OIG Newsletter #7/September/2024

Dear San Francisco,

What an extraordinary month it has been, witnessing the prosecutor I began my career with over 30 years ago at the Alameda District Attorney's Office make history by accepting the nomination to become the 47th President of the United States. I hope that Vice-President Kamala Harris energizes and inspires all of you to fight for the rights and freedoms promised to you by our Constitution.

Fittingly, this month, we commemorate our constitution during Constitution Week, beginning with Constitution Day and Citizenship Day on September 17th. September 17, 1787, marks the day when the members of the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution, establishing and safeguarding the rights and freedoms to which we are entitled. This sacred document empowers us to hold our government and law enforcement officials accountable when they overstep their bounds. As your Inspector General, I am committed to ensuring constitutional policing by our Sheriff’s Office and constitutional conditions in our jails.

I intend to organize town hall meetings throughout the city to engage, listen to, and connect with as many interested stakeholders as possible. Your input is important to me. Our next town hall meeting will be in the Mission District on September 13, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. at 2929 19th Street, SF, CA 94110. I want to express special thanks to Joanna Hernandez for helping us secure the meeting space, promoting the event, and tirelessly advocating on behalf of inmates. I aim to meet with all the communities we serve in this work. Please reach out if you would like me to come out for a town hall meeting in your neighborhood.

Congratulations to the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board for selecting excellent officers for the 2024-2025 term by re-electing Julie Soo as president and electing Dion-Jay (DJ) Brookter as vice president. I look forward to a productive year ahead and would like to express my sincere gratitude to both the re-elected president and former Vice President Xochitl Carrion for their exceptional leadership during the previous term.

Thank you for your continued support.

- Terry

I want to share how great it was to see many community members and law enforcement officers at National Night Out on August 6th. It was heartening to see neighbors and law enforcement getting to know each other in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. Building mutual understanding and respect helps to foster trust in our law enforcement, making our communities safer for everyone.

I had the chance to attend two National Night Out events: one at Boeddeker Park in the
Tenderloin, where I saw Mayor Breed, and another at Ella Hill Hutch Center in the Western Addition. I want to give a special thank-you to the investigators from the Department of Police Accountability - Vince Villa, Joseph Lazzareschi, and Karen Moore - for staffing the booths and providing information about the DPA and the OIG.

To stay current on the latest in oversight and to incorporate best practices into my work and the establishment of this new agency, I attended the Association of Inspector General Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, from August 12th to August 16th. This intensive five-day program covered all facets of conducting oversight according to national standards, from case investigations to department management.

It was an amazing experience learning from impressive instructors and getting to know other Inspector Generals from around the country. I am proud and excited to announce that I have met the qualifications, successfully completed this rigorous program, and passed the exam to become your Certified Inspector General.

In response to concerns from the community and reports from the San Francisco Nursing Union about frequent assaults on the job, Board Member Brookter and I visited Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFGH) on August 22nd to learn more about the role of the San Francisco Sheriff's Office (SFSO) there. We examined the conditions where the most vulnerable inmates receive care under the SFSO's authority, the areas under the SFSO's control, and the services the SFSO provides. I want to thank SFSO Chief of Staff Richard Jue, Chief Deputy Kevin McConnell, and Captain Brian Krol for facilitating the visit and showing us around.

ZSFGH is a sprawling and bustling campus that is much more than just a hospital and trauma center, providing many critical services, including mental health and addiction treatment, forensic examinations, rehabilitation services, inmate care, and specialized care and treatment. A diverse array of people arrives at the ZSFGH daily around the clock.

The SFSO is contracted to provide security for the hospital. This location also serves as an operational hub for the SFSO to monitor different health service facilities throughout the city.

Additionally, the SFSO regularly deploys deputies to the surrounding areas when a law enforcement response is needed. It is an extremely busy post with 500-600 calls for service a month.

From our visit, it was clear that the SFSO is short-staffed at this station and reliant on outdated technology to monitor many locations. SFSO's command staff at the ZSFGH depend on volunteered overtime to keep operations afloat and must assess staffing levels every morning to make the difficult decision of prioritizing which posts they can staff and which they cannot.

Those seeking care, those visiting loved ones, and those dedicated to providing care in service to others should not feel unsafe or be subjected to violence without adequate protection. If the SFSO is going to provide security at the ZSFGH, I'll advocate for them to have the necessary tools to do it right.

To keep you informed about our ongoing activities and projects, below is a preview of what to expect in the next few months.
• Regular visits to the County Jails to hear input from the inmates and staff about the jail conditions. We will be alternating between the jail facilities in San Francisco and San Bruno.
• Regular town hall meetings to inform the community about the role of the OIG and available services and to engage the community in a dialog about where to prioritize our efforts.
• Using this newsletter to amplify the voices of the most impacted community members by creating a section for community perspectives and opinions. We want to thank Board Member Afuhaamango for assisting with this effort.

In 2020, San Francisco voters passed Supervisor Walton's Proposition D, which resulted in the formation of the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board and the Office of the Inspector General. The primary function of these entities is to provide independent oversight for the Sheriff's Office. On December 20, 2023, the board appointed Inspector General Wiley, who officially assumed his role on January 8, 2024.

We appreciate your patience and support as Inspector General Wiley builds the Office of the Inspector General to become operational. While the Inspector General seeks funds through the budget process to serve the people of San Francisco and deliver on the promise of Proposition D, the Department of Police Accountability will continue to provide independent investigations into complaints of serious misconduct against San Francisco Sheriff deputies and in-custody deaths pursuant to existing agreements.

Please stay tuned for updates about the transition of this work.