S.F. police chief reports drop in serious crime, gives Brady-review totals; taser policy set for public hearings

San Francisco — Police Chief George Gascon told the Police Commission on Jan. 5 that the city closed 2010 with an 8% reduction in serious crimes and outlined departmental steps taken after reviewing officers for Brady-related disclosures.

Gascon said the department recorded 39,743 serious crimes in 2010, versus 43,032 the year before and 45,162 two years earlier. He characterized the multi-year trend as meaningful progress while noting a small rise in homicides: 50 in 2010 compared with 45 the prior year. "We closed the year with an 8% reduction," Gascon said. "Our goal is to get down into the mid-30s per 1,000 residents."

The chief described an extensive internal review prompted in part by crime-lab problems and the need to formalize how potential credibility issues are disclosed to defense counsel under Brady v. Maryland. Gascon said records searches reached back decades and required a retired judge on a review panel to evaluate files and provide outside due process. "It's a moving list," he said, adding that employees may be added or removed through appeal.

Gascon provided counts from that review: 20 retired or former employees were identified as impacted; 75 active employees appeared on the list, of whom 61 are in public-contact assignments. He said nine individuals currently are not assigned to field duties and five are on automatic administrative relief. "Relatively speaking, this is a very small number of officers that are impacted by that," he said, describing the process as exhaustive and emphasizing the department's concern for due process.

Commissioners pressed the chief on the operational impact and the appeals process; Gascon said the judge-led review and in-camera determinations by trial courts will govern what is disclosed to juries in pending cases.

The meeting also moved the conversation about tasers back onto the calendar. Gascon said he will return with a proposed policy and recommended vendor-selection process; he estimated 9–12 months from procurement to deployment if approved. The commission asked for community and stakeholder input and scheduled a preliminary presentation and stakeholder hearing (proposed Jan. 26) and a likely action item on Feb. 9, 2011, with materials to be distributed to commissioners in advance.

Next steps: the commission expects materials on taser policy and other use-of-force guidance in advance of the scheduled presentations; the department will continue to process Brady appeals and update commissioners as cases change.