San Francisco Department of Police Accountability

This 30-minute interview on July 28, 2020 with San Francisco Department of Police Accountability (DPA) Executive Director Paul Henderson, was conducted by Ida Mojadad, education and housing reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. They discussed the role of the DPA and how individuals and organizations can engage with it.

The recording is here: https://youtu.be/zdOpdVoiYo8

We hope you will share it in your community. We want it to be used as a quick training about the DPA for anyone interested in policing practices in San Francisco.

Get more involved:

Are you interested in learning how and why it is important to watch the Police Commission or where the Department of Police Accountability appears weekly (most Wednesday nights at 5:30)? We offer several trainings per month about how to observe these meetings: register online.

The interview focused on five main topics:

1. What is the purpose of the DPA? What is the mission? How do we measure your success or failure? What are the strengths or weaknesses of the DPA’s current mission and metrics?
2. What can I use the DPA for and how do I go about doing it? How do I file a complaint? How do I participate as a witness? What can I expect the DPA to do? How would I be involved? How long does the process take? What are the outcomes? Recourse if I don’t like the outcome?
3. Transparency: What kind of reporting does the DPA do and where can I find it? Can I watch your work? What do people who’ve used your services think of it?
4. Accountability: How is the DPA held accountable? If I have concerns about the DPA, who do I speak to?
5. Outreach program: How can people find out about the DPA? Are there materials available to read, watch and share?

Resources

Department of Police Accountability

• Share your ideas and ask questions: dpa.complaints@sfgov.org
• DPA website
• DPA on Twitter
• DPA “online complaint portal”
• “Know Your Rights” brochures in multiple languages. The DPA brochure is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic on their website.

San Francisco Police Commission

• SF Police Commission
• The most recent Police Commission meeting had DPA reports. They’re in the supporting documents for that meeting.
• SFGovTV records and broadcasts all the police commission meetings. You can watch a past recording or stream a future meeting.

San Francisco Police Department

• SFPD policies, such as Use of Force
• SFPD Complaints
• SFPD Commendations

Reports

• 2019 Statistical Overview of the DPA
• “96A Reports” are Arrests, Use of Force and Stop Data, Admin Code 96A (Law Enforcement Reporting Requirements, Admin Code Sec 96)
• “SB 1421 Reports” are Peace Officer Release of Records Reports. They disclose information about certain high-profile categories of officer misconduct: officer-involved shootings, certain uses of force, sustained findings of sexual assault, and sustained findings of certain types of dishonesty. Full California Senate Bill text. The ACLU has a summary of the bill. There are no reports in detail or in summary (that we could find) but this is discussed at every Police Commission and there are some reports uploaded as “Supplemental Materials” for those meetings.
• “RIPA Data” is the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act racism & bias reports.