Transcripts For SFGTV The Swearing 20240713

[cymbals] [cymbal] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome sheriff matt freeman. Thats a great way to kick off a party and celebration. Ladies and gentlemen, lets hear it for the San Francisco Police Department lion dance team. [applause] my name is Matthew Freeman and im the undersheriff for the city and county of San Francisco Sheriffs Office. And it is my honor and my pleasure to serve as your master of ceremonies for todays event for this auspicious occasion, and i cannot tell you enough how happy the men and women that wear this uniform are of the person we are going to swear in as sheriff today. [applause] and welcome to San Franciscos crown jewel, this beautiful San Francisco city hall. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, if i can please ask you to stand for the presentation of the colors and pledge of allegiance. [pledge of allegiance] please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing as we invite you to the podium to sing our Nations National anthem. Oh, say, can you see, by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming . Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming, and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that star. Spanninglyspangled banner yet wr the land of the free and the home of the brave. [applause] [military salute] ladies and gentlemen, how about a round of applause for the singer and the San Francisco Police Department color guard. applause. [applause] thank you. Please be seated. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize some of our dear guests, some of our elected and important people here in the city and county of San Francisco. And if you could hold your applause until i complete each group, i would appreciate it. Our city and county of San Francisco elected board of supervisor members, president of the board norman yee, district 7, dean preston, raphael mandelman, district 8, ashad, district 11. Ladies and gentlemen, our county board of supervisors. [applause] our district attorney, chesa boudin, public defender, our recorder, carmen chew and her treasurer jose cisneros. [applause] we are honored and pleased to have members from our State Government present today, attorney general of the state of california, javier, state board of equalization, state of california, cohen, treasurer, state of california, assemblymember, state of california, our state of california, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] we work with some of the public, finest Public Safety partners in any jurisdiction in the entire country. Our Public Safety partners, chief of police, San Francisco Police Department william scott. San francisco fire department, fire chief, jeanine nicholson. Chief of the probation department, city and county of San Francisco, karen fletcher. We are truly honored here today to have someone that we work very closely with and are fortunate to have that opportunity, sheriff of the san mateo county. [applause] and his undersheriff. [applause] city and county of San Francisco has some of the finest Public Servants in any jurisdiction in california if not the entire country. Our city administrator, naomi kelly. San Francisco Public Utilities Commission general manager, harlan kelly. And i really enjoy working with our department of public works director, mohammed nuru. Events such as these cant go off as well as they do without the hard work of our city and county of San Francisco chief of protocol, charlotte schultz. And no one has been around city hall for any length of time knows that we cannot go without thanking director of mayors special events, martha cohen. [applause] we would like to thank all the city and county of San Francisco commissioners for all the work that you do. We would like to thank all the city and county of San Francisco department heads, certainly want to thank all of the current members of the San Francisco Sheriffs Department and the many retired members that i see here in attendance today. Its wonderful to see your faces. You all look younger. I look older. You do something about that . The sworn command staff of the San Francisco county Sheriffs Department and our entire management team, thank you all for being here. [applause] i would also like to do a special shoutout and maybe if we applaud loud enough, im sure they can hear it upstairs, in case you didnt know, there was another inauguration here this morning, how about a round of applause for our mayor london breed . [applause] at this time, i would like to invite to the podium father tom hamilton of Saint Gabriel church for our invocation. Public service is an invitation to a life of personal devotion and sacrifice. Today we entrust the important work of leadership in our Sheriffs Department to Paul Miyamoto. We offer him our good wishes and our sincere support today and of the days ahead. Please join me, then, in the spirit of prayer and of hope. Oh, god of many names, known by many signs throughout this beautiful world, we pause during this celebration to invoke your blessing upon paul, chosen for service as sheriff. Please support him with the ability to confront the challenges that will inevitably come, making judgments that are in the best interest of this Exceptional Community of San Francisco. May his service be typified by patience, courage, stability, honesty and loyalty. In the name of all that is good and holy, we offer this prayer in humility and praise. And we all say together amen. Thank you, father. For the last 4 years, this agency has had the pleasure to serve under outgoing sheriff Vicki Hennessy. Sheriff hennessy would have loved to have been here today, but just last week she underwent hip surgery and unfortunately could not be in attendance today. Im sure that she would have liked nothing more than to be here to wish paul all the best and encouragement as he assumes office of the sheriff. She did, however, leave for paul and for all of us, a video message. Hi, sheriff paul. Vicki hennessy here, room 456, city hall, Sheriffs Office. Coming to you through the magic of video. I regret i cannot