1. CALL TO ORDER/ AGENDA CHANGES

President Debbie Mesloh called the meeting to order at 4:09 pm

President Mesloh announced that the Strategic Planning meeting will take place on Friday, February 8, 2019 from 10 am to 1 pm, the location is yet to be determined. She gave a brief review of the Commission’s attendance policy for Commissioners.

No changes to the Agenda.

Action: To approve agenda                        m/s/c(Zwart/Soo/Unanimous except for Harris not yet present)

No Public Comment.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

It was noted that Commissioner Meena Harris had given notice of her absence for the November 23, 2018 Commission meeting and the minutes were changed to reflect her excused absence status.

Action: To approve amended minutes from November 28, 2018.

                                                                        m/s/c(Soo/Zwart/ Unanimous except for Harris not yet present)

No Public Comment.

3. DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Dr. Emily Murase provided highlights of the Director's Report.

1. Willie L. Brown Fellow Margarita Astudillo

Willie L. Brown Fellow Margarita Astudillo summarized her 3-month fellowship experience with the Department. She contributed to the Department’s work by translating outreach brochures into Spanish. Commissioners thanked Ms. Astudillo for her presentation and for her courage in coming forward with her story. Her work at the Department will help Spanish-speaking victim survivors navigate the plethora of supportive organizations.

Director's Report Discussion: President Mesloh and Commissioner Meena Harris sought additional information about the formation of the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Office. Dr. Murase informed them that the office would not be fully staffed until spring 2019. Commissioner Julie Soo wanted to be sure that information was being shared with the school district and the Department of Children Youth and Their Families. Commissioner Andrea Shorter stated that she would like to help articulate the connection between violence against women and homelessness. In response to the budget instructions released today, Dr. Murase committed to presenting a budget proposal at the January meeting.

No Public Comment.

3. OLD BUSINESS

1. FY 2017 Family Violence Council Report

Women’s Policy Director Minouche Kandel gave a presentation on the 26 recommendations from the FY 2017 Family Violence Council Report. Ms. Kandel noted that the data for the report was presented at the August 22, 2018 Commission meeting.

Action: To approve the FY 2017 Family Violence Council Report.          m/s/c(Shorter/Soo/Unanimous)

Public Comment:

1. Beverly Upton, Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Consortium, thanked Department staff members for their dedicated efforts to produce the report. She expressed frustration at the revolving door for the San Francisco Police Department Special Victims Unit (SVU) leadership. There have been three different captains within a single year. She said that when the Family Violence Council leadership and the Department speaks to Police Chief Scott next Monday, they will share their frustration with the constant change in leadership at the SVU.
2. Jenny Pearlman of Safe & Sound thanked the Commission for its work on family violence. She pointed to the ability of organizations like Safe & Sound to hold public agencies such as the school district accountable by using the Family Violence Council Report to show the fact that the number of mandated reports has been dwindling.

Commissioners raised issues about violent perpetrators who are falling through the cracks. Commissioners also asked why there is such great turnover within the SVU leadership. Ms. Kandel said that it appears to be a cross-training policy and is not only occurring at the SVU. Commissioner Soo expressed her desire to work on the bilingual pay issue and would like to work with the Civil Service Commission to better reward bilingual employees. President Mesloh asked about the estimated cost of Recommendation #1, “Implement a firearms surrender program to remove guns from domestic violence offenders who have restraining orders issued against them.” Ms. Kandel said that the Sheriff’s Department is working directly with the Mayor’s Budget Office and has not stated the estimate publicly. Ms. Kandel said that they would be sharing the report recommendations with the Police Chief at a meeting next Monday. Ms. Kandel reported that the SVU did gain 10-12 new inspectors, but that they are still at around 50% staffing need. Vice President Breanna Zwart urged that the recommendations be prioritized, attached to budgets, and completion timeframes. She raised the issue of data protection and privacy. She shared that the city of Austin is working on privacy protections and could be a model. Commissioner Shorter inquired about collecting data on gender identity as she sees this as a critical component of violence prevention efforts. Ms. Kandel stated that some agencies have begun collecting this data, but a notable exception is the Police Department which does not collect information about gender identity. Commissioner Soo asked about San Francisco's approach to death review. Ms. Kandel responded that, by law, the death review team cannot work on open cases, only fully adjudicated cases.

2. Bayview Domestic Violence High Risk Pilot Project                                       

Policy & Grants Associate Elise Hansell provided an update on the Bayview Domestic Violence High Risk Pilot Project. She explained that the main tool for the intervention is a series of 11 questions that measure lethality based on the work of Dr. Jackie Campbell. She said that the responding officer asks the victim these 11 questions and, if lethality is triggered, the officer connects the victim to a shelter worker via phone.

Ms. Hansel reported that the $750,00 grant has been re-authorized for another 3 years. She said that the focus for the new phase will be on language access, since the results from the first grant revealed that limited English proficient victims were not accessing law enforcement in cases of domestic violence.

Commissioner Harris asked about officer training and measures on how to avoid law enforcement involvement. Ms. Hansell spoke about trainings to counter the wrongful arrest of victims. Ms. Hansell elaborated that the grant extension will focus on expanding the capacity of non-profit partners to handle high lethality domestic violence cases.

Ms. Hansell detailed the project evaluation that will be conducted by a student of the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy with funding from the California Policy Lab. She also announced a $385,000 grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation awarded to the Department for the "Leveraging Collaboration to End Domestic Violence" project. She told the Commission that partners include BAYCAT, Safe & Sound, and Young Community Developers.

Commissioner Soo recommended that the final report emphasize the evolution of the grant project towards a focus on expanded language access. She suggested that the Chinese language be further detailed by dialect as sometimes agencies don't understand that Cantonese is more commonly spoken than Mandarin in San Francisco. Commissioner Soo offered to connect the Department to additional philanthropic resources.

Commissioner Shorter pointed out the disproportionate rate of African American victims of domestic violence who are accessing law enforcement in the Bayview District (53%), despite the sharp decline in the African American population in San Francisco. She has observed a similar disproportionality over time.

Commissioner Soo also noted that the majority of calls to law enforcement were from the African American community, she observed that unlike the Latinx and API communities the African American community relies heavily on law enforcement because there is a lack of designated NGOs serving that community.

No Public Comment.

5. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

1. Beverly Upton, Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Consortium, reported on victim-centered lethality assessment tools to recommend to the courts. She also stated that the Language Access Working Group is working on raising the visibility and compensation of bilingual law enforcement personnel. She suggested a recognition program for bilingual officers. Ms. Upton has made efforts to inject domestic violence into the gun safety dialogue, including into the upcoming gun buyback program. She also urged a strong partnership with the Interfaith Council so that congregations can be trained on responding to domestic violence.

 

6. ADJOURNMENT

Action: To adjourn the meeting.                                                       m/s/c(Soo/Harris/Unanimous)

Meeting Adjourned at 6:11 pm

The Commission adjourned in memory of Mayor Edwin M. Lee on the one-year anniversary of his death.