Big Delays Hinder Oversight at San Francisco Sheriff's Department

Nearly three years after its creation by San Francisco voters, the board established to provide civilian oversight of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department is mired in internal squabbles and has yet to complete its primary task — hiring the person who can investigate misconduct at the department.

The delay means that the oversight body cannot probe incidents like the fatal crash on May 23 that occurred as San Francisco police officers and sheriff’s deputies pursued a man accused of stealing a city vehicle. While being chased, the suspect crashed into a bus stop, killing 58-year-old Victor Nguyen and injuring three others.

Sheriff’s deputies — whose main role in San Francisco is working in the jails and guarding county buildings — don’t usually participate in these types of pursuits. But there can be no investigation or change in department policy until the oversight board hires an inspector general — something they’ve been debating since last August.

“I think the board meetings could have been smoother and less contentious,” acknowledged Board president Jayson Wechter, who argued that he’s been the subject of personal attacks by other board members. “People can disagree respectfully, and that would be the best way forward.”

The delays and disagreements seem to be the result of a split on the board between the three members appointed by Mayor London Breed and the four named by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The two sides have butted heads over how to conduct the search for an inspector general.

The ballot measure approved by voters creating the new body did not explicitly address who would handle the logistics of setting up the board and organizing the meetings, so it ended up falling on the body currently handling sheriff oversight, the Department of Police Accountability.

That organization is led by Paul Henderson, who has played a large role in establishing the oversight board. Henderson and DPA staff hired the board’s acting secretary and prepared a proposed budget for the Office of Inspector General.

Henderson also weighed in on who to hire as the inspector general, approaching the board members with a list of candidates.

But Wechter and other Board of Supervisors’ appointees balked, noting that the norm for civilian oversight bodies’ hiring process is to do a national search with a publicized job listing, typically through the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.

Some members were in favor of considering Henderson’s picks, including board member Julie Soo, who was appointed by the mayor.

But Wechter said Henderson’s attempt to circumvent that process seemed inappropriate.

“That’s very contrary to the best practice in the oversight field, which is to do a nationwide expansive search,” he said. “I think that’s what almost every other oversight entity in the country has done. People in the oversight field move around. So you don’t want to just look in your backyard. So I was rather concerned about him doing that.”

Henderson defended the move, saying he just wanted to speed up the process.

“I never even gave my list, I never even told them who it was, but I was surprised that they received it as I’m trying to put my person in there and control it,” he said. “Like, what are you talking about? I’m telling you good leaders that I know are available around the country.”

The board ended up voting in favor of a national search in January 2023, but the hiring process was delayed even further when the city Department of Human Resources hit logistical issues, since they do not typically hire department heads.

Applications for the job finally opened in March 2023, and closed at the end of June. The goal now, Wechter said, is for the board to narrow down a list of candidates in the coming months and conduct interviews before the end of the year.

The delays have raised some eyebrows. Jerry Threet is an attorney and former member of the Sonoma County Sheriff Oversight Board. He said it shouldn’t take this long to hire an Inspector General.

“Putting together a new office like this is a pretty huge undertaking and there’s a lot of different moving parts that have to be addressed all at once,” he said. “But that being said, in my understanding, most offices are further along in the hiring process at this point in their creation journey than San Francisco is.”

Ken Lomba, who is president of the union representing deputy sheriffs, agreed, saying bickering at board meetings has delayed the process.

“It shouldn’t be arguments. It shouldn’t be, you know, anyone being divisive. Everyone should be attempting to work together as a team and communicate professionally,” he said.

For now, San Franciscans will have to wait until at least next year for the office voters approved in 2020 to finally get up and running.