Transcripts For SFGTV 20141009

And to go on and start against the cardinals on saturday and they will be back here in San Francisco in mid week, and in the meantime, President Biden has been here and vice President Biden has been here since wednesday and he goes out and president obama will arrive on friday. And depart,. They come in october. Yeah, oracle world, and just loaded out, and dream force is loading in. And former secretary of state clinton will be here to be a keynote speaker at dream force and the blue angels will practice on friday. The heritage parade will be on sunday. And in the middle of all of this, we did have two unfortunate events, that we had another officer involved shooting, last night, on the 400 block of brian, and officers working in the crime suppression in and around the ballpark because of the large clouds, both pedestrian and vehicle and found a car that appeared to be in door, working and casing the area with three occupants and about 15 minutes after they ran a computer on the car, and the car parked at jack london alley and brian street where they committed an auto burglary, when the officers moved in, the driver produced a firearm and to a degree that the officers felt that one of the officers felt that his life was threatened and fired upon the driver with the gun and he was struck, around also hit the passenger in the backseat. The front seat passenger fled but was apprehended and the passenger from the backseat is being treated at the hospital right now. And the other suspect that fled, is in custody, and the driver did not survive his injuries. This morning, there was another unfortunate event that there was a single operator boat crash at pier 52, and terry fransu, and mission, bay boulevard, north and operating a skiff and he lost control of the skiff and crashed it into the peer 52 and he was thrown over board and did not survive his injuries. So, to close on the happier note, there was also a walk and roll today, with the little kids, and all over San Francisco, and almost 90 schools, participated, and numbering 14,000 students, which is a ten percent bump from last year, and 85 percent of our public Elementary Schools in this city, and it was all about getting them to and from School Safely and telling them about the focus on the five and looking both ways to make the eye contact with the driver and the mayor was there and supervisor kim director reskin and general manager Phil Ginsberg and of course the School Superintendent Richard Carranza and mendoza and it was a great morning after what was actually a tough 12 hours before that. So, that concludes my report, and i will now. Chief could i ask you one question. When is the town hall schedule for the shooting . As is our practice, we always have a town hall within ten days of any officer involved shooting in the neighborhood in which it occurs, and this shooting, occurring at second and bryant, and the town hall will be at third street, at the academy of art at 6 00 p. M. Tomorrow morning. Where we will up update everybody with any new information that we have in addition to that which i have already given you. Thanks, chief. Any questions for the chief before we hear the presentation from the captain . No, okay. Great. Captain, please, come on. Captain gracy from the special victims unit, and given that it is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and i think that it was one of my colleagues too, commissioner wong, who wants to make sure that we take every opportunity that we can to raise awareness about the response to. If i could not to take any time from the good captain, and i wanted to not let the rape kit and that seems to keep coming up and we have committed to clear or try to get our rape kit backlog assigned by mid 2015, and the law that the governor just signed into practice, allowing for the 20 days takes effect in january and 2016. And so, we should be in good stead, 6 months before that law takes effect and as of january, we have no current backlog for calendar year, 2014. And right and i think that the other piece is that the funding is there to clear the backlog and perspectively and not create a backlog and we are lead ners that area, which is something that the people are struggling with in that area. Captain, and so in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, i want to start off by saying, when i was a dow mist i can violence prosecutor, i actually remember the officers who only recently retired telling me that 30plus years ago, that the policy, or the response to the Domestic Violence was that you got called to a house, and you knocked on the door, and you said, to the husband, keep it down. And then you left. And so, i think that the progress has been made by actually many of my fellow commissioners, and commissioner melara and so many activists to change the conversation and improve the response is incredible and it reminds me of the fact that so much has changed in 30 years, if we think about what we want the world to look like in 30 years, we can make a significant change and so we wanted you to come and talk about the approach that the department is taking now and share with us a little bit about the important work that you are doing. Thank you for having me. President , lofttus and supervise president turman and director hicks and chief suhr. Sure. I am captain grace of the San Francisco Police Department in charge of special victims unit and i was requested to provide a brief update on the unit and the future plans. We have built the unit to 49 investigators and it was in addition of 16 investigators just in this last month. Within an addition of one more lieutenant which makes it three lieutenants to over see the entire unit, our domestic side of the unit has 26 investigators and available to handle a rather large, work load which includes on call response after hours. Our numbers from last year, at this time, are down, and in 2013, we have had we had 3114, called and verified and as of june, we are at 1510. And there have been a steady decrease in the Domestic Violence since 2013, of 33 percent, and we work collaborativively, with the numerous City Organization and advocacy