Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Police Accountability topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rules committee backs ballot measure to require OCC investigation of all officer-involved shootings
Summary
The committee voted to send a June ballot measure to the full Board that would require the Office of Citizen Complaints to investigate all San Francisco officer-involved shootings that result in serious injury or death; OCC officials said the agency currently investigates only about 25% of such incidents and would seek five investigators to meet demand.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Rules Committee on Thursday voted to send to the full Board of Supervisors a proposed ordinance that would require the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) to investigate every San Francisco Police Department officer-involved shooting that causes serious bodily injury or death.
Sponsor Supervisor Malia Cohen said voters expect independent scrutiny when an officer discharges a firearm. "The people expect that whenever there's an officer involved shooting, that there'll be an independent, fair, and transparent investigation," Cohen said during the committee meeting.
OCC Director Joyce Hicks told the committee the office's current charter and practice limit investigations to cases where a complaint is filed. She said the OCC logged 35 reported SFPD discharges in the past five years, 31 of which resulted in injury or death, but the OCC received only eight complaints tied to those incidents — "which means we're investigating approximately 25% of them," Hicks said.
Hicks said expanding mandatory OCC investigations would increase transparency, allow the OCC to post anonymized complaint-summary reports and produce policy recommendations — for example, on vehicle-shooting rules, critical-incident family response, de-escalation and interactions with people in mental-health crisis. "By enabling the OCC to investigate all officer involved shootings, transparency will be increased and community–police relations will be enhanced due to policy recommendations from the OCC," she said.
Committee members raised whether the OCC has the staffing and resources to carry out the broader mandate. Hicks said the office will make a budget request to add investigators and proposed creating a small team to handle officer-involved-shooting investigations; she recommended adding five investigators to help manage the workload.
Public commenters included civic groups and oversight experts. Some speakers urged the committee to go further — granting the OCC authority to conduct pattern-and-practice investigations and to pursue additional powers — while others supported the measure as a necessary step toward accountability.
Supervisor Eric Marr and other committee members praised the grassroots advocacy that prompted the proposal and underscored that the measure is one step in a broader push for police oversight.
The committee moved the measure to the full Board with a positive recommendation as a committee report. The ordinance is scheduled to appear on the Board agenda and, if advanced, would be placed on the June 7, 2016 ballot for a citywide vote.
