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OCC reports 418 complaints opened in first half of 2011; sustained rate rises to 10%
Summary
The Office of Citizen Complaints told commissioners it opened 418 complaints and closed 417 in the second quarter, mediated 33 cases in the first half of 2011, and closed 66% of cases within nine months; staffing remained below the charter-mandated investigator ratio.
The Police Commission heard the Office of Citizen Complaints(OCC) second-quarter statistical report on Aug. 10, 2011. OCC leadership reported opening 418 complaints for police misconduct or failure to perform a duty by June 30 and closing 417 of those. The OCC mediated 33 complaints in the first six months of the year and resolved about two-thirds of cases within nine months of receipt.
Director Hintz (as recorded in the meeting) said case openings in the first half of 2011 represented a 12% decrease from the same period in 2010. The OCC closed the quarter with 420 pending cases and reported the average caseload was 28 cases per investigator, roughly double best-practice caseload benchmarks for police-misconduct investigators. The OCC ended the quarter with 13 journey-level investigators; the chartered ratio would require about 15 investigators for the city's size, and the director said three new investigators were expected to join in September.
The OCC reported a sustained rate of 10% for the quarter, higher than the OCCs historical average. The director listed allegation categories: neglect of duty (all sustained cases were in this category for the quarter), seven sustained cases for failure to collect traffic-stop data, one sustained allegation for contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) involving an administrative warrant that the director said violated the citys 'City of Refuge' protections and DGO 5.15, plus cases for failure to issue certificates of release and property-processing failures that resulted in property loss.
Commissioners asked whether the sustained ICE-contact case suggested a policy or training gap. The director described it as a training issue and said the OCC and department would contemplate appropriate training changes; commissioners discussed clarifying guidance for contacts on administrative warrants.
The OCC also touted its mediation program, saying the departments rate of officer participation in mediation was among the highest nationally, and credited volunteers and the San Francisco Bar Association for that effort.
The OCC director noted that while staffing was constrained, the office avoided a large backlog by closing 203 older cases in the quarter compared with 230 new cases received.
No formal disciplinary action was decided during the open session report; the report invited commissioners to request follow-up on staffing and policy implementation.