come to the ceremony. However, i am sending you and your family my congratulations, best wishes and deep appreciation for the service you have given to the San Francisco Sheriffs Department and the city and county. Theres nothing quite like your first day on the job as sheriff. The pomp, the ceremony, the love you feel from your supporters and the expectation. Enjoy it every moment. As soon as you have taken your oath, you will hit the ground running. Just remember, the sheriffs job is a marathon, not a sprint. This is a demanding job where you will feel the glare of the spotlight, whether you want to or not. As you know, the one constant will be your family. I know you will make time for them and you will be successful no matter what you do. You have the respect of the rankandfile. You are already building relationships with the criminal justice stakeholders. You are already a community leader. And you have the benefit of more than 23 years of experience serving in this department. I know that you will bring multiple perspectives to your new position. You are the right person for the right time to take up the sheriffs man tell. About those expectations, i expect great things from you. So, paul, congratulations. Youve earned it. Now, get to work. [applause] a little bit nervous. I might be more nervous than you. Well, the big moment, the swearingin of the 37th sheriff of the city and county of San Francisco is but minutes away. I would like to take a brief moment and share with you some information about the office of the sheriff and the awesome responsibility one assumes when holding the esteemed title of sheriff. There are 58 counties in the state of california. As required by the state constitution, each county must have a sheriff, and the sheriff shall be elected. The office of the sheriff is not simply another department of the county government. The office of the sheriff is a statutory, constitutional office, having exclusive powers and authority under state law and or the state constitution. The county sheriff serves multiple constituencies, the county board of supervisors, when executing county laws and ordinances, the state attorney general when enforcing state laws as a peace officer and as an officer of the superior court in and for the city of San Francisco and of course, the sheriff ultimately serves all the people and communities of their county and in our case, city and county. The management and leadership of the San Francisco county Sheriffs Office is no small task and will test the skills and abilities of the brightest and strongest of leaders. Our department is authorized for 946 sworn peace officers, 130 professional support staff, and 98 sheriff cadets. The sheriff is responsible for leading and managing the workforce approaching 1200 employees, spanning four divisions, with the annual operating budget north of 150 million. This includes, in part, the operation of four distinct jail facility, judicial protection and Court Security at four courthouses, execution of all civil processes in the city and county, operation of three communitybased sites offering a myriad of services to those criminal justice involved, robust, criminal internal affairs and Background Investigation units and Emergency Services unit to include a type 2 Law Enforcement mobile field force and special Response Team to deal with Critical Incidents that occur in the jurisdiction of the sheriff. General Law Enforcement and Public Safety services for the department of Public Health at San Francisco general hospital, Ten Department of Public Health neighborhood clinics, the department of emergency management, the San Francisco main public library, and, yes, here in the crown jewel of San Francisco, our beautiful city hall and much, much more all supported by training and personnel units. The daily operation of a Law Enforcement agency this size in a city and county as eclectic, diverse, dynamic and, yes, challenging as ours, requires the right person for the right time. And san franciscan, a graduate of lowell high school, a husband, a father who lives in and is raising his family in our city, a 23plus year record of service to this agency and the people of San Francisco, a leader that holds himself accountable first and by example will expect the best from all who work for this agency. A person of the highest integrity, character and moral compass, Paul Miyamoto embodies if not exceeds all the core elements required to be the sheriff of San Francisco. The deputies have assumed that i shall posts. They are eager, and they are ready to receive your direction. Paul miyamoto. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, it is a real pleasure at this time to invite to the stage for the oath of office, state of California Attorney general Xavier Becerra. [applause] i would also like to invite to the stage sheriff elect, Paul Miyamoto. [applause] i think you can hear me. Also coming to the stage is pauls other, his wife, and his children. Melanie, jordan, joseph, marissa and mia maya. [applause] please raise your right hand and place your left hand on the bible. I will ask you to repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Paul Miyamoto. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. I will support and defend the constitution of the United States. That i will support and defend the constitution of the United States. And the constitution of the state of california. And the constitution of the state of california. