Meeting Minutes

Meeting called to order at 2:12 pm. Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL

PRESENT: Afuhaamango, Brookter, Carrion, Nguyen, Palmer (at 2:49 pm), Soo, Wechter, Acting Secretary Leung

A quorum of the Board was present.

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GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

Thierry Fill, in person, stated the specific role of the sheriff’s is to protect the government officials. You have to make sure the government is legitimate. It is plain to see that there is a division here. It’s not going to work. We have to be very focused. The goal of everyone is happiness which you cannot achieve if you go against it. Nobody will be happy if they see that the government is not serving the people. Nobody wants a wall. Why isn’t the government in San Francisco saying anything to keep peace? He told the mayor twice, in order to try to solve the problem, you have to push to promote the City, the concept of stability and critical thinking. Pay attention. Stand by. We will see what happens with the supervisors. He will continue speaking for everyone’s happiness.

Michael Petrelis, remotely, he filed a complaint in April with the Sheriff's Department against Officer Andrew Martinez, because he believed he had harassed him before the meeting started and he killed his first amendment rights. He videotaped this interaction and filed a written complaint with internal affairs at the sheriff’s department. After four weeks of not hearing from anyone to ask him questions about his complaint, he received an email from Deputy Kevin McConnell telling him that they had conducted an internal investigation, without asking him a single question, and they absolved their colleague of any wrongdoing. He mentions this because it is one more reason why they need this commission to get its act together. Hire the inspector general. Start investigating citizen’s complaints. They have waited an unconscionable number of years for this commission to address the abuses of the sheriff and the deputies. They cannot wait much longer for you to hire someone and get that person up and running as the inspector general. What they will eventually need is a law enforcement commission instead of one commission for the police department and one for the sheriff’s department. We need a single law enforcement commission.

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ADOPTION OF MINUTES

Motion to approve the Minutes from July 7, 2023, and July 27, 2023, by Vice President Carrion, seconded by Member Soo.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Michael Petrelis, remotely, wanted to address the draft meeting minutes from Thursday, July 27. He sees there is no general public comment then you went into closed session. He is very concerned about the lack of public engagement and public comment about this meeting. Then you went into closed session, and it says here, discussion in closed session will not be disclosed. The terrible lack of transparency has to be addressed. He speaks as a person frustrated and trying to get some independent investigation of the sheriff’s department. The commission met in July behind closed doors. This was about the inspector general, and no public was there, no public comment was recorded, and what was discussed will not be disclosed. This is the reason so many are distrustful of any government oversight law enforcement because we do not see transparency and it is crucial that there is transparency about what you are doing on this commission in closed session. They have no idea when they will get an inspector general. Please tell them what happened at the July 27 meeting.

Vote to adopt the minutes of July 7, 2023, and July 27, 2023
AYES: Afuhaamango, Brookter, Carrion, Nguyen, Palmer, Soo, Wechter
NAYS: None
Motion passes and approved with no objections. Minutes of July 7, 2023, and July 27, 2023, are adopted.

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NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Vice President Carrion nominates Member Soo for the office of the president of the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board for term October 2023 through September 2024, seconded by Member Brookter.

PUBLIC COMMENT: None.

Vote for Member Soo for office of the president for the SDOB:
AYES: Afuhaamango, Brookter, Carrion, Nguyen, Palmer, Soo
NAYES: Wechter
By majority vote, Member Soo has been elected to be president of the SDOB for the term of October 2023 through September 2024.

Congratulations to President Elect Soo.

President Elect Soo nominates Vice President Carrion for the office of Vice President of the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board for the term October 2023 through September 2024, seconded by Member Afuhaamango.

PUBLIC COMMENT: None

Vote for reelection of Vice President Carrion for the next year:
AYES: Afuhaamango, Brookter, Carrion, Nguyen, Palmer, Soo
NAYES: Wechter.
By majority vote, Vice President Carrion has been reelected as Vice President of the SDOB for the term of October 2023 through September 2024.

Congratulations to Vice President Carrion.

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RECRUITMENT OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

Ben Richey and Paul Greene, from the Department of Human Resources appeared to give an update on the applications and candidates for Inspector General.

Comments by Vice President Carrion and question from President Wechter.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Michael Petrelis, remotely, he is disappointed that there is not a substantive discussion taking place right now before you go into closed session about hiring the inspector general. The fact that they can’t learn how many have applied for the job or how many have submitted answers to the questionnaire is really harming the public trust in what you are doing, or what you are not doing – and that is not giving transparency. It is really not the lack of transparency; it is the extreme lack of urgency. We are in September of 2023 and this commission is dragging its feet on getting us an inspector general. He repeated that at some point San Francisco needs to merge the police commission with the oversight body of the sheriff’s department and also look at oversight of the district attorney’s office. They need a comprehensive single law enforcement commission where they the people go to a body with power to voice their complaints; where they list their complaints against the various law enforcement agencies the local level in San Francisco and how crime is not coming down and the trust in law enforcement is also declining. Please tell them what is going on with the inspector general’s search.

Responses by Vice President Carrion and Member Afuhaamango.

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PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION

Michael Petrelis, remotely, because you all set a calendar for yourselves for this year, that you are following that calendar. It is unacceptable that they are still waiting not just for transparency, but urgency. Where is your sense of urgency on getting more public engagement at your meetings, and urgency that is needed regarding hiring this inspector general? How much longer must they wait? It is now the ninth month of this year, and they have no idea what the number of applicants is. You are all hiding behind the bureaucracies of personal laws. He does not believe you are going to violate the laws if you tell them three or thirty people have applied for this position. The lack of transparency is harming community accountability and law enforcement and now you are about to go into closed session about this and they are going to have to wait until you come out of closed session to make public comment on the other items on the agenda. You should have put this item for the closed session at the very end so they could hear the report that follows this item and be allowed to make general public comment. Please show some urgency here.

Response by President Wechter.

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CLOSED SESSION ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT/HIRING

Four motions were made in closed session.
Three pass and one does not.

OPEN SESSION

President Elect Soo makes known that the Board interpreted law enforcement agency under the charter as law enforcement agencies that consist of police and sheriff departments and review of candidates is continuing into October.

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VOTE TO DISCLOSE DISCUSSION IN CLOSED SESSION

Motion to not disclose discussion in closed session by Vice President Carrion, seconded by President Elect Soo.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Maxine Anderson, appearing in person, suggested the Board form a committee for the hiring of an Inspector General, so there can be weekly meetings and the public will be informed of each step.

Responses by Vice President Carrion and President Elect Soo.

Vote on motion not to disclose discussion in closed session:
AYES: Afuhaamango, Brookter, Carrion, Nguyen, Palmer, Soo, Wechter,
NAYES: None
Motion to not disclose discussion in closed session passes unanimously. The discussion in closed session will not be disclosed.

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PRESENTATION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY (DPA)

Marhsall Khine, Chief Attorney for the Department of Police Accountability, appeared in person to present on 2021 and 2022 statistics regarding complaints against SFSO received or handled by DPA.

Questions during the course of the presentation by Vice President Carrion, President Elect Soo, Member Afuhaamango, and President Wechter.

 

Due to time constraints, the secretary moved to continue the remainder of the DPA presentation along with items 9, 10, and 11 with no objections.

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GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

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ADJOURNMENT

All those in favor voted AYE. No NAYS.

Meeting was adjourned at 4:59 pm.

 

Dan Leung
Legal Assistant
Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board

 

 

Full video recording may be accessed at: https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/44335?view_id=223&redirect=true&h=2a05d4c9a3c60cc841c0b86fc94a34da 

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