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Police chief highlights homicide declines, data gaps and plans for independent bias review
Summary
Chief Fong reported a decline in homicides and cited examples of recent arrests, said the department has removed roughly 1,200 guns, and acknowledged that the current record system does not report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity; the department said a new records-management rollout will capture broader ethnic breakdowns and that outside experts will assist on biased-policing review.
Chief Fong delivered the department's report, emphasizing a multi-year effort that has contributed to a reduction in homicides and highlighting two recent investigations that led to arrests. "We've removed roughly 1,200 guns from the streets of our city," Fong said, describing enforcement work across neighborhoods and collaboration with federal and state partners.
Commissioners and staff discussed efforts to reduce violent crime through targeted strategies and partnerships with academic and criminal-justice experts. Chief Fong said the department is working with an expert identified in the presentation as Dr. Bridal to examine possible bias and cultural-sensitivity gaps in training and operations; commissioners asked that public outreach include affected communities, especially African American and Latino residents.
Commissioner David Campos raised a Chronicle report that San Francisco was not capturing Latino/Hispanic ethnicity in its reporting system; Chief Fong acknowledged the limitation: "The current system... does not report Hispanic data," and said the planned new records-management system will include a more extensive ethnic breakdown. He offered to provide commissioners with documentation of the data fields that will be available in the new system.
Commissioners asked for more neighborhood-level CompStat detail and timely crime mapping; Chief Fong said crime mapping capability exists now but is about two weeks behind and that the new record-management system should provide closer to real-time data. Deputy Chief Toback is scheduled to present detailed robbery and burglary trends next week.
Next steps: Chief Fong said follow-up presentations would include deputy-level deep dives (robberies, burglaries), the Gartner IT study results when available, and further public engagement around the biased-policing review.
