SF Supervisors Suspend Sheriff’s Oversight Official for Alleged Misconduct
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to suspend and file misconduct charges against a sheriff’s oversight official, moving a step closer to removing him from his post.
The motion, passed by 10 out of 11 city supervisors, followed a city anti-corruption investigation into Sheriff’s Oversight Board President William Palmer. It found that he used his public position for his personal benefit multiple times over the course of his tenure.
“When you are appointed to serve the public in any position within San Francisco, you need to uphold that position with integrity,” said Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, who first introduced the charges against Palmer. “When you abuse your power or break the trust of the public, you should not be allowed to continue to serve the people of San Francisco.”
The charges will then be forwarded to an ethics committee hearing, before heading back to the supervisors for a final decision.
Sherrill called for the investigation after a damning San Francisco Chronicle investigation into Palmer this summer, which alleged that he picked up a woman experiencing a mental health crisis off the street, pressured her to have sex and gave her drugs. Palmer told the paper he was acting in his official capacity when requesting access to the woman, conducting an official investigation on behalf of the board.
The city watchdog’s report released earlier this month found that Palmer violated city law 14 times between December 2025 and July 2026. In one example of official misconduct, the report detailed a 2025 traffic stop by San Francisco sheriff’s deputies in the Tenderloin for Palmer’s expired registration. In the 51-minute stop, Palmer repeated that he was the president of the Oversight Board at least six times, referenced his relationship with Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and threatened retaliation against the deputies.
Months later, San Francisco Police briefly detained Palmer for questioning, as part of an investigation into a missing, “at-risk” woman. Again, the commissioner used his position in an attempt to influence and intimidate, the report alleged. Palmer told officers he was President of the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board at least six times, and “repeatedly threatened to sue” the officers. Palmer was not arrested and does not face criminal charges for the incident.
The woman was eventually transported to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on a mental health hold. A few hours after the encounter, Palmer emailed the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office from his city email. Palmer wrote that he was seeking “professional guidance” about the day’s events, and described himself as the woman’s life coach. He signed the email as “President, Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board.”
Late that night, Palmer called a secure ward at the hospital, told a nurse that he was president of the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board, and insisted that he be allowed to speak to the woman because he was conducting an investigation and needed to take her statement.
Palmer did not immediately respond to a KQED request for comment. However, in a previous statement to KQED, he said he takes his “responsibilities as a public officer seriously,” and disagrees “with significant factual and legal conclusions contained” in the watchdog report.
Palmer was appointed to the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board, based on his personal experiences with the carceral system. Now 55, Palmer spent more than 30 years in prison for a crime he committed as a teenager. He was released in 2019, and a court of appeal later found that his sentence amounted to excessive punishment. He’s since served as a vocal advocate for people in jails.
Palmer’s tenure on the board, however, has involved multiple run-ins with law enforcement. A woman accused Palmer of rape, though criminal charges were dismissed in 2024. Three other women accused him of violence, according to the Chronicle’s reporting — which also said another woman took out a restraining order against him. That, the Chronicle reports, is in addition to several traffic violations and almost $10,000 in parking fees over six years.
Sherrill emphasized that officials needed to act in the most “legally defensive way. We didn’t touch on some of those potential criminal challenges.”
“Obviously I am horrified by those accusations,” he said, referring to the allegations in the Chronicle’s reporting. “I don’t want to put those aside, but it’s important for us on the Board of Supervisors to work with the information that we have to move forward as quickly as possible.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie has repeatedly referenced the allegations against Palmer as part of his push for Proposition F, a ballot measure which would expand both the mayor and board’s authority to allow the removal of most commissioners without cause. Some progressives, including Supervisor Jackie Fielder, the Democratic Socialists of America San Francisco and former Supervisor Dean Preston, have opposed the mayor, saying that it’s already easy for the mayor to remove officials.
Palmer’s term as a commissioner ends in March, unless he is removed sooner. His tenure as board president closes at the end of September.
KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.