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Commission hears Sparks report and community praise for domestic-violence and deaf/hard-of-hearing policy working groups
Summary
Policy staff presented SFPD and DPA SPARKS and DGO updates, and community members and officers praised collaborative working groups that rewrote the domestic-violence DGO and crafted language-access tools for deaf or hard-of-hearing residents.
The Police Commission received an update on SFPD's Q3/Q4 2025 Sparks report and multiple department general orders on Feb. 11, with policy manager Aja Steves outlining work to revise legacy DGOs and implement community-sourced changes.
Steves said the department provided dozens of DGO and manual updates in 2025 and noted specific items in leadership review or meet-and-confer, including DGO 5.23 (interactions with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals) and DGO 6.09 (domestic-violence manual). "SPARCs is required for both SFPD and DPA per a resolution from the police commission from 2006," she told commissioners, describing the staged public-comment and leadership-review process.
Community members, victim advocates and officers described their roles in working groups. Dr. Pamela Tate, who participated in the DV working group, urged simplification of redundant forms used in repeated domestic-violence incidents and said the collaborative process helped surface survivor rights. "I really encourage that this process continues because it was absolutely amazing," Tate said.
Officer Brian Santana, a field training officer in the Mission, said the prior domestic-violence policy was "20 pages of dense convoluted and legalese wording" and that the condensed rewrite produced through the working group is more usable for officers on chaotic scenes. Stone Selseth, Daisy Jimenez and other community representatives praised the outreach and said the changes will improve both officer practice and victim services.
Speakers also emphasized language access ahead of a large National Association of the Deaf conference expected in Union Square. John Costi of the Office on Disability and Accessibility urged departments to prepare apps and certified-interpreter resources for thousands of expected visitors, and Britney Weeks of the District Attorney's Office called for certified interpreters rather than family members in serious investigations.
Steves and DPA staff outlined next steps: leadership review was scheduled for March 11, public comments received during the review will inform revisions, and working-group members will be kept informed during implementation work including training videos and forms consolidation.
The commission asked staff to provide status updates to the working groups and to agendize a May update ahead of the June conference.
