Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Police Oversight topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Office of Citizen Complaints reports caseload, mediation results to Police Commission
Summary
Manny Fortz of the Office of Citizen Complaints told the Police Commission the OCC handled 784 complaints in 2011, sustained roughly 7% of allegations, and conducted 61 mediations last year; the office aims to complete investigations in nine months and uses multilingual intake options.
Manny Fortz, an attorney with San Francisco’s Office of Citizen Complaints, presented the OCC’s recent caseload and processes to the Police Commission, describing the agency’s role as civilian oversight, its investigatory powers and recent statistics.
Fortz said the OCC was created by the Board of Supervisors in 1982 and implemented in 1983, is separate from the Police Department and the commission, and has subpoena authority for investigations. "Our goal is to complete our investigations within 9 months," Fortz told the commission, noting a one-year maximum in limited exceptions. He described the OCC’s standard of proof as the preponderance of evidence and said that last year the office received 784 complaints and sustained allegations in about 7% of closed cases.
The OCC’s dispute-resolution work: Fortz said the OCC facilitated 61 mediations last year, representing about 7% of closed cases, and that its mediation program is voluntary and available in several languages through partnerships with community boards and the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Access and outreach: Fortz reviewed intake options — in person at the OCC offices on the seventh floor of 25 Van Ness Avenue, by phone, mail, email or fax, and in-language assistance in Cantonese, Mandarin, Burmese, Tagalog and Spanish. He said two investigators are bilingual in Spanish and that the office uses interpretation services as needed.
What it means: The OCC’s reported numbers provide a city-level picture of citizen complaints and the office’s emphasis on mediation and language access, which commissioners and the public noted during follow-up discussion.
The OCC presentation concluded with an offer for senior investigator Edward McMahon to address questions from the audience and with commissioners thanking Fortz for the overview.
