San Francisco Police Commission Meeting 4/7/2021 Summary
The San Francisco Police Commission oversees the policy, top leadership and aspects of budget decisions of the San Francisco Police Department. The Board of Supervisors, which appoints some of the commissioners, ultimately controls the budget of the department. I live tweet meetings at #sfpolicecommission, along with a few other dedicated watchdogs. Below is a high-level summary of the most recent meeting. Any factual mistakes are my own.
4/7/2021 Meeting Documents
Desperately Missing President Cohen
Last night's meeting was on the sluggish side with President Cohen missing. VP Elias was a force to be reckoned with, but the rest of the Commission was either in a contemplative mood or disturbingly silent. Commissioner Yee has yet to ask a single question during any presentation and Commissioner DeJesus appears to be barely paying attention. I get the strong feeling that she does not read any of the meeting materials ahead of time, which is in stark contrast to some of the others--though I do give her credit for asking one very good question last night. Commissioner Brookter is a mixed bag. IDK. Why be on the Commission if you're not going to improve the department and world? Why?
Sunshine Treatment on Internal Discipline Practices
The Commission passed an updated policy on SB 1421 implementation, but the main event of the night was a deep dive into how both the SFPD and Department of Police Accountability's SFPD officer investigation and discipline practices work. I'm going to pause here and observe how remarkable and troubling it is that this is the first time this information has come before the Commission; it's staggering. And when you dig in, it's easy to see why: there is nothing redeeming about what the SFPD presented, and the results speak for themselves. There are also a lot of room for improvement in what DPA is tracking and accomplishing, regardless of whether it's tracking with its national peers, as its leaders like to remind folks. DPA friends: the only thing you should be measuring yourselves against is the persistent racial disparities in SFPD policing. Wealth & Disparities in the Black Community sent a list of detailed questions about the presentations, which you can see here.
Whew. What a mess. Kudos to VP Elias for requesting these presentations.
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Before you go, take action! Volunteer for/donate to Wealth and Disparities In The Black Community, founded and led by Phelicia Jones. WDBC has been working on police reform and justice for victims of police violence since the SFPD murdered Mario Woods back in 2015.
Previous SF Police Commission Meeting*
*There was a meeting on March 17th, but I was not able to write a summary.