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SFPD presents language-access update; department reorganizes program to Policy & Public Affairs and plans 2024 report
Summary
SFPD staff and the city's Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs briefed the commission on language-access work, DGO compliance, bilingual staffing and plans to publish a 2024 report in the coming weeks.
Dr. Diana Arroche, director of Policy and Public Affairs for SFPD, and Jorge Rivas, director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OSEA), presented an update on the department's language-access work and compliance with Department General Orders (DGO) 5.2 (limited English proficiency) and 5.23 (deaf/hard-of-hearing communications).
Arroche said SFPD had transferred operational responsibility for language-access reporting from the Community Engagement Division to Policy & Public Affairs to better focus resources. She said the department supports communication in more than 100 languages through web resources and vendor interpretation services and reported that roughly 550 bilingual members work in the department, with 441 officers certified in five core languages (figures presented by staff).
The presenters said the department is updating DGO 5.2 and 5.23, auditing station-level language-access capacity, and intends to publish a 2024 language-access report by mid-June after final approvals. They described accomplishments in fiscal years 2023–24 including bilingual certifications for academy graduates, station audits, and neighborhood safety meetings that offered interpretation services in Spanish, Cantonese, Tagalog and Russian.
Arroche and Rivas emphasized that language access is required by city ordinance and federal disability law and that improved data collection fields are being added so the department's annual reporting will better capture interactions where interpretation or bilingual officers were used, including community-engagement interactions and hate-crime responses.
Commissioners asked about nameplate or uniform pins to identify bilingual officers; Officer Lorena Jimenez said she had reached out to the sheriff's department and was working on designs for a pin and nameplate. Dr. Arroche said the 2024 report would be submitted to the commission when approved and publicly posted; she estimated the report would be available before the end of June.
No formal vote was taken on language access; staff asked the commission to accept the update and said it would return with the formal annual report.
