-  The Woodstock Police Department
        - Overview of National Community Policing Week
        - Inaugural Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing
        - Engaging Students in 21st Century Policing
        - 2016 L. Anthony Sutin Civic Imagination Award
        - Coffee with a Cop: Five Years Later
        -  Assessment of the San Francisco PD
        -  Are you on the  Implementation Map?
        -  Publications Release: National Community Policing Week

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### An Assessment of the San Francisco Police Department

On Wednesday, October 12, the U.S. Department of  Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) released *An Assessment of the San Francisco  Police Department*, a report of the Collaborative Reform  Initiative. This assessment was requested by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and  former Chief of Police Greg Suhr to help address the significant community  concerns regarding policing in San Francisco following several officer-involved  shootings and other incidents.Through the Collaborative Reform  Initiative, the COPS Office specifically assessed the San  Francisco Police Department (SFPD) in five key areas:
        - Use  of force policies and practices
        - Polices,  practices, and training to address issues of bias in policing
        - Community  policing strategies and protocols
        - Policies  and practices regarding complaint disciplinary processes
        - Recruitment,  hiring, and personnel practices  1

Following three community listening sessions; more  than 400 individual interviews; over 50 observations of the SFPD’s engagement  with community members; nine focus groups; extensive research; the review and  analysis of hundreds of documents and data files; and engagement with SFPD  personnel, government officials, stakeholders, and community members, the COPS  Office released a report with 94 findings and 272 associated recommendations.        The assessment team found serious deficiencies in  every area assessed from use of force policies to inadequate data collection  and lack of accountability measures. 2 Some key findings highlighted in the report include the following:
        - The majority of deadly use of force  incidents by the SFPD involved persons of color.
        - The SFPD does not adequately investigate  officer use of force.
        - The SFPD does not maintain complete and  consistent officer-involved shooting files.
        - The weight of the evidence indicates  that African-American drivers were disproportionately stopped compared to their  representation in the driving population.
        - African-American and Hispanic drivers  were disproportionately searched and arrested compared to White drivers. In  addition, African-American drivers were more likely to be warned and less  likely to be ticketed than White drivers.
        - The SFPD’s failure to fully and  adequately address incidents of biased misconduct contributed to a perception  of institutional bias in the department.
        - The SFPD engages in a range of  successful activities, programs, and community partnerships that support  community policing tenets, particularly those coordinated through the Youth and  Community Engagement Unit.
        - Evaluation of employee performance is  not an institutionalized practice in the SFPD.
        - Gender, racial, and ethnic minority  recruits were terminated at a higher rate from recruit training than White male  recruits.  3

Altogether, five themes  emerged from the assessment:
        - The  importance of leadership in areas ranging from integrity to implementation
        - The  vital role of communications across constituencies from officers to the public
        - The  need for a clear vision of the SFPD’s future and a strategic plan
        - Protocols  required to make oversight and accountability effective
        - Challenges  in using data and technology  4

With the release of the report,  the COPS Office and the SFPD enter the second phase of the Collaborative Reform  Initiative, the implementation and monitoring phase. Through implementation and  monitoring, the COPS Office will provide technical assistance to the SFPD and  assess progress to implement the recommendations. Two additional reports will  be released in the coming months—an initial and a final progress report. Both  reports will be released publicly.

The full report is  online, and the Executive Summary and Findings &  Recommendations can be found in English,  Spanish, and Cantonese.

Nazmia Comrie  Community Policing Dispatch  Staff Writer

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### References

1To see the full Goal and Objectives Statement, please visit “Goal and  Objectives Statement for the Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical  Assistance with the San Francisco Police Department,” Office of Community  Oriented Policing Services, accessed October 21, 2016, http://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/crita/SanFrancisco_Goal_and_Objectives.pdf.

2COPS Office, *An Assessment of the San  Francisco Police Department*, Collaborative Reform Initiative (Washington,  DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2016), /ric/ric.php?page=detail&id=COPS-W0817.

3Ibid.

4Ibid.

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 The Woodstock Police Department – Honoring a Local Hero | Overview of National Community Policing Week | Inaugural Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing | Engaging College Students in 21st Century Policing | 2016 L. Anthony Sutin Civic Imagination Award - Arlington PD & Arlington Independent SD | Coffee with a Cop: Five Years Later |  An Assessment of the San Francisco Police Department |  Are you on the Task Force Recommendations Implementation Map? |  National Community Policing Week – Publications Release

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