groups considering Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and child abuse, our future at svu is the continued working relationships with these various groups. And it has shown to be a crucial part of what we do, daytoday. And this great relationship is seen in our work with inaudible for the last ten years. The Group Continues to work from our office, and we work hand in hand in a lot of the cases, and it serves as a political component of our unit, cathy black and organization has been an incredible partner through the years, as requested by cathy black, we are working on the ability to reach out to survivors, and to provide the clients additional alley way to contact them. And we have also provided technology and the equipment, and we are working on that right now, and that is our future plan for their office. And cathy black and i have spoken, also about the out reach to the lgbtq community, and due to the lack of reporting, and we hope to partner in this area. And having been out reach to the lgbtq community, regarding the hate crimes we have had many conversations regarding Domestic Violence that is unreported within the community. And this is a concern of our department, and vital for our communities to have access and ability to report, such victimization and get them access to services. Additionally, we have a great opportunity to work with Child Advocacy center. And not only in child abuse cases, but also in any cases where a child has been a witness or a victim in a serious incident. And this will give us opportunities through the partnership to provide the much needed, connection to assist these victims with services. The ability to interview these children, in a safe, controlled environment, and the use of the incredibly trained staff at the cac are critical to the success of the investigation, as well as the best interest of the child. We continue to work diligently to improve our language access, to the communities. This is not only by having an incredibly diverse department, but also our ability to access a language line, when we do not have an officer that speaks the language. I listened to the advocates and i will be working on the additional language and dialects that they believe we need to be or to make available to us. And i hope this has provided an overview to the Domestic Violence unit and if you have any questions, i am more than happy to. Colleagues . Vice president turman . In particular, your out reach to the lgbt community, a lot of nonreporting stems from a belief that the Police Departments do not take the complaints from the persons of my community, lgbtq community, seriously, they also believe that there is a devaluation of them and their complaints. And what organizations are you working with to make sure that we get the message out . I mean that San Francisco made leaps and bounds and changed the die dynamics but what are we working with to insure that the San Francisco Police Department is open to that, and to those voice and opened to hearing those issues and working with those communities and we are partnering,; is that correct . Yes, and so this conversation happened recently. And inaudible and i mean that i did not know this at the time, that they do a lot of out reach already. And we do have numerous cases and in regards to the lgbt community, and so, that is one avenue, that i want to go down with them. And they have been, you know, more than welcoming in regards to doing this. The advocacy groups and i think that when i did the hate crimes, and the out reach, there is a lot of different groups that we can contact, and i mean right now, it is really about, starting those conversations, and going out in the community, and making it a safe place for the people too, to actually report, and that is kind of my wish is to start that conversation first, with inaudible . Commissioner wong . I would thank you for your presentation and i had the pleasure to work with the captain gracy for many years when she was over in sid and doing hate crimes and i know that she is going to be great leading the svu project and i have two quick questions and one is which languages to you have currently in house right now . Spanish, russian, tagolan, i am totally going to draw a blank right now. Madarine and cantonese. When i was working with suv there was a retirement of a lot of the senior inspectors who the folks that are dedicated to the work a lot of the time and we hit the bumps in transition as the knew erin expecters were being brought in and i was wondering if you could speak to that. In the transition. It seems like when i was doing the Sexual Assault prosecution it seems like a lot of the senior inspectors were retired and that there were new crew of inspectors coming in to svu and do you have the veteran inspectors in there now, the folks who have done Sexual Assault and db for a while . Yes, we also have a lot of spibltions experience, and what we did with the people that were promoted and the people that have come with experience, and we partnered them with the people with experience and having the lieutenant is actually very helpful because, it is a learning process and, they are not left to do it on their own but they have a lot of access for the people to answer the questions but they partnered with an experienced investigator. And with the new da, and dv unit, are we seeing an increased partnership, are we seeing better prosecution rates . What are we seeing in terms of having the new, da db unit . You know, what . It is a very good, relationship, we. , yes, she drops by all of the time. And so we do have the conversations, and if there is a problem at all with the cases, and my lieutenants are on it right away. And it is very good communication, between us. Okay. Okay, great, thank you. Vice president turman . Yeah, well, quickly, the newer recruits in the unit, are they also having exposure to the Community Organizations who so that they can understand sort of the Community Feeling and voices around these issues as well . Are they also participating in any type of enter face with the Community Groups . We have the Community Groups that actually come and actually give