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State Ends Oversight of SFPD After Long Reform Effort That Followed Fatal Shootings

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A police car with an emblem reads "S.F.P.D" on it.
The San Francisco Police Department has nearly completed all of the reforms recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016, California officials said. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Updated 10:23 a.m. Friday

California state officials are formally ending their yearslong oversight of the San Francisco Police Department, capping a process that called for the implementation of over 200 recommended reforms.

The California Department of Justice announced Tuesday that the SFPD had successfully adopted 96.7% of the reforms recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016 after outcry over a series of fatal police shootings. Officials with the DOJ said that police had made significant progress during the collaborative effort and that the remainder of the reforms could be carried out without external supervision.

“Today marks a significant milestone for the SFPD and for the future of policing,” Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement. “The SFPD will continue to make our city safer as we stand as a model for 21st Century Policing for the nation. I want to thank our officers who continue to police San Francisco with dignity and respect. This is an ongoing effort that we will sustain for years to come.”

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In the 124-page report issued by the state Justice Department, officials praised the SFPD for its commitment to the reform efforts and to improving accountability. According to the report, the department’s use of force rate had gone down significantly between 2017 and 2023, and its yearly average number of shootings by officers has also declined by 50%.

But the SFPD still has room for improvement, the report notes. Racial disparities in the rates of stops, searches and uses of force persist, and the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability has also accused officers of reporting inaccurate data when it comes to race.

“There are issues that the department still needs to look at,” said Barbara Attard, a police accountability consultant in San Francisco who pushed for SFPD reforms for several years. “We’re not totally out of the woods yet, but it’s a big step to be out from under the collaborative reform initiative.”

According to a letter from the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the state DOJ is “cautiously optimistic” that upon its departure, SFPD will stay committed to its process of reform and that public oversight and accountability boards will ensure that progress continues.

The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office has some concerns, however. The office has previously made attempts to address issues within SFPD, including creating a public database with records of police misconduct.

Elected Public Defender Mano Raju said there is little “meaningful” oversight in the Police Department when it comes to holding officers responsible for cases of misconduct accountable.

“Precious little has changed since implicit bias trainer Dante King described SFPD’s anti-Black bias as ‘pervasive’ and ‘unchecked,’” Raju said. “Celebrating the completion of paper reforms underscores the gap between the stated intentions and real outcomes.”

The announcement of the DOJ’s departure marks the end of a nearly decade-long reform initiative within SFPD that began in 2016. After a series of fatal police shootings — including the killing of Mario Woods in 2015 — SFPD had faced an onslaught of public criticism and widespread protest.

As a result of the public outcry, SFPD began working with the U.S. Department of Justice to determine what changes needed to be made. In an initial assessment, the Justice Department found that SFPD officers had engaged in multiple instances of unnecessary use of force and other concerning behaviors. They provided 272 recommendations for improving police accountability and transparency within SFPD in the same report.

In 2018, the California DOJ took over the collaboration. The city of San Francisco, SFPD and the DOJ entered into an agreement that would allow the state to independently monitor SFPD and its gradual adoption of the recommended reforms.

“It certainly seems like a long time, doesn’t it?” Attard said. “But considering the number of reforms that were recommended in the report, I don’t think that eight years is necessarily outrageously long at all.”

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