SF Controller’s Office Calls for Sweeping Police Reforms – ACLU-NC Applauds Recommendations


For Immediate Release: April 25, 2003

SAN FRANCISCO – In a new report released today, the San Francisco Controller’s Office called for sweeping reforms of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). The 49-page report comes on the heels of Thursday’s blistering report issued by the civilian-run Office of Citizen Complaints, which charged that the SFPD routinely obstructs investigations of police misconduct.

“The breadth and scope of the Controller’s recommendations represent a stinging indictment of the SFPD and highlight a lack of accountability within the Department,” said Mark Schlosberg, Police Practices Policy Director of the ACLU-NC. “This report by an independent third party demonstrates the need for changes previously requested by the OCC, the ACLU-NC, and others. For too long the Police Commission has ignored issues of police accountability. Now is the time for reform.”

The report makes a number of recommendations, including:

• Amending the City Charter to address “structural weaknesses” in the Police Commission to make the agency more independent.
• Strengthening the Office of Citizen Complaints due to its current lack of “sufficient independence and power.”
• Expanded and enhanced early warning systems to track problem officers.
• Regular reporting by the Police Department on misconduct cases.
• Mandatory training on whistleblower protections.

Today’s Controller’s report and the OCC report released on Thursday follow an ACLU-NC report issued on March 12, 2003, documenting a breakdown in accountability mechanisms within the Department and calling for major reforms.