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Committee recommends city code change to let officers issue verbal warnings near reproductive health clinics
Summary
The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee voted to forward an ordinance amendment allowing police to give verbal warnings rather than written warnings before issuing dispersal orders at reproductive health facilities; Planned Parenthood Northern California supported the change citing patient safety concerns.
The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee voted Sept. 12, 2018, to forward an amendment to the San Francisco Police Code that would allow officers to give a verbal warning — rather than require a written warning — before issuing a dispersal order to protect access to reproductive health-care facilities.
Vice Chair Supervisor Ronan, sponsor of the amendment, told the committee the change responds to recurring harassment outside clinics and to recent streetscape work that removed markings and signs for an earlier 25-foot buffer zone. "We are revising the legislation to take out the requirement of a written warning and allow police officers to enforce the ordinance with only a verbal warning," Ronan said, arguing that the written-warning requirement makes enforcement less nimble.
Ronan said the city previously adopted a 25-foot buffer and then narrowed the rule following the U.S. Supreme Court decision discussed in the hearing (transcript cited it as "McCullough v. Coakley"). He described repeated incidents of protesters approaching patients and using graphic imagery, and said officers need the ability to act immediately when they witness harassment.
Sofia Navarro, vice president of community and government relations for Planned Parenthood Northern California, told the committee the organization supports the proposed amendment and urged it move forward. "We currently have patients that come into our health centers and constantly get verbally harassed," Navarro said. "They deserve a space where they can come in, feel safe, and get the care that they need."
Ronan moved to amend the ordinance by deleting the words "written or" from the section in question; the committee took the motion without objection and recommended the ordinance proceed to the Board of Supervisors. The committee record notes that Department of Public Works streetscaping had removed prior demarcations and that medical-provider and police representatives were present for the discussion.
Next steps: the committee recommended the ordinance for the Sept. 18, 2018 Board of Supervisors agenda.
