Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Civil Oversight topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission approves Office of Citizen Complaints budget; OCC to publicize language-access policy
Summary
The Police Commission approved the Office of Citizen Complaints's FY2008' 2009 budget and heard that OCC staff will take part in a press conference to publicize Department General Order 5.2 on language access; OCC reported outreach to roughly 800 people at 11 events so far this year.
The San Francisco Police Commission voted to approve the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) proposed budget for fiscal year 2008' 2009 during its Feb. 20 meeting. OCC Director Hicks told the commission there were no changes to the proposed budget and requested approval.
Director Hicks also announced that OCC staff and OCC attorney/policy analyst Samra would participate in a press conference the following morning co-sponsored by Chinese for Affirmative Action, Asian Law Caucus and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights to publicize the department's language access policy (Department General Order 5.2).
"The first eight weeks of this year have resulted in numerous contacts by OCC personnel," Director Hicks said, reporting OCC outreach to approximately 800 people at 11 different events, including academy classes, high schools and an event for disabled persons.
A commissioner asked whether the department maintains a master list of officers who speak other languages for station-level use. Department staff said a master list is maintained in staff services that includes both certified bilingual officers and self-identified bilingual officers; dispatch can also broadcast requests for officers who speak particular languages at any hour. Commissioners suggested sharing high-level information at the language-access press event to help communities know where bilingual services are available without naming individual officers.
Why it matters: OCC budget approval sustains the city's civilian oversight and complaint-handling operations. The language-access policy outreach aims to inform non-English-speaking communities of department resources and services.
Next steps: OCC will participate in the scheduled press conference to publicize DGO 5.2 and continue community outreach.
