Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Civilian Oversight topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
OCC reports higher sustained rate and staffing shortfall in Q2; seeks budget enhancements
Summary
Phone and packet reports to the Police Commission showed the Office of Citizen Complaints sustained 19 allegations in Q2 2015, noted longer case-processing times and investigator vacancies, and reiterated a budget request for additional investigators and policy staff included in the proposed mayoral package.
Joyce Hicks, director of the Office of Citizen Complaints, presented the OCC's second-quarter 2015 statistical report to the San Francisco Police Commission on Sept. 9, highlighting sustained-allegation and staffing trends.
Hicks said the OCC received 164 complaints and closed 162 in Q2; 19 complaints were sustained in that quarter, which she described as a 12 percent sustained rate for the period. Combining the first and second quarters, Hicks said the OCC's six-month sustained rate was 8 percent and mediation activity had increased relative to prior years. "In the second quarter the OCC received a total of 164 complaints and closed 162," Hicks reported.
The director told commissioners the office was understaffed relative to the charter and its workload: by the close of the quarter the OCC had 16 permanent line investigators but only 13 with full caseloads and two vacancies in investigator positions. She noted the City Charter provides a floor—one investigator for every 150 sworn officers—and said the OCC's budget request to fund roughly 4.25 additional FTEs (including investigators and a policy attorney) had been included in a proposed mayoral package and forwarded by the Board of Supervisors budget committee.
Hicks also summarized several high-profile open cases in the OCC inventory (two officer-involved shootings, allegations involving crime-lab practices, a wheelchair-incident complaint and cases alleging racist or homophobic text messages). She said the OCC was working on policy recommendations, language-access procedures and outreach, including translating materials into Braille and participating in public events.
Commissioners asked for continued updates on staffing, case processing times and the implementation of policy recommendations. Hicks said the OCC aims to conclude investigations within a target timeframe and will report back on progress and the effect of any funded positions.
No formal policy vote on OCC budget requests occurred at the meeting; Hicks said the proposed enhancements had been included in the city's proposed budget package and that the OCC will continue to press for the staffing and policy resources it requested.
