Police commission reviews controller's audit of OCC; interim director outlines reforms amid union criticism

The San Francisco Police Commission on April 6 heard the controller's performance audit of the Office of Citizens Complaints and received a public report and response from the interim OCC director.

Interim OCC Director Ms. Fields told the commission that anonymous employee survey narratives cited a small set of ethical concerns and that management took steps including reissuing sign-in policies, sending supervisors to DHR training and instituting progressive discipline classes. "In closed session, you asked me specifically to comment on the items on page 30 of the controller's audit," she said, summarizing the four categories of concern the commission requested be disclosed. Fields said OCC staff had implemented or begun 17 of the 45 recommendations in the report.

The director disputed broad characterizations that cases were left unattended for years and provided case-timing statistics to the commission: "In 02/2005, 92 percent of all cases were closed within 1 year. In 02/2006, 94 percent of all cases were closed within a year of filing," she said, adding that overall 72 percent to 76 percent of cases were closed within nine months.

Representatives from the Controller's Office, including audit staff Joanne Held and Mark Tipton, described the audit as a management review focused on inconsistent policies, case-tracking and supervisory standards. Held said auditors found examples of procedural and management shortcomings and noted that a small number of investigators accounted for a disproportionate share of unexplained delays. "Those were actually just 2 cases that we happened to come upon," Held said when asked how often SFPD failed to provide information; she added the audit did not comprehensively test for additional nonresponses.

Commissioners pressed the OCC and auditors on specific problems the audit named: missing or hard-to-locate physical files, the need for an accessible case-tracking or "tickler" system, and unclear written policies for officer notification interviews. Ms. Fields said the OCC database includes a file-location field but that there remain questions about who can enter and update that data; supervisors will be required to provide more routine reports on aging cases and staffing priorities.

Union and public comment at the meeting was sharply critical. Kevin Martin, vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, called the audit findings "clearly, clearly disturbing" and asked when reforms would be implemented. Steve Johnson of the POA said it was inappropriate for the interim OCC director to review anonymous allegations against her own staff. "Here you have serious allegations of ethical concerns. And what did you do? You turned it over to the interim director of OCC to investigate OCC," he said. Gary Delaney, POA president, told the commission the audit "has confirmed all of our suspicions and fears that this is inadequate, inept, and possibly corrupt organization."

Commissioners sought clarification of authority and next steps. Commissioner David Campos emphasized that the commission has asked the OCC to work with the controller's office and the city attorney to ensure thorough follow-up. Commissioners also discussed possible amendments to existing commission resolutions that set timelines for SFPD responses to OCC policy recommendations and asked the city attorney to advise on what changes are legally feasible.

On discrete procedural matters during the meeting the commission approved a departmental general order on false alarms (Item 9) "without objection," voted to retire into closed session earlier in the evening, approved the minutes for January 2007, and adjourned at 8:14 p.m.

The commission asked OCC and controller staff to return with more detailed plans: specific proposals to improve case-tracking and file-location accountability, a written outreach plan for underrepresented communities, and recommendations for formal timelines and a policy-response process to ensure that SFPD replies to OCC policy recommendations in a timely way. The Controller's Office also said it will perform formal follow-up at standard audit intervals to check on implementation.