city i asked the chief this b be done we quite frankly needs to get the trust and move quickly that didnt mean on a day to day basis we give up on good policing every single day were working with the community to do that were working during this event were hosting to make sure everyone is safe and conduct ourselves the higher way and informed way with all our communities members but this review is important to us important simple that we get victims of crime that is truly transparent to everyone that we are more than willing to be the best standard Police Department the country and that put ourselves out there to insure we gain the criticism that we need to have in order to be a better city i welcomed this i applaud the efforts of our department of justice to do that and come in i know that in talking with mr. Davis and attorney stretch that is relatedly a new service the past the department of justice had to force their way into many cities without the need of cooperation and as chief ray said this is a acholic beverage effort well give up the information and allow ourselves to be imposed by way of practices and the practices we should have and those we should adopt this is what more than cities should do to increase the safety and the trust that we all are the process of building in everything we do i want to see is that it didnt end or start with our Police Department this is obviously one of the most important things were doing with the department of justice as the mayor i have to be finding on education and focused on in equality and focused on Affordable Housing have to be focused on making sure our neighborhoods are not living in isolation a lot of people feel that they do sometimes and it starts with the eyes needs for the attitudes that point those goals our city continues to improve itself in every community the city to make sure that our city is responsive i want to say thank you to doj it is just a start well put the necessary resources when theyre recommendations that are made they wont be in followup with the board of supervisors and the city and making sure that we comply more than comply we equally seize the opportunity to be a more modern city. Thank you and for this chief suhr. I too want to join in the mayors comments and saying how appreciatively for the attorney stench and correct davis and others bryan stretch for agreeing to help us to come in and do the acholic beverage Reform Initiative as the appropriate level of review requested we point mayor thank you for your leadership and i will be remiss if i didnt recognize some of the local leaders on the side supervisor cowen whos the supervisor the district 10 the officer involved shooting mario woods and our president of the Police Commission commissioner loftus and the director of our office of citizens complaints that director joyce hicks and of course there almost goes without no introduction from the very onset has been requesting the review it is important to note that almost immediately after the use of mario woods it was not often anybody the trust for many residents in San Francisco was shaken and to that end i have conversations with the cops office specifically chief ray and director davis to see if we can engage in a review they thought was appropriate i was familiar about the las vegas Police Department acholic beverage youth from some years ago the 71 recommends weve began to work on with the Police Commission i assure you weve talked about the reengineering the use of force as an issue as director davis said theyre all struggling across the country with a weapons short of a firearm we have to deal with folks with beverage weapons and other weapons especially folks in country having with something other than a firearm so to that we said on the other hand, ends up well speak to the deesclation and remind the officers the sanctity of life and not only them but the community and could be suspects of crime to say it work in process weve undertaken the initial start to this with a full review and the help of the department of justice and doing what we can to rebuild the trust shaken. Open up for questions. One comment. Just one thing i dont know about the timeline i apologize to the Community Knows how this works over the next approximately 8 to 10 months will be the assessment and the besides the inspector duffy the officers and thoughts of documents and use of force cases going back several years and the toll members of the committee engaging the communitybased and one is usually less talked about but the Youth Organization what are the youths of San Francisco that may have concerns especially young felons so take into account the best practices and policy and imperial discipline and others policies and come up with a report well stay well continue to provide Technical Assistance and necessary bring in the experts along the way and give you the public report and monitoring our city of los angeles process to engage the community because our 12e789 r assessment may be one part didnt but explicit mean much the community didnt said were aware that people have difficulty getting this well move around the city to people have you know through our preschool process that people have to have a voice they have to know that City Government and governments are listening they have a fair opportunity to share their examiners we can learn from that. At this time ill open up for questions. My apologies at this point. The District Attorney said there was an obstruction in the investigation for getting documents and is your office go about to an investigation and District Attorney cant get the inaudible on the murder of mario woods so a great question later today, well be meeting with folks our process is without contradiction and one of the things well be looking at want transparent of the bart and the sfefkz year and a half enough detail whether they should and shouldnt get the documents but leave it up to the District