S.F. Police Commission hears plan to pilot PERF 'Phase 1' at Ingleside station

San Francisco — Police department leaders and consultants from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) on Wednesday presented a plan to test a reorganized district business model at a single San Francisco Police Department station, proposing Ingleside as the Phase 1 pilot. Assistant Chief James Lynch and PERF consultants Craig Fraser and Bill Tegler said the pilot would test staffing changes, a district‑level information system and problem‑solving teams aimed at shifting officer time from reactive calls toward community problem‑solving.

PERF’s proposal would add a ‘district resource’ lieutenant and place a crime analyst in the pilot station, create a problem‑solving team of officers and sergeants, and reorient sector deployment so that calls‑for‑service consume about 40% of officer time, leaving roughly 60% for administrative, training and community work. ‘‘We want objectives that are built into the performance measures that are truly objective as opposed to subjective as possible,’’ a PERF presenter said, describing metrics that could include reductions in targeted crimes, fewer complaints about targeted crimes and increased community satisfaction.

Commissioners pressed presenters on timing, staffing and how analysis will translate into patrol work. Lieutenant Mike Beal and PERF consultants said the crime analyst would combine quantitative data and local knowledge to identify emerging problems, brief sector officers and track responses over weeks to months. Commissioners and presenters discussed examples including foot‑beat allocations, street‑lighting issues and tailored responses ranging from increased uniform presence to focused surveillance. ‘‘That analyst position is not just fooling around with numbers,’’ a PERF consultant said, ‘‘it’s also to communicate with people — to check: are you seeing the same things on the street?’’

Department leaders said the pilot will be accompanied by training at multiple levels (line officers, sergeants/supervisors, managers) and by community surveys administered with the Controller’s Office to establish baselines. Funding options mentioned included grants and stimulus money to support hiring and system development. Commissioners emphasized language and cultural access in the Ingleside plan — a district the presenters said is demographically diverse and has a high number of community organizations — and requested that the department prioritize translation and outreach so residents understand what the pilot will mean for daily policing.

The department said it will produce periodic reports on progress; commissioners asked that an initial implementation timeline, milestone dates for data and technology upgrades, and the content of the first quarterly report be provided to the commission and posted publicly. The presentation did not include a formal commission vote to adopt the pilot; instead, presenters proposed moving ahead to identify station staff, management teams and evaluation metrics to support an implementation decision in the coming months.

The next substantive step the presenters described is to form a management team for the pilot station, identify baseline statistics and a computerized local information system, pursue grants to fund staffing and evaluation, and hire a strategic management director to oversee the roll‑out and reporting.