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Police oversight office says 8% cuts will leave it short of charter staffing minimum
Summary
OCC Director Hicks told the Police Commission that an 8% citywide cut and a $291 million budget shortfall will force OCC to leave four investigator vacancies unfilled, dropping the office below the charter-mandated investigator minimum and raising retention concerns.
Director Hicks told the San Francisco Police Commission on March 19 that Mayor Newsom’s latest budget action requires an additional 8% reduction across departments and that the city’s budget deficit has grown to $291,000,000, $60,000,000 more than when department budgets were submitted. She said the cuts will force the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) to leave four investigator vacancies unfilled and will leave OCC with 14 line investigators—one fewer than last year and, by Hicks’ calculation, one fewer than the charter-mandated minimum of one investigator per 150 sworn officers.
Hicks said OCC had previously offered two investigator positions in an earlier round of cuts and that only one new investigator has been hired so far. “Of the six investigator vacancies I’ve discussed with you in the past, I will only be able to fill one more vacancy. I will have to leave four of those vacancies vacant,” she said. She added that OCC investigators face “an extremely high caseload” that is now “more than double” that of similarly situated investigators in the Bay Area and warned of potential retention and recruitment difficulties.
Why it matters: The commission’s oversight of police conduct depends on OCC’s investigatory capacity. Commissioners responded by asking Hicks to prepare a letter or outline for the mayor’s budget director stressing that the proposed cuts would leave OCC below the charter requirement. Hicks said the mayor’s budget analyst had already requested similar information from OCC.
Hicks also highlighted OCC’s mediation work and recognized Donna Salazar, OCC’s mediation outreach coordinator, noting a blog that identified Salazar among three women working daily to staff community mediation programs. Hicks proposed presenting OCC’s outreach strategic plan to the commission in April; commissioners discussed moving the presentation from April 9 to April 16 if staffing or special events required it. Hicks also proposed returning with a report on OCC’s procedure for receiving claims and litigation from the police chief on April 2 as talks continue with the chief, the city attorney and POA representatives.
Commissioners pressed for a quick resolution. Commissioner David Campos offered to participate in discussions, and the commission directed staff to try to resolve outstanding procedural points within the next week and to return unresolved items for a final resolution at the April 2 meeting.
The commission did not take a formal vote on budget advocacy at this meeting; Director Hicks agreed to prepare the requested letter for the mayor’s budget office.
