Committee accepts civil grand jury recommendations on SFPD overtime and civilianization with amendments

The Government Audits and Oversight Committee heard a Civil Grand Jury report on compensation and staffing in the San Francisco Police Department and agreed to forward an amended resolution to the full Board that focuses on those recommendations the Board is required to answer.

Grand juror Mike Lussi said the report had two parts: concerns about overtime paid to captains, commanders and deputy chiefs and recommendations to increase civilian staffing so sworn officers can return to field duties. "Our recommendation was that the contract being negotiated with the police union be specific, to exclude captains," Lussi said. The grand jury also found the department had a relatively low ratio of civilian employees to sworn officers and urged steps to increase civilian positions.

Department of Human Resources staff told the committee the city has eliminated overtime eligibility for captains and is negotiating a separate labor agreement for command staff (the P2B bargaining unit) to address overtime eligibility for deputy chiefs and commanders. Deputy Chief Charles Gohane said the SFPD has initiated a multiyear staffing analysis and an organizational study with PERF to identify positions that may be civilianized.

Public commenter Mr. Yap urged more civilian deployment to get officers back on the streets and criticized the practice of multiple patrol cars responding to single incidents. Mark Tipton of the Comptroller—s Office said his office annually issues civilianization reports and had no objection to the Board working with the Controller on recommendations 3A and 3B.

Chair Sean Ellsburn moved to amend the draft resolution to strike recommendations the Board is not required to respond to and to indicate agreement with recommendations 2A, 3A, 3B and 3D; the committee accepted the amendment and will send the revised resolution to the full Board.