us training. And i mean that we will sit in, and but as far as, and our unit is very diverse, and so, they get a lot of. They get a lot of information from the investigators themselves. And but as far as them attending the Community Groups, it is usually myself or the lieutenants that do that. And i dont know if i answered your question. You did, and sense i am just. And but, i guess that it is the more training aspect and hearing that on a much more instance and could you expand upon that a little bit. The training for the investigators . Yes, they go to mandatory training for Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and the newer lieutenants they go to also a sergeant school, but usually the mandatory training is the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. Is there a Community Element to any of the Sexual Assault or the Domestic Violence training . I am not sure, but i can find out for you. Okay. Thank you. Okay, all right, thank you, captain, thank you for your report. And inspector monroe, could you call the next line item . 4 b, occ directors report, and discussion, and review of recent activities presentation of the occ statistical reports and summary of the cases received in september 2014. And medation of complaints and adjudication of sustained complaints in 2014, september. Director hicks. Good evening, president , and Vice President and chief and the members of the audience, this evening, i will just describe one brief recent activity and that is last night that the deputy director, balitsar and senior investigator mcmahon rolled out to the scene of the officer involved shooting that the chief previously described. The occ rules out to the scene of officer involved shootings, and we are given a walk through by the Police Department so that we will have the preliminary information, and in case, a citizen complaint is filed. And if one is not filed, then, we do not continue with an investigation. That concludes the recent activities. And there is a part two, but i am not sure if was called the statistical report . Yes, your entire report was called the line, feel free okay. Okay, and you have in your packets the september 2014, statistical reports and the companion reports from september, through september, 2013. And as of september, 30th, the occ received, 556 complaints compared to 559, as of september 30th, 2013, and so only three complaint different. As of september 30, of this year, we sustained, 39 complaints, compared to 22 as of september 30th, 2013. So significantly more sustained complaints. And we mediated 29 complaints compared to 42 as of september 30, 2013. And finally in regard to the chiefs proposed discipline, in 3, occ sustained case and in each of these cases the discipline was admonishment and one involved the unwarranted of a pat search and another was failure to include required information in an incident report regarding a limited English Proficient individual and the third was for neglect of duty for failure to issue a certificate of release and, that concludes my report. Colleagues, any questions for director hicks about her report . Commissioner wong, one question related to the language, smraint. I am wondering if there was an attempt to see in light of the training video that was released did the officer see the video . I am just trying to figure out where the drop off happen, and was it an oversight or did they not see the video . Commissioner wong, i am one aware that that is something that the chief suhr could better answer. And could you give a brief of that. This is an instance where the officers responded to an incident wonding to a individual that are limited english, and the officers did not include the certain information in the incident report, and including identifying who the lap, persons were including the information and so the report was prepared based on information so in in sense, the original responding officer did not speak spanish, a spanish speaker was called and did the entire thing as policy, and then he relayed and retold the story to the officer that did not speak spanish and she prepared the report. He did not proof the report, he was then, went off duty and so he did not proof the report to make sure that she got it right what he gave her and she got it wrong. And so it was, there was no intent on her part, and so we have now, done a training that has gone out and reiterated to the officers, again, who needs the report and emphasize, that obviously anyone providing lap assistance is required person to require that we got it right. I guess that my question is directed is did they see the video remember. They did it exactly right, it is just that the person that did the lap assistance, did not read the report that was prepared by the person that did not speak spanish. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions . Thank you, director hicks. Inspector call the next line item. 4 c, Commission Report and discussion, xhis president s report and commissioners reports. Colleagues, we will hear a lot later about the work that i have done with some of the policies that are before us today. And so any other reports from any of my other colleagues that want to talk about the work that they have been doing . Okay. Hearing none, inspector call the next line item. Commission announcements and scheduling of items identified for consideration of future commission meetings. Excuse me, and we will be dark and there will be no meeting on next wednesday, on the 15th. And on the 22nd, we will be in the community, excuse me, in the engelside community at balboa high school, 1000 kiuga street and we will hear the comments from the public, and from the public and the station captain joseph mcfaden concerning Public Protection issues. And just on that, inspector, if it is the 22nd is and the 29 is the fifth wednesday, and it is dark . And it is accustomed. Right, no meeting on the 29th. Thank you. No meeting on the 20th . The 29th. That is what i thought. You are welcome any items or questions for inspector monroe or items that the colleagues want to put on a future agenda tonight . Okay. And inspector please call the next line item. Five, discussion