Office of Citizen Complaints

The Office of Citizen Complaints was created by a voter initiated amendment to the San Francisco City Charter (Section 3.530.2) and placed under the direct supervision of the Police Commission in 1983. Its purpose is to investigate complaints against San Francisco police officers. It is staffed by civilians who have never been police officers in San Francisco.

News

NOTICE: OCC has moved. Please note our new contact information:

Office of Citizen Complaints
25 Van Ness Ave., 7th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 241-7711 - Phone
(415) 241-7733 - Fax
(415) 241-7770 - TTY

You are invited to attend a public hearing on San Francisco Police Department's General Order 7.01 - Policies and Procedures for Juveniles, San Francisco Police Commission, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 5:30pm at City Hall, Room 400.

Está usted invitado a participar a la audiencia pública sobre la Orden General 7.01 Políticas y Procedimientos de Menores del Departamento de Policía de San Francisco Comisión de Policía de San Francisco, Miércoles 7 de mayo de 2008 a las 5:30 en el Municipio, Sala 400 (PDF)

請參加關於三藩市警察局有關青少年政策與步驟第 7.01 號通則公眾聽證會三藩市警察委員會時間：2008 年 5 月 7 日（星期三）5 點 30 分地點：市政廳 400 室 (PDF)

The San Francisco Police Department in conjunction with representatives from the Office of Citizen Complaints, juvenile justice advocacy groups and city agencies and commissions has proposed revisions to Department General Order 7.01. DGO 7.01 outlines policies and procedures for the detention, arrest, custody, booking and diversion of juveniles. Proposed revisions include:

providing Miranda warnings in language appropriate to the age and the sophistication of the juvenile;
audio taping all juvenile interrogations absent exigent circumstances;
informing parents and juveniles that parents can be present during interrogations;
permitting a parent or guardian to be present during their child's interrogation unless the parent is a witness or suspect to the crime or exigent circumstances exist;
limiting the number of interrogating officers to two;
notifying parents when a juvenile is detained, brought to police or juvenile facility or transported by an officer;
permitting parents and juveniles to speak to each other when an officer notifies a parent that a juvenile is in custody; and
avoiding bringing juveniles to police facilities having an adult lockup and making reasonable efforts to investigate, facilitate release or transfer juveniles from the field or from juvenile facilities.

Read the full text of the proposed DGO revisions here:

Proposed Policies and Procedures for Juveniles' Detention, Arrest and Custody (PDF) - March 12, 2008

OCC will participate in a Community Briefing on SFPD's language access policy on Thursday, February 21 at 11:00 am. at Chinese For Affirmative Action, Community Room, 17 Walter U. Lum Place, San Francisco. PRESS RELEASE (PDF)

The OCC and representatives from several community organizations and city agencies negotiated a language access protocol for the San Francisco Police Department that the Police Commission adopted on October 17, 2007. This protocol, Department General Order 5.20 is available in English, Spanish and Chinese.

SFPD General Order 5.20 – Language Access Services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Persons (PDF)

舊金山市警察局一般政令: 有限英語能力〈LEP〉人仕語言使用權服務 (PDF)

Departamento De Policía San Francisco - Servicios de Acceso a Idiomas para Personas con Conocimientos Limitados del Inglés (LEP) (PDF)

Special Report - Response to the Board of Supervisors Regarding SFPD's Patterns of Witholding Information Requested for OCC Investigations (PDF) - April 23, 2003

Policy Prohibiting Biased Policing (PDF) - Through the joint efforts of the OCC and the ACLU's Police Practice Project, the San Francisco Police Department adopted a comprehensive policy prohibiting biased policing on April 30, 2003.