Attorney and the families put together our intent to meet with them and the Community Leader to see their prospective well be open and transparent and share and it is well be candid if there is an obstruction weigh be crystal before waiting 6 to 8 months to share we share it with the department and now with that said, that is not what is happening ill leave it up to the city but our process is about trained well evaluate that. How so that diversity from the civil rights versus the division and any requirement to input our recommendation and would there is requirement inaudible how. Thats a great question when 9 gentleman a referring to on the continuances of services theres a process called a pattern practice investigation thats a civil process and a proposals the difference what theyre similar and the process the initial assessment 8 to 10 months neiman is where your los gatos an in depth top to bottom investigation and the recommendations and the didnt even did recommendations we come up with the specific recommendations if it is the civil rights theyll be entered spots city and impossible requirements with our process it is not encompassed with a culdesacks but with the Public Opinion that can be just as important when the Community Knows when the Police Department is supposed to be doing were not a civil or a enforcement arm of United States but youll get an in depth assessment and understanding where the department is at and the recommendation to get mind of them that is not only constitutional but amongst the best practices the 12 policing and the community will be empowered to hold us accountable to those standards this is quite frankly where is the mayor and board of supervisors look at how they embrace those recommendations that is with the Police Department. Was there not cops you are in cooperation with the sfpd with them 2 years ago with the lindsey review was conducted by your department and the agreement of the San Francisco Police Department. No, i dont believe so we have the reform around since 2011 we named San Francisco the teeth weve node done an assessment of the San Francisco Police Department. Is there a element of confidentiality in the mission of transparent the request for candor inaudible really. Without the community being inaudible . Absolutely it will be impossible to garter the information so well be hearing from the interview but the report one way or the other wont identify the officers alibi as is team goes 2, 3, 4 ride along these we know that part will be confidentiality well have an opportunity for interviews and talk to the police union and the communitybased organizations and concerned about at their own were talk to them this is there are issues we should be focusing on but that part well not say who we talk to and get people to be open i see our experience your challenge any city were not were starting the process in San Francisco one they know ill ask the community to look at because people are concerned many cases i think my cherns shows the for the right of Police Officers want to do do right thing this is the opportunity they become very vocal and supportive of the idea of change who wants to be not disrespect two wants to want the community to respect them and not have respect to make their jobs safer that makes it better and the crime fooishth relationship better so the level is important, however, well not support thats an issue that is a culture whether this is an ongoing investigation. Go im Paulette Brown i lost my son 9 years ago the homicide on here in to and we want to bring up about the racism were not inaudible i understand mario woods issue but here ive been on the battlefield and met with the mayor and ive may be seated point chief suhr for the last 9 years and if you wanted more mothers like myself we need to be healed ive been around supervisor cowen, commissioner president loftus and everyone knows me, im bringing awareness to every mother suffering florida in silence to homicide we want to understand mario woods and we understand but we want the same uproar but our children being murdered and what is happening in our community. Im sorry for your loss i agree with you very much so as we look at Building Trust the Police Department the community as we look at the engaging of the best practices we also know that this is also the best way to fight claim to enhance Public Safety and monitor the trust you have a hive case vicinity people will come forward and talk about the murders and find many ways would be against here on behalf of the appellant i think we share that and from the attorney general were linked fetch constitutional basis to president obama policing is a way to make your Community Safer and established relationships so with your lost in mind this important it is not about a triggering case but looking at where the department what two as a nation and it is about thousands of cases were talking about so thank you very much for that question. I still want to be on the advisory board. Id like to you to respond inaudible . So i can afford you the latter the bottom line i appeared before the blueribbon committee no stonewalling and the documents that blueribbon committee asked for where for the to the da to pass to the blueribbon committee by whatever law some of those are confidential developments and the resources were thank you for the opportunity overseeing documents to us saying the committee was not attached to the District Attorneys office an Advisory Committee to it end the documents were there to provide the public documents. Right here. Chief he one way or another in the da interviews the rank and file pedicabs from the blueribbon and the poa will that will your requirement for the federal review. No didnt we were informed by the District Attorney and the Blueribbon Panel all the officers will be voluntary their entitled per the constitution that appears from the Public Defenders Office to search representation and