Improving accountability means improving SFPD’s interactions with our oversight partners and increasing transparency about our discipline and policy development processes.

Under Collaborative Reform, SFPD institutionalized comprehensive, automated audits of department computer usage, emails and phones for bias language and began its first external audit of use of force data, led by the San Francisco Controller’s office on behalf of the Department of Police Accountability. The department finalized a Memorandum of Understanding to enable the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office to serve as lead investigator of officer-involved shootings, increasing accountability in the process.

A key milestone of Accountability reform came in August 2019, with the revision of Department General Order 3.01 by the Police Commission. DGO 3.01 will eventually reduce the number of department bulletins. This will make the department more nimble and responsive to changing policies and create a process that provides more clarity and transparency to the public and department members. The approval of 3.01 has enabled work to progress with 17 DOJ recommendations directly affected by that DGO.

Our external partners continue to review our responses related to Accountability. Recommendations determined to have met substantial compliance by the California Department of Justice will be posted online. Completion packets represent work completed over the last several years, and may contain slightly different forms as the process for approval has evolved to become more efficient. To view, please see below:

Accountability Key Documents

DB: Department Bulletin, DGO: Department General Order, NR: News Release (Department), MOU: Memorandum of Understanding