Police Contracts and Police Reform in San Francisco

 I like the tone of this letter.  My response follows it.

Dear Members of the Board of Supervisors,

Please do not approve the Police Officers Association contract without requiring real departmental reform as a condition of its acceptance.  As of March of this year the SFPD has only implemented 40 of the 272 reforms outlined by the Department of Justice. 

We urge you to consult with legal counsel in the City Attorney's office regarding the role and responsibility of the Board of Supervisors in the Collective Bargaining process. We also urge you to review the successes of other municipal governments in this country that have negotiated significant Police Reform through Collective Bargaining.

We believe Collective Bargaining is one of the pillars of economic democracy and workers rights, and we support the right of police officers and other public-sector employees to be represented by unions (or associations) that negotiate fair and equitable wages and benefits, hours and work schedules, and safe, healthy working conditions.

As the governing body of our city, the Board of Supervisors has a moral and fiduciary role to play in Collective Bargaining. We support police officers and related personnel--like other public-sector employees--receiving collectively bargained fair and equitable wages and having reasonable working hours and safe, healthy working conditions. We believe the Board of Supervisors has a moral responsibility and the authority under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) and pertinent statutes to effect significant Police Reform through the Collective Bargaining process.  And the people demand justice.

We believe additional reform will result from legislative and court victories--and millions of people in the streets demanding police accountability and an end to systemic racism.  The time is now to demand reform.  Too many lives are at stake for us to pass on this opportunity.

Respectfully,

Peter Miller, SFTWA

Frank Martin Del Campo, SF LCLAA

Rodger Scott, AFT 2121

Ruach Graffis, SFTWA

Barry Taranto, SFTWA

Allan Fisher, AFT 2121

Karl Kramer, SF LCLAA

Edward Escobar, AIW

Alice Lindstrom

This looks like a really good letter.  I'm curious about this part:

"SFPD has only implemented 40 of the 272 reforms outlined by the Department of Justice." What are the 40? What are the 272?

I really appreciate the fact that you're speaking of police reform rather than the incendiary "police defunding"--especially after seeing that 56% of the Black people in Oakland (I realize this is SF) say they want more police in their neighborhoods. I've read that nationally it's 81% of Black Americans who want the same or more police presence in their communities.

Tina Martin