and possible action to recommend that the board of supervisor as prove a gift of a Gibbs Quadski xl valued at 40,000 from mr. Marc benioff for the use by the sfpd marine unit. Action there are questions, there and i was supposed to call the Public Comment after the last item because it was an action item. So, i apologize, but i would like to see if there is any Public Comment on the last item. Which was the discussion of announcements . For abcand d . Any discussion, no, okay, hearing no Public Comment, proceed. Thank you. Former president , mazzucco, for keepingous task. It is actually commissioner wong. Okay. This is Sergeant Matthews of the marine unit and what a quadski is a fourwheel, all Terrain Vehicle that can drive straight into the body of water, specifically the ocean, and at the push of a button convert into a jet ski that can be a rescue vehicle. And so, actually both of the sergeant and i test drove this vehicle, and we were at an event, and mr. Benioff had one of these or some of these at a property in hawaii he was then, to the fire chief and i that he would like to get one each for the Fire Department and the Police Department as he believes that they would be useful. And we believe that for an event and one that popped in my mind is the fourth of july and the park gets full and there is a lot of sand and the officers could be on the patrol one minute if there is a person in distress without having to switch to a jet ski they could go straight into the water and save lives, and sense this comes as no expense from the city and it is a guesture that he wants to make, i would request that we be allowed to accept his gift, obviously because of the price. So moved. And it was acquired board approval as well. I think that i saw this devise on spy kids, one or two or three. Questions for the chief. It is impressive . No questions, i would ask for a motion. Could i clarify a question . So, we are asking for the board of supervisors approval . Right. It is a recommendation, but the gifts need to go through the board of supervisors, i had a motion and did i have a second . Second. All of those in favor. Aye. Any Public Comment on the decision to accept this jet ski that turns into something other than that . , call line item. 6, discussion and possible action to adopt the revised department general order, 6. 09 Domestic Violence or to take other action if necessary, action. I am pleased to have a discussion and share with you where the policy is, and where it has come from, and we will hear from captain mcfaden, right . Unless i got promoted. I dont think that you did. And sergeant killshaw about what some of the changes are and we have an existing, obviously an existing policy, that is 6. 09, and what the department will talk about, are some of the changes that they are recommending that we adopt. And there are a number of changes, that expand the departments response around the language access, and there are a number of parts of this, that address whether what the chief has said a lot which the immigration status of the offender or the victim or the survivor is irrelevant, and some other pieces around the departments response when children are at the scene and so i would, ask that we hear, and listen to the department in your recommendation and know that i have been at these discussions, and with a broad Diverse Group of folks and i look forward to hearing your presentation, captain. Yes, commissioner, wong do you want to make a discloser. I did, i wanted to disclose after the consultation, with the City Attorney office that all of the commissioners were aware that i do my day job and i work for a Domestic Violence agency and Asian Pacific islander out reach, and it is a member of the Domestic Violence which i see members here today who may be offering comments in favor or against this policy, and i see that i have a staff attorney from my office, who is here to offer a comment. And connected to this policy and also, i have spoken in a social context with john inaudible who is a manager at cps and happens to be a long time friend of mine. And in thinking about this, and in consultation of this City Attorneys office i dont think that there is a per se conflict on my part and i dont have any monetary gain related to this policy one way or another, anddy want to make that disclosure and infight the discussion if anyone feels like i need to be recused. Any questions for commissioner wong . Any questions . No questions. Okay, so i hear an invitation for if anyone has concerns to voice them now and could potentially, make a motion to recuse but i dont hear you ask for that, you think that you can approach this issue and dont actually have a conflict. I dont think that i have a per se conflict, right, i think that i have an appearance based on my relationships with a number of parties who have request in this issue. Okay. Okay, so you have stated it and does anyone wants to bring a motion to recuse commissioner wong . Hearing none. Does he ask to be . No. Okay. So thank you, for making the disclosure, and that is really transparency is important and so thank you for that. And i would like to also state, that i work for a program rally Visitation Services where we deal with the familis that have experienced Domestic Violence in 80 percent of the cases and so, we deal primarily in the area of safety, for the parent who visits, with their child, and i believe that i dont have any conflict, in this matter. But i do just also want to state that. Thank you, commissioner. It sounds like there is a richness of experience, which is i think, is the idea. Dont let me get started with the kids that i work with. Any disclosure. I think that all of us are. And could we put that to rest. All right. You are up. Thanks. I thought that i was here to talk for the squad vehicle for the company, no . Okay. Madam president loftus and commission, chief suhr and director hicks, i just wanted to, and those who dont know me from the commission i want to introduce myself and the experience that i have in the area of Domestic Violence, and so over 25 year of police career. And about 15 of those were spent in investigations about ten plus yearof