26-078 Department General Order 5.23 "Interactions with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals" Update Packet #138

Department Notice

San Francisco Police Department

This document is not an official representation of the published policy. To access the official signed policy, please submit a request through our Public Records Request Portal.

26-078
Published: 
Expire: 

The purpose of this directive is to announce the revision of Department General Order 5.23, Interactions with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals, adopted by the Police Commission on July 8, 2026. The Police Commission agreed to a 30-business day implementation period and therefore, members will be held accountable for this policy starting August 19, 2026.

The updates in this policy include, but are not limited to the following:

  1. Reduced from 12 pages to 5 pages.
  2. Reduced the number of definitions.
  3. Added procedures for when communication methods are unavailable or impractical. 
  4. Clarified that deaf and hard of hearing individuals can select their preferred communication style.
  5. Introduction of a visor card to assist officers with communication. These cards will be made available to patrol before the effective date of this policy.

Department General Order update packet #138 is attached to this Notice and is available to members on the PowerDMS site.

/s/
DERRICK J. LEW
Chief of Police