Mayor Farrell re-nominates SF Police Commission members after board rejects them
When San Francisco police officers are finally allowed to carry stun guns. It will be thanks to the men and women on the SF Police Commission.
Currently, that board is in disarray. After two members stepped down and two are waiting to be re-appointed. Which leaves only three sitting members. Not enough for the board to hold meetings.
"I think that we as board members need to move quickly in appointing at least one additional member for the purposes of making sure that they can conduct business," says San Francisco Board of Supervisor President London Breed who is also running for Mayor of San Francisco.
This week San Francisco's Mayor Mark Farrell re-nominate Joe Marshall and Sonia Melara to the commission. Just days after the board of supervisors rejected those same nominations. "We have two people who've been in those seats and I don't think you should kick somebody out of office when they've been doing a good job," says San Francisco Supervisor Jeff Sheehy.
Police commissioners are volunteers appointed by the mayor and the board of supervisors. Their job is to oversee the police department and make sure officers are held accountable.
The commissioners set policies, deal with contracts and take care of any disciplinary issues surrounding the San Francisco police force.
Some feel not confirming the mayor's appointments is making things way too political. "They really are jobs that focus on the public safety of the citizens of San Francisco. So they shouldn't be overly political. They should be objective they should be fair," says Sheehy.
In the coming weeks, the board of supervisors will be able to appoint two people to the police commission. After that, some say it will be best to allow the newly elected mayor to choose their own police commissioners.
"We've got uncertainty in the Mayor's office. We got uncertainty in the police commission it's not a good look," says Sheehy.
"We can't wait until June 5. We're dealing with the possibly of losing our chief. We're dealing with police reforms that are really important. We need to make sure that someone is in charge now," says Breed.