Rules Committee forwards Petra de Jesus' reappointment to Police Commission after policy-focused hearing

Petra de Jesus, a long-serving member of the San Francisco Police Commission, won a positive recommendation from the Rules Committee on June 8, 2017 to return to the commission after a public hearing marked by extensive community support and sustained questioning from supervisors.

De Jesus, who noted she was born and raised in San Francisco and formerly worked as a public defender, told supervisors she has spent “15 to sometimes up to 20 hours a week” on commission work and emphasized her commitment to implementing Department of Justice and blue-ribbon panel recommendations. “I am committed to seeing the Department of Justice, the grand jury, and the blue ribbon panel reforms implemented in a meaningful way,” she said, citing transparency, training and efforts to change the department’s culture.

Supervisors focused much of their questioning on how De Jesus would translate policy recommendations into measurable results. Supervisor Norman Yee asked her to name top priorities; De Jesus highlighted enforcing the new use-of-force policy through comprehensive training, expanding crisis intervention training (CIT) and improving data systems to spot problem patterns among officers. She told the committee a full CIT curriculum is “a 40-hour course” and said the commission should seek an audit of the department’s technology needs and a clear budget to build an EIS-style system for analyzing complaints and personnel trends.

Committee members also pressed De Jesus about overtime, recruitment and succession planning. Board President London Breed and others expressed frustration about overtime spending and suggested reinstating the weekly overtime reports the commission received under a prior chief. De Jesus acknowledged the issue and proposed requiring the police department to present anticipated overtime tied to training in advance so the commission could review and, if necessary, approve it.

The hearing included an extended presentation from the applicant about community policing, language access and disciplinary processes. On racist-text allegations involving officers, De Jesus said some individuals resigned before hearings and several cases are now the subject of litigation in Superior Court; she said statute-of-limitations questions are being litigated and stressed respect for due process.

More than two dozen members of the public — including current and former commissioners, union representatives and neighborhood groups — spoke in support of De Jesus’ reappointment. Yolanda Williams, president of Officers for Justice, told the committee De Jesus “has been a champion for quality policing and community policing” and urged supervisors to approve her reappointment. Several community groups including SEIU and the Youth Commission also submitted or voiced endorsements.

After public comment and further discussion about staffing and the commission’s policy capacity, Supervisor Norman Yee moved to forward the appointment with a positive recommendation to the full Board. The roll call vote recorded Supervisor Feuer as “aye,” Supervisor Yee as “aye,” and Chair Supervisor Safaei as “no.” The motion passed by 2–1.

The committee’s recommendation sends the nomination to the full Board of Supervisors for final consideration. The item was listed as appearing on the Board’s regular agenda for June 20, 2017 unless otherwise stated.

Actions recorded at the hearing will be forwarded with the committee’s recommendation to the full Board.