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Commission outlines rapid chief search, community outreach and proposes split staff roles
Summary
The commission agreed to move quickly on an executive search for a new police chief, plan community meetings for a candidate profile, and discussed splitting the Commission Secretary role into an executive director and a uniformed liaison to improve case management and community outreach.
San Francisco’s Police Commission on Jan. 7 began shaping the process to select the city’s next police chief and discussed reorganizing its office staff to support that work.
Commission President Theresa Sparks said the commission will work with the mayor’s office to review pre‑qualified executive search firms and develop a candidate profile based on community input. "We will get a search firm on board" quickly, Sparks said, and commissioners agreed to convene outreach meetings in neighborhoods, starting with a Tenderloin community meeting scheduled for Jan. 21 at Tenderloin School, 627 Turk Street.
On staffing, the commission and chief discussed splitting the current Commission Secretary functions into two positions: an executive director to handle litigation/case management and policy analysis and a commission liaison (a sergeant or lieutenant) to coordinate with the department, provide training to commissioners, and manage incident notifications. Commissioners asked staff to produce position descriptions, pay scales and recruitment materials for review.
Why it matters: The commission framed the search as a fast but transparent process that will include affinity and community groups alongside the Police Officers Association and the mayor’s office. Commissioners said they will use pre‑qualified search firms to shorten procurement timelines but reserve the right to craft specific contract criteria (for example, experience working with diverse populations).
Next steps: staff will circulate draft position descriptions for the executive director and commission liaison and the commission will meet with search‑firm options and community groups to finalize the candidate profile. Commissioners said they expect the search contracting process to move quickly if the commission confines consideration to the ten pre‑qualified firms presented to them.
No formal hiring decisions or contract awards were made at the meeting.