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That i will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of california. I take this obligation freely, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter and during such time as i hold the office of the sheriff of the city and county of San Francisco of the sheriff of the city and county of San Francisco. I present to you, sheriff miyamoto. [applause] [cheering and applause] i guess im supposed to Say Something right now. [laughter] hang on one second while i get my notes. Oh. Thats not a great start, but [laughter] good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, attorney general Xavier Becerra and to all of you who are here today in celebration of the office of sheriff. I have many people to thank for this moment. All of you here today played roles and given support for my rose through the ranks and my occasionally descent. [laughter] i begin by thanking my mom and my dodd, phil and ella. My dad is in the hospital today and couldnt make it, but my mom is here for both of them, and i just wanted to recognize her for the person that she is. [applause] growing up, my mother was a very strong advocate for both me and my brother when we were very young as we went through the School System here in the Public Schools of San Francisco. She was actively involved in our education to the point where even after we graduated she continued to volunteer her time and service, both with home and advocate for children and youth all the way up to the state ptsa level where she volunteered for many years and was so effective as a leader in the ptsa who worked to improve the lives of the children and the educational system that we have here in california. My fathers family immigrated to San Francisco around the time of the earthquake of 1906. And during that time, built a successful dry cleaning business and some of my family is here today, and i want to thank them for being here as well. World war ii happened and the federal government ordered the internment of americans of japanese ancestry, which included the miyamotos. Our family lost everything here in San Francisco and were forcibly relocated to heart mountain in wyoming for the first part of the war. Did they give up . Of course not. In fact, my grandfathers three brothers proudly fought for the United States as part of the most decorated unit in military history, the 442nd regimental combat team. Lucky for me, after the war, the miyamotos returned to San Francisco and began a new. My father grew up and became an attorney, he practiced law for the state of california and actually became appellatelevel judge for the Workers Compensation review board. I share this with you because this is my family. They are the role models who influenced me. They faced adversity and Racial Discrimination and yet they responded with grace, strength and grit and actually became civil servants. The miyamotos became the change they wanted to see. They embody resilience. Inspired by my Family Tradition of service, i chose to join the San Francisco Sheriffs Department over 23 years ago to try to make a difference in peoples lives. Every day, i don this uniform and serve our city with some of the finest people i know. People like our outgoing sheriff who has been a role model and mentor to me, she is the first to actually rise through our ranks and become sheriff, and shes also the first female to serve as the sheriff of San Francisco. Im honored to have worked for and with Vicki Hennessy and even though she is not here, i would like to ask for a round of applause for her and her contributions. [applause] its really wonderful, because i serve with people who put other people first, who ensure public and individual safety, both inside the criminal justice system, in the jails, in the courts, and outside in the community. We take pride in all of our work serving San Francisco. Im honored to call all of you my colleagues and serve as the sheriff for the next four years. You all embody resilience to me. We as Department Members have been at the forefront of some of the toughest challenges facing the city, including an increase of the numbers who are incarcerated who suffer from Behavioral Health issues. Not surprisingly, this has challenged our infrastructure and our staff. We share these challenges across all our city agencies and with our justice and Public Safety partners. We collaborate to build and nurture relationships and trust and to provide services to everyone. In response to our changing populations, weve created psychiatric sheltered living unions which provide consistent care and structure. Our Behavioral Health assistance team, comprised of both trained deputies and department of Public Health specialists, are sporting people incarcerated, collaborating for individual treatment for people housed in all of these different units. And its making a positive difference in their lives, creating new hope for their successful reentry into our community. As the department moves forward, you can expect more of this from my staff and myself, care, compassion and collaboration. I started my career with the department back in 1996. It has shaped me in more ways that i can count. On my very first day, my training deputy sent me on a errand which made me late for the shift, i was scheduled to relieve. The deputy on duty at the time was not very happy with me for being late, but we actually, the both of us overcame that initial stumble. We fell in love and we were marid five years later, and thats my wife leeann. [applause] i wanted to recognize her for who she is and also my children who were introduced earlier. Melanie, jordan and the triplets, joseph, merissa and maya, if you guys could stand. [applause] come on, stand up. They have been my source of personal strength and love, and i wanted to thank them with all of my heart. Leanne and the children have supported and inspired me every step of this journey. They bring me joy and happiness. At the department, we have a faith in others to change for the better. As a young deputy working on the sixth floor of the hall of justice, i connected with a man who suffered from addiction. He was sober in jail, overcome his challenges, got released and then relapsed out in the community over and over, time and time again. Inevitably he would end up back as an incarcerated person. Most of you know that story, and hear it. We in the department actually live it and see it every day. But you know what . That individual never gave up. And i didnt give up on him either. I saw something of myself in him. Someone from the same ethnic and cultural background, on a different path but for one or two choices. Eventually, his commitment to stay sober stuck. He made changes and then went back into the community