Community Meeting Minutes

Mission Arts Center
745 Treat Ave., San Francisco, CA 94110

Meeting called to order at 6:17 pm.

ROLL CALL

PRESENT: Brookter, Carrion, Palmer, Soo, Wechter, Acting Secretary Leung
NOT PRESENT: Afuhaamango (excused), Nguyen (excused)

A quorum of the Board was present.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

President Wechter welcomed the public. Vice President Carrion, Member Soo, Member Brookter, Member Palmer and President Wechter introduced themselves, welcomed the public, and gave a brief profile of themselves.

PUBLIC COMMENT: No public comment.

PRESENTATION BY THE SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF’S OFFICE

The Sheriff’s Office asked that Board Member Nguyen represent the Sheriff’s Office to give a presentation for SFSO. Member Nguyen was unable to attend due to military leave.

PUBLIC COMMENT: No public comment.

COMMUNITY INPUT TO THE SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT OVERSIGHT BOARD REGARDING SFSO OPERATIONS AND JAIL CONDITIONS

Open discussion by Vice President Carrion. Member Soo, and President Wechter.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Unidentified member of the public, in person, asked clarification of Sheriff’s policy and procedures and the SFPD and Sheriff’s Office.

Unidentified clinical librarian at SFGH, in person, asked if the MOU was available online.

Responses by Member Soo, Vice President Carrion, and President Wechter.

RECRUITMENT OF AN INSPECTOR GENERAL

Open discussion by Vice President Carrion, Member Soo, President Wechter, Member Brookter.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Unidentified member of the public, in person, asked about the qualifications for an inspector general, had previously filed a small claims against the Sheriff’s Department and a complaint with DPA. Asked about a complaint filed 2 years ago and asked if he could file a complaint from 2 years ago. Asked about paper trail, records requests, and subpoena of personnel records.
Responses from Member Soo, Member Brookter, Vice President Carrion, and President Wechter.

Unidentified medical student and researcher at SFGH, in person, stated that not only is the Sheriff’s responsible for the jails but also for the DPH system, and they have serious concerns around the use of force at their clinics and hospitals as well as arrests on outstanding warrants in the hospitals, which can deter people from accessing healthcare services. They asked if the new inspector general would be responsible for following up with concerns around transparency. In 2021, they worked with the ACLU to file a PRA. The Sheriff’s has not adequately responded for released data around use of force incidences or around outstanding arrest warrants. They want that data. They think it is important for the public to know about it. Curious about the audits and whether that can be a way to get that data to the public being that they deserve transparency. DPH Must Divest is a campaign that’s working to find safety and prevent incidences of violence without having to rely on the police. One of the concerns they have is around the ways that use of force have been on their patients as well as demonstrative in multiple cases in the hospital. Healthcare workers will come to their coalition with their concerns. They worked with the ACLU to file PRA back in 2021. Limited response has been: giving information on training documents not for use of force or outstanding warrants. An incomplete response. They would like aggregated data on counts of use of force, as well as how many arrests are happening on campus because they don’t have the data. DPH does not have data on arrests on outstanding warrants in the hospital. The hospital keeps complaints around use of force, and anytime they find out about an arrest, they try to get involved in it and that’s how they found out about these cases. They have a weekly review of these cases. One question they have is it would be great for the inspector general not only to interface with the Sheriff’s Office but with the Department of Public Health around these incidents and other city departments. They recommend reaching out to Basil Price, the security director at DPH, to come speak to the board about concerns they may have. They have not gotten data (around the request for PRA) from ACLU. They hear people talk about it, but they don’t know what is going on. Context about what the concerns are around use of force and arrest for warrants: context for use of force is excessive use of force against folks who are being forcibly discharged from the hospital or who are being held on a voluntary psych hold, pregnant patients being shackled to beds for days unnecessarily, providers not being allowed to properly perform medical assessments because they’re (patients) shackled to the bed, or because of interactions between the Sheriff’s Department and the providers. In addition, SFPD is also all up in SF General Hospital, they will ask providers for information and try to look at, get people’s belongings without a proper warrant. Even stand in operating rooms during surgeries. There’s serious concerns they have. They say it is part of their protocol or policy and they have to escalate it to the captain and sometimes that works, and they can resolve the situation properly. Other times, by the time it happens, the patient has already been discharged, or whatever the situation is. It is clear whether it is the sheriff’s or the police as they wear different uniforms. They found out about the meeting because one of their members emailed them the Mission Local article. They had questions around auditing, is it exclusively for personnel or can they do audits around Covid 19 policies, or around seismic security of the buildings because there is serious concern in the past around San Francisco.
Question, answers, and discussion by President Wechter, Member Soo, Vice President Carrion, and Member Brookter.