in this sensations the department asked the department of justice to come in and anybody the dufts coming with the full weight of the department of justice wishes to speak to us. The contribute contributor for the u. S. District attorney given the San Francisco Police Department and the tech instantaneously and some of the concerns of the Community Leaders if you were asked for a civil rights investigation and why you if not or why decided not to get into the civil rights investigation. You know the federal authorities, you know, also have their eyes open and receive the questions requests for investigations when we have a request for a practice investigation were referring to which is really the next step up from the weather form it is saluted by avoided by the department we can see the 93 u. S. City Attorneys Office and consult with the sifting division at woovshd to see what we know at the time whether a civil rights investigation is appropriate that is is a complication occurred and the decision was made to go forward of course, what we have acholic beverage reform for the department you know will continue to pursue anything that comes in appropriate. So ill go ahead i think ill city ask a question in making the decision i understand the communities concern the city of jurisdiction may ask for usually, were looking at an independent review investigation weve seen the process as part of progress for me in determining well say yes there is a full investigation and including the conversations with the leadership of the department of Justice Community the attorney general to see the best response nothing were doing today whether preclude the sifting folks from come in the circumstances or didnt exist or changes needed resulted with the constitution of violations so the department of justice maintenance adversities ability to do the practices ill make that clear quite frankly no way around that exposure the only way around any exposure for the best practices is not engaging with the constitution of the violations and basically happening the Police Department not justified to do do investigations so i do want i did is an important question i caution us about this because they are completely different programs but the services that the departments have to have and it is st. Francis the decision of the department of justice that the acholic beverage reform can work not because 4 the pd Police Department asked for that but a Strong Community and holding all departments accountable theyve approved the condition of the Oversight Board so we can good afternoon them to do what theyre elected to do it can absolutely work if 2 didnt things change we make not the full cooperations a practices that cant be changed to the process well definitely refer the matter to up to the levied and the only thing well start with one thing in mind we provide the best services to the people of San Francisco and as promised and the people of San Francisco deserve and provider that we will make the best opportunity we believe this is the best response based on requests and we got requests not only from the mayor and the police chief. The civil rights and the attorneys for more in depth private practices we take into consideration and had a discussion. inaudible have confidence in this process inaudible and the public especially in a Public Commission here is that the way they behave in their oversight how did that happen on the streets this change needs to be now i carry this on. I think that is the purchase of progress there remains this culture the first way to abort to identify it and said where and how a and a what stent and the practices that allow this in responsive to our question. Yes. The champ will not be the first assessment youre getting the word the United States department of justice will be independent you look at the report it will be brutally honestly and candidly handout i make p that kroifrl i want to know that the obligation i cant help you but can help you once the recommendation is there this is where the city i think that question i have a powerful question one that is predicament even that is the organization alike if it didnt change well take into account the options i cant promise other than we will continue to provide candid responses and get to the first 6 months report youll see the responses we provided no philadelphia 91 recommendations made and their pretty sure on their way an, an example philadelphia we had a six months repo6 months report and officer involved shooting were down 41 percent and davis shootings are down the police trust is building up we identified some troubling statistics and disparmentd racial disparticipated unbeknownst armed africanamerican men so the community has a to get data and say side by side with the department and the leadership is committed but used to live in the bay area i dont this is your home with the people can and cannot do i think theyll offer this to all the communitybaseds this is a long term journey lets see if this works and it empowers you with the issues to hold the Police Department accountable if we are not pursuing it didnt tie our hands as a mentions the attorney general has options and services she can call upon but were at the stamp with loot communities are are disfranchised people feel the department is not listening and pause and make that a unique opportunity to give voice and share and see if we make a difference together thats all i ask ill not say over knitted it will change when you ask you to work with us and we can hear you and factor that into our assessment. May i have a few additional questions. I called this meeting for thursday, february 11 Transbay Joint Powers Authority good would you please call the roll all note for the record sartipi has a scheduling conflict. Two actors kim, here. Peskin, here. Gee, here. , here. Harper, here. We have a quorum. I will call you next item. Item 3 medications and directors are not re