and served the community. Hes a mentor to many others in the community. I see him out there every day with rehabilitation services. Im proud to say he is one of my friends in the community and to see him there every day gives me strength. He embodies my fathers favorite quote which is to never give up. His mantra of resilience follows me along with my familys story of optimism and persistence in the face of internment, not just to survive but to give back to the nation that placed hardships on our family. My family has guided me. Their positive attitude will make a mark on the Sheriffs Department over the next four years. I actually lost my first election back in 2011. Eight years later, i am the first asianamerican in history to be elected to be sheriff in the state of california. [applause] so please [applause] i just want to end with my fathers quote. I want to say to him as elis in the hospital bed as paul, bee will be addressed as sheriff. Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for our sheriff, Paul Miyamoto. [applause] [applause] this is kind of mean now that you have sat down. Ladies and gentlemen, if i could please ask you to stand for the retrieval of the colors. [military salute] how about a round of applause for the color guard . [applause] thank you very much. You may be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, this brings to a close our celebration today, our swearingin of the 37th sheriff. I hopeve each and every one of you enjoyed your time with us today. If you are so inclined and interested, the sheriff will be receiving guests and visitors in the Sheriffs Office on the fourth floor, 456, the corner of the building over there. We would ask at this time that members of the public remain seated until such time that the sheriff, the elected and the City Department heads have had an opportunity to exit the rotunda. Thank you very much for being here today. [applause] [applause] my background is in engineering. I am a Civil Engineer by training. My career has really been around government service. When the opportunity came up to serve the city of San Francisco, that was just an opportunity i really needed to explore. [ ] [ ] i think it was in junior high and really started to do well in math but i faced some really interesting challenges. Many young ladies were not in math and i was the only one in some of these classes. It was tough, it was difficult to succeed when a teacher didnt have confidence in you, but i was determined and i realized that engineering really is what i was interested in. As i moved into college and took engineering, preengineering classes, once again i hit some of those same stereotypes that women are not in this field. That just challenged me more. Because i was enjoying it, i was determined to be successful. Now i took that drive that i have and a couple it with public service. Often we are the Unsung Heroes of technology in the city whether it is delivering Network Services internally, or for our Broadband Services to low income housing. Free wifi for all of the residents here so that folks have access to do job searches, housing searches, or anything else that anyone else could do in our great city. We are putting the plant in the ground to make all of the City Services available to our residents. It is difficult work, but it is also very exciting and rewarding our team is exceptional. They are very talented engineers and analysts who work to deliver the data and the services and the Technology Every day. I love working with linda because she is fun. You can tell her anything under the sun and she will listen and give you solutions or advice. She is very generous and thoughtful and remembers all the special days that you are celebrating. I have seen recent employee safety and cyber security. It is always a top priority. I am always feeling proud working with her. What is interesting about my work and my family is my experience is not unique, but it is different. I am a single parent. So having a career that is demanding and also having a child to raise has been a challenge. I think for parents that are working and trying to balance a career that takes a lot of time, we may have some interruptions. If there is an emergency or that sort of thing then you have to be able to still take care of your family and then also do your service to your job. That is probably my take away and a lot of lessons learned. A lot of parents have the concern of how to do the balance i like to think i did a good job for me, watching my son go through school and now enter the job market, and he is in the medical field and starting his career, he was always an intern. One of the things that we try to do here and one of my takeaways from raising him is how important internships are. And here in the department of technology, we pride ourselves on our interns. We have 20 to 25 each year. They do a terrific job contributing to our outside plant five or work or our Network Engineering or our finance team. This last time they took to programming our reception robot, pepper, and they added videos to it and all of these sort of things. It was fun to see their creativity and their innovation come out. Amazing. Intriguing. The way i unwind is with my photography and taking pictures around the city. When i drive around california, i enjoy taking a lot of landscapes. The weather here changes very often, so you get a beautiful sunset or you get a big bunch of clouds. Especially along the waterfront. It is spectacular. I just took some photos of big server and had a wonderful time, not only with the water photos, but also the rocks and the bushes and the landscapes. They are phenomenal. [ ] my advice to young ladies and women who would like to move into stem fields is to really look at why you are there. If you are if you are a problem solver, if you like to analyse information, if you like to discover new things, if you like to come up with alternatives and invent new practice, it is such a fabulous opportunity. Whether it is Computer Science or engineering or biology or medicine, oh, my goodness, there are so many opportunities. If you have that kind of mindset i have enjoyed working in San Francisco so much because of the diversity. The diversity of the people, of this city, of the values, of the talent that is here in the city. It is stimulating and motivating and inspiring and i cannot imagine working anywhere else but in san in 201,755. 