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Chief outlines expanded behavioral-health training, crime trends and Occupy SF response
Summary
San Francisco Police Chief Gregory Sir told the commission the department plans additional behavioral-health training, proposed changes to a departmental general order, and reported a modest drop in violent crime; he described outreach and sanitation measures used to manage Occupy San Francisco.
Chief Gregory Sir reported to the San Francisco Police Commission on Oct. 12 that the department is advancing recommendations from its Behavioral Science Unit and will seek City Attorney and command-staff review before issuing written directives.
Key proposals include a structure of three mandated debrief/check-ins with clinicians for officers after critical incidents (an immediate debrief, a 30-day follow-up, and a later check-in), expanding Department General Order 11 11 to cover substance-abuse and behavioral-management issues beyond alcohol, and increasing the academy’s continuing professional training blocks: a three-hour behavioral-science block for officers and sergeants and a proposed four-hour suicide-prevention module.
Chief Sir also presented crime-trend data: violent crime was reported as down about 6% year to date, arrests have increased, and the department reported roughly 15 homicides over the preceding three months with clearance of about two-thirds of those cases.
On local demonstrations, Chief Sir described department engagement with Occupy San Francisco organizers and city officials, daily sanitation support (including porta-potties) at the encampment, removal of flammables after a fire-department safety notice, and a largely peaceful series of interactions. He said some demonstrators requested to be arrested; the department made multiple mutual-agreement arrests during a march but reported only one arrest involving battery on an officer during a different operation.
Commissioners asked for the officer survey results tied to behavioral-health proposals; staff said responses were still being collected and that a fuller report would be returned to the commission in about a month.
