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Office of Citizen Complaints details 2013 caseload, mediation and findings
Summary
Joyce Hicks, director of San Francisco’s Office of Citizen Complaints, told the Police Commission the OCC received 727 complaints in 2013, sustained 6% of closed cases and conducted 59 mediations; she described the office’s investigative powers, timelines and language-access efforts.
Joyce Hicks, director of the Office of Citizen Complaints, told the San Francisco Police Commission at a Park District community meeting that the OCC received 727 complaints in 2013 and aims to complete investigations within nine months, with a one-year limit in most cases.
Hicks summarized the office’s powers and practices: the OCC conducts interviews with complainants, officers and civilian witnesses, may visit sites and has subpoena authority to obtain testimony and evidence. "We aim to complete our investigations within 9 months and with limited exceptions, we must complete our investigations within 1 year," Hicks said.
Hicks provided the OCC’s 2013 closure figures: the office reported a 2% decline from 2012 (740 complaints) to 727 complaints in 2013. Of the cases closed last year, the OCC sustained allegations in 6% of matters, found conduct proper in 25% of allegations and determined 2% of allegations were unfounded, she said. Unnecessary-force allegations comprised 8% of incoming allegations; the OCC sustained five unreasonable-force findings across three cases (one case involved three officers).
Hicks described the OCC’s mediation program as a non‑disciplinary route that facilitated 59 mediations last year — about 8% of the 722 cases closed — and said mediation is voluntary for both the complainant and the officer. She also outlined language-access work: OCC investigators speak Cantonese, Mandarin, Burmese, Tagalog and Spanish; last year the OCC conducted 25 Spanish-language intakes and smaller numbers in other languages.
The director traced the OCC’s origin to a Board of Supervisors–initiated charter amendment adopted by voters in 1982 and said the office became operational in 1983 and later was placed under the Police Commission’s jurisdiction as an independent oversight agency.
Hicks closed by offering staff resources for questions and noting that Senior Investigator Edward McMahon was available for follow-up.
The commission did not take formal action on OCC matters at the meeting; commissioners and attendees used the session to ask clarifying questions about timelines, outcomes and outreach.