Unidentified clinical librarian at SFGH, in person, question about the regular board meeting.
Response from President Wechter and Member Soo.

2nd unidentified member of the public, in person, has seen Sheriff’s Deputies parked in the neighborhood waiting for someone to arrest. He feels like this is a form of abuse. He hopes that when we hire an inspector general, that he keeps this in mind and pushes back on this kind of abuse. One will stop the person to talk to him and the other one will stand there glaring. He hears about this meeting the same way as everyone else has.

GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

Unidentified clinical librarian at SFGH, in person, read over the job description and says these are huge shoes to fill, it is very broad in scope and range, it requires community outreach experience but legal expertise, data analytics, and was curious about what the process was in creating the job for posting was. Asked to hear from Board Member Palmer and Board Member Brookter, on what they are looking for in this job, what type of soft skills and not just qualifications on paper. She was concerned that the educational requirements is just a bachelor’s degree but the scope of the job is so broad, and the responsibilities are so broad. The desirable qualifications state somebody with a JD or master’s degree and the minimum requirements is just a bachelors. We had so much talk about data and auditing and reporting, she doesn’t see it reflected in the qualifications. Asked about the trauma informed perspective qualification.
Responses by President Wechter, Vice President Carrion, Member Soo, Member Palmer, and Member Brookter.

Unidentified medical student and researcher at SFGH, in person, asked about the budget and where the money is coming from. Asked where restitution and support for people affected by the Sheriff’s department come from.
Responses from President Wechter, Member Soo, Member Palmer, and Vice President Carrion.

2nd unidentified medical student at SFGH, in person, his research and concern is about the Sheriff and the birth center at San Francisco General Hospital. California passed laws against restraints and shackling against people being transported to the hospital, at the hospital, during labor and delivery and during post-partum. Unfortunately, the reality is that 99% of the people who come in remain in restraints during their stay. He came in when the other gentlemen was talking about some other misconduct that has been ongoing and people in the community are seeing and professionals are seeing and are not concerned by. He is wondering how in creating this how we are going to ensure that there is an amount of transparency with the rest of the community so that this does not just become another black box where complaints go in, and people get slaps on the wrist, but then the truth of the matter is that 99% of the people that come into labor at San Francisco General are in custody and are being restrained. So they have this lack of continuity with the reality that we are discussing in this room, the reality that they are discussing in the court and what is actually happening in the hospital with community members. He’s wondering what this group is doing specifically for the birth center and how we are going to ensure these conversations are being really transparent so that the Sheriff’s department is not just looking after its own self for accountability. He understands that this is in part your role. He is wondering how that is going to be extended to really encourage accountability and transparency. Can you reach out to groups that have been working on this for a long time? Suggested to speak to No Jail SF coalition. It sounds like the only transparency as far as the process goes is from you all communicating with the public. There is no way for the public to, let’s say I called because my patient is shackled, unless you guys decide to do a report or a community presentation, nobody else is going to, there is no public transparency. Is anyone able to see the complaint process? Can DPH and the Inspector General look at and compare the information? He is still concerned with the lack of transparency, and he hears that this is also a concern that we have. Are we working on anything to make things more transparent? There is an opportunity to file direct complaints, is there also an opportunity to request specific audits if there is a coalition or group who is concerned about the sheriff’s, could they request a particular audit. Could that be, what is the process for that?
Responses by President Wechter, Member Soo, Vice President Carrion, and Member Brookter.

ADJOURNMENT

All those in favor voted AYE. No NAYS.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:59 pm.

Dan Leung
Legal Assistant,
Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board

Full video recording may be accessed at https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=223