7 million passengers traveled through San Francisco international airport. We have on average 150,000 people traveling through the airport every day. Flying can be stressful so we have introduced therapy dogs to make flying more enjoyable. The wag brigade is a partnership between the airport and the San Francisco therapy Animal Assistant Program to bring therapy animals into the airport, into the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable. I amgen fer casarian and i work here at San Francisco international airport. The idea for therapy dogs got started the day after 9 11. An employee brought his therapy dog to work after 9 11 and he was able to see how his dog was able to relieve passengers jitter. When we first launched the program back in 2013, our main goal was to destress our passengers however what we quickly found is that our animals were helping us find a way to connect with our pang. Passengers. We find there are a lot of people traveling through the airport who are missing their pets and who are on their road a lot and cant have pets and we have come in contact with a lot of people recently who have lost pet. I love the wag brigade. One of my favorite parts is walking into the terminals and seeing everybody look up from their device, today everybody is interacting on their cell phone or laptop and we can walk into the terminal with a dog or a pig and people start to interact with each other again and its on a different level. More of an emotional level. I just got off an 11. 5 hour flight and nice to have this distraction in the middle of it. We look for wag brigade handlers who are comfortable in stressful situations. I like coming to airport its a lot of fun and the people you talk to are generally people who are missing their dogs. They are required to compete a certification process. And they are also required to complete a k9 good citizen test and we look for animals who have experienced working with other orgorganizations such as hospits and pediatric units and we want to be sure that the animals we are bringing into the airport are good with children and also good with some of our senior travelers. I think toby really likes meeting kids. That is his favorite thing. He likes to have them pet him and come up to him and he really loves the kids. Our wag brigade animals can be spotted wearing custom vets and they have custom patches. There is never a day that repeats itself and there is never and encounter that repeats itself. We get to do maximum good in a small stretch of time and i have met amazing people who have been thrilled to have the interaction. The dogs are here seven days a week, we have 20 dogs and they each come for a two hour shift. There is a lot of stress when people have traveling so to from these animals around to ease the stress and help people relax a little bit. I think its great. One of our dogs has special need and that is tristine. He wears a wheel around. He has special shoes and a harness and we get it together in the parking lot and then we get on the air train. He loves it. Little kids love him because he is a little lower to the ground so easy to reach and he has this big furry head they get to pet and he loves that. He doesnt seem to mind at all. Probably one of the happiest dogs in the world. Many people are nervous when they travel but seeing the dogs is just a wonderful relief. What i absolutely love most about it is the look on peoples faces, so whenever they are stressed and flying is stressful these days you get these wonderful smile. I am the mom of lilo the pig and she is San Franciscos first therapy pig. Lilo joined the wag brigade as our firs first pig. Wag brigade invited us to join the program here and we have done it about a yearandahalf ago. Our visits last 1. 5 to 2 hours and it does take a little bit longer to get out of the terminal because we still get a lot of attention and a lot of people that want to interact with lilo. I feel honored to be part of the wag brigade. Its very special to meet so many people and make so many feel happy and people that work here. Its been a great experience for me and a great experience for to totoby. Its been an extremely successful program, so the next time you are here, stop by and say hi. The renovation of balboa park, the oldest in the city of San Francisco, and now it is the newest part in the city of San Francisco. Through our partnership, and because of Public Investment from the two thousand eight fund, we are celebrating a renewal and an awakening of this park. We have it safer, happier, more joyous. 3, 2, 1, [laughter] [applause] it is a great resource for families, to have fun in the city, recreation. This is an amazing park. We have not revitalized it without public and private investment. The critical piece of the process of this renovation was that it was all about the community. We reached out to everyone in this community. We love this park dearly and they all had thoughts and ideas and they wanted to bring their own creativity and their personality to bear on the design. What you see is what the community wanted. These ideas all came from the residents of this community. As a result, there is a sense of ownership, pride and responsibility that goes along with what is going to be an exciting park. George Washington High School marching band. [applause] please welcome kayla smith. [applause] good morning, everyone. Hows everybody doing today . Thank you. Thank you for joining us today for this historical occasion. My name is kayla smith, and i will be your mistress of ceremonies for the evening. Growing up in San Francisco d5, hayes valley, to be exact, since the age of four, i have been privileged to receive mentorship from my community. I went from running departments at project level to now earning my internship at nbc this upcoming summer. [applaus