SFPD’s 90 percent compliance rate hailed as ‘a significant achievement,’ with Phase III report noting that ‘it is the only example of voluntary reform at this level in the United States
Chief of Police William Scott today welcomed the phase III assessment report on the San Francisco Police Department’s participation in the Collaborative Reform Initiative, or CRI — SFPD’s ambitious and ongoing endeavor to become a national model of 21st century policing.
Under the leadership and supervision of Attorney General Rob Bonta, CRI is a voluntary collaboration launched in February 2018 that lends oversight and technical assistance to SFPD to implement 272 reforms recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016. SFPD’s CRI work was originally initiated as a partnership with the Obama Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services. Following the Trump Administration’s cancelation of the program in 2017, however, SFPD worked with the California Department of Justice to reimagine CRI as a state-level collaboration. Additional information on CRI’s background and SFPD’s other accomplishments on police reform can be viewed in SFPD’s online video presentation:
The 535-page report published late Friday includes a 14-page cover letter from Attorney General Bonta’s office, which noted that “Cal DOJ acknowledges SFPD’s dedication in Phase III to implementing the US DOJ recommendations, which resulted in a 90% completion rate by the end of this phase.” Largely authored by Jensen Hughes, a global change management consultancy, the report adopted by Cal DOJ provides extensive detail on SFPD’s progress to implement CRI’s 272 recommendations, which involve five categories of 21st century policing reforms: use of force, bias, community policing, accountability; and personnel (recruiting and hiring).
Page 5 of the report notes, “SFPD has achieved substantial compliance with the majority of the reform recommendations. This is a significant achievement as it is the only example of voluntary reform at this level in the United States (U.S.).”
On Dec. 1, 2021, the San Francisco Police Commission voted to approve the first addendum to the 2018 memorandum of understanding that originally created the state-level CRI endeavor, which will extend SFPD’s working relationship with Cal DOJ until April 1, 2024. Although the extension intends to complete the remaining 10 percent of CRI recommendations, the report also noted that the “CRI team, including SFPD, recognizes that this work is not complete — nor will it ever be. Reform goals will continue to evolve and become part of SFPD’s operational structure, which has implemented a continuous improvement focus.”
“I’m incredibly proud to lead a department whose members have been fearless in identifying areas for needed improvement and united in our drive to accomplish it,” Chief Scott said. “While we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, we’re not done improving. We are grateful to Attorney General Rob Bonta and his team; to our Jensen Hughes’s Hillard Heintze team; to Mayor Breed and Police Commission President Malia Cohen; to the San Francisco Police Commission; to our partners in academia and many other federal, state and local agencies; and especially to the San Franciscans we’ve sworn to protect and serve. San Francisco has led progressive change nationwide throughout its history — and at the San Francisco Police Department, we are honored to carry that mantle today for the City we serve.”