By Evan Sernoffsky
San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — As San Francisco officials outlined a series of changes Monday designed to reduce police killings and rebuild community trust, they described a fundamental shift in tactics in which officers encountering knife-wielding suspects should focus on keeping their distance and de-escalating the situation.
The package, announced by Police Chief Greg Suhr and Mayor Ed Lee at a City Hall news conference, includes more training and new weaponry as well as changes in philosophy. It seeks to respond to criticism that mounted, particularly in the city’s African American community, after the Dec. 2 police killing of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood.
And it lays out a formidable goal: to reduce San Francisco police shootings by 80 percent.
Suhr and Lee have been under immense pressure since videos of Woods’ shooting showed several officers firing on the young man — who was a suspect in an earlier stabbing and was allegedly still holding a knife — even though he was shuffling slowly along a wall with his arms at his sides and did not appear to directly threaten the officers.
“It’s a huge cultural shift to ask officers to step back, and seems counterintuitive when it’s an edged weapon,” Suhr said. He added that “trust was shattered with the officer-involved shooting of Mario Woods. We need to figure out a way to re-engineer force.”
Mixed response
The initiative described Monday combines dozens of changes that were launched both before and after the shooting, and which were developed with input from the city Police Commission and a group of black community leaders that counsels Suhr called the African American Advisory Forum. Members stood with the chief and mayor at the news conference.
Attorney John Burris, who represents Woods’ family and has monitored years of court-ordered police reforms in Oakland, called the changes “a step in the right direction.” But he added, “Now the issue is that these extraordinary reforms get implemented.”
The effort, though, was blasted by the Police Department’s rank and file, with the officers union saying the new policies haven’t been properly negotiated and may endanger police.
Among the policies: Officers are prohibited from using force against a person deemed to be a danger only to himself. They cannot shoot at vehicles, nor apply choke holds. Police plan to give all patrol officers body cameras by the end of the year. And they hope to equip many officers with Taser stun guns.
When an officer points his or her gun at a suspect, it will now be considered a use of force that requires a report — an acknowledgment of the inherent seriousness and danger of such a move. In the past, when officers drew a weapon, their only responsibility was to tell a supervisor about the incident. A supervisor is also mandated to respond to any call involving a weapon.
Suhr and Police Commission President Suzy Loftus said officers will be equipped with helmets, 36-inch batons, gloves and a greater number of less-lethal bean bag rounds — gear that could help subdue a suspect with an edged weapon. However, officers struck Woods with at least four bean bags, which only bruised and staggered him.
Currently, officers must have a two-hour firearms qualification every six months, proving they can hit a target. That will be bumped up, officials said, to an eight-hour session that includes training on how to best use force in different scenarios, resorting to gunfire only when necessary.
In situations involving a person with a knife or other blade — which have been particularly troublesome for officers in San Francisco and around the nation — the idea is to create more time and space, Suhr said. Up to 80 percent of police shootings happen within minutes of officers coming in contact with a subject, the chief said.
Suhr pointed to an episode earlier this month in which officers encountered a knife-wielding suspect who refused to surrender on Fourth Street in the South of Market neighborhood. He said officers specially trained in crisis intervention engaged the 6-foot, 195-pound man and eventually talked him down.
“We want advanced crisis intervention officers — just short of hostage negotiators,” Suhr said.
The changes outlined Monday include an expansion of that training to more officers, and an improvement in technology to get those officers quickly dispatched to tense situations.
Other shifts include the creation of a Professional Standards and Principled Policing Bureau, headed by Deputy Chief Toney Chaplin. It will oversee proposed reforms going forward and work with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is conducting a top-to-bottom review of the San Francisco force.
The city, officials said, will step up efforts to recruit people of color to become cops, and expand a program that invites young people from neighborhoods touched by violence to work closely with police.
Lee called the new policies “substantial and meaningful changes to training and equipment as to how and when officers will use force.” He said the policies will “help our sworn officers strengthen their ties with the community and keep our city safe through a culture change in how we handle conflicts on our streets.”
The changes were applauded by the Rev. Amos Brown, a pastor at Third Baptist Church in the Western Addition and president of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP who is part of Suhr’s advisory panel.
“I should like to first commend you for responding to the appeal that came from the womb of the African American community,” Brown said to Suhr and Lee. “I promise the NAACP will be watching to make sure these words do not ring hollow.”
Leaders of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, the union that represents all city officers, were absent from Monday’s news conference. City leaders and union officials continue to argue about whether the union is being properly included — and whether it is cooperating — in discussions about changes.
“These are the biggest changes proposed to police policy in over 35 years and — although some of the policies may be good ones — some of the policies may expose our members to harm. We are not going to let that happen,” the union president, Martin Halloran, said in a statement.
“We expect the mayor and the police chief to fulfill their ethical and legal duty to our members and let our voices be heard,” he added. “Our officers put their lives on the line every day to protect this city, and we deserve a seat at the table.”
Copyright 2016 the San Francisco Chronicle