Commission pushes for transparency on unit orders and department bulletins after OCC raises concerns

At the Aug. 26 meeting, the San Francisco Police Commission pressed the Police Department to explain how unit orders and department bulletins are drafted, approved and tracked, and asked the department to notify the commission when a bulletin or unit order affects a Department General Order (DGO).

The Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC), represented by Director Joyce Hicks, told commissioners that OCC regularly receives DGOs and department bulletins but does not receive unit orders. Hicks said OCC staff have observed instances where unit orders have been relied on to justify departures from DGOs, citing topics such as vehicle pursuits and stop-data reporting.

Commissioners requested a presentation that would describe the unit-order approval cycle and whether the commission and OCC should be notified prospectively when a bulletin or unit order alters a DGO. Assistant Chief Lynch and department staff said they would review current processes and prepare a binder or booklet of relevant bulletins and orders and would include the OCC in that work.

Commissioners said they want to avoid having to comb through all bulletins retroactively; instead they asked for a prospective flagging process for documents that create exceptions to existing DGOs.

The commission scheduled follow-up presentations and asked staff to consider whether to require retroactive review of past bulletins and unit orders that appear to have altered DGOs.

No formal vote was taken on the issue at this meeting; the discussion produced a direction to staff to prepare the requested materials and include the OCC.