CA - Mario Woods, 26, shot by LE, San Francisco, 2 Dec 2015

[katydid23]

yes, we agree on that. And complex issues need to be worked through by various experts so all sides can come to a resolution. Police Unions back the officers and look out for their legal rights and their civil rights and their health and well being.

 

[al66pine]

.... SFPD...New Policy on Drawing Guns
San Francisco Magazine
Joe Eskenazi | Photo: Ramin Rahimian | December 14, 2015

“.... the department on Friday quietly recategorized its firearm policies. According to a Departmental Bulletin issued late in the day, pointing a gun at a person is now considered "a reportable use of force." Any officer who finds him or herself "intentionally pointing" a firearm at someone must report the action to a supervisor, explain his or her rationale in writing, and, at the time of the incident, explain to the person with a gun pointed his or her way why this is happening—“if circumstances permit.” *
- See more at: http://modernluxury.com/san-francis...and-police-union-objects#sthash.XzvbD0gR.dpuf....​

​

i.b. nora. Thanks for posting excerpt & link to article. Good reading.

bbm & sbm ^ I'm confused w the 'double screen' shown below, as linked in article.
Do they show two diff policies? Is lower screen the 'old' policy' and upper screen w 12/11 date, the 'new policy?'
If both screens are read together as one consolidated policy, seems policy is not so extensive/extreme as article describes. JM2cts.

Lower screen states:
"....Drawing or exhibiting firearm without intentionally pointing it at a person, such as the "low-ready" position, is not considered a reportable use of force."

A link to SFPD P & P manuals would help, if avail. Anyone? thx in adv.


"

 

[al66pine]

FWIW, trying to find descriptions & images of 'firing position' and 'low-ready position' from LEO training source, to illustrate SFPD policy change. No luck yet. Anyone?

 

[i.b.nora]

FWIW, trying to find descriptions & images of 'firing position' and 'low-ready position' from LEO training source, to illustrate SFPD policy change. No luck yet. Anyone?

I have not read this document yet but perhaps it will help.

It is the SFPD Use of Force document from 1995

http://sf-police.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=14790

 

[al66pine]

I have not read this document yet but perhaps it will help.
It is the SFPD Use of Force document from 1995
http://sf-police.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=14790

i.b.nora
Thanks for posting link to this doc. Informative, the way it sets forth use of force categories in ascending order.
States - LEOs do not need to try each option before escalating.
States - judgment & circumstances dictate the starting level.

Page 2.
"D. CATEGORIES OF FORCE TO EMPLOY (IN ASCENDING ORDER OF GRAVITY)
1. When the use of force is necessary and appropriate, officers shall, to the extent possible, utilize an escalating scale of options and not employ more forceful measures unless it is determined that a lower level of force would not be adequate, or such a level of force is attempted and actually found to be inadequate. The scale of options, in order of increasing severity, is set forth below:

a. Verbal Persuasion
b Physical Control eg., passive resister, bent wrist control, excluding the carotid restraint)
c . Liquid Chemical Agent (Mace l Oleoresin Capsicum)
d. Carotid Restraint
e. Department-issued Baton
f. Firearm"​

"2 It is not the intent of the order to require officers to try each of the options before escalating to the next Clearly, good judgment and the circumstances of each situation will dictate the level at which an officer will start. Officers using any type of force are accountable for its use."

 

[i.b.nora]

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sfpd-shooting-study-hasnt-stopped-incidents/

This is a good article:

SFPD shooting study hasn’t stopped incidents
San Francisco Examiner
By Jonah Owen Lamb
December 16, 2015 1:00 am

“The last time the San Francisco Police Department studied police shootings in The City, it found the department needed to find less lethal tools and training to ensure fewer incidents escalate into shootings.

While some of the 5-year-old study’s recommendations were implemented — and use-of-force incidents have declined since — the average number of officer shooting incidents has not changed.

Those issues are back on the table following the shooting death of 26-year-old Mario Woods. Now, some are asking why it took Woods’ death to push the department to reform its 20-year-old use-of-force policies.

Mayor Ed Lee recently told the department to start reforming that process. Just this week, the department put out a bulletin that says pulling out a gun amounts to a use of force.”​

Much more...

 

[bluesneakers]

Police reviewing use of force policies, meeting with black community leaders after Mario Woods shooting

San Francisco police plan to work more closely with black community leaders and have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to review policies, procedures and training following the Dec. 2 fatal shooting of Mario Woods, Chief Greg Suhr announced Thursday.

The statement noted that the shooting has shaken the trust of many residents in the department and that “nothing can change the way people feel when they watch the video of the shooting.”

While the shooting remains under investigation, police said they were reviewing all policies and procedures related to the use of force to prevent similar incidents. Suhr has asked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services program to review department policies, procedures and training and created a working group to develop strategies and tactics for incidents involving suspects armed with weapons other than firearms, the statement said.

“We need to have a strong working relationship with the communities we serve,” Suhr said Thursday in the statement. “Trust is the ‘coin of the realm’ in everything we do as police officers.”

Departing San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi Thursday also announced proposed reforms to the sheriff’s department’s use of force policies, with an emphasis on de-escalation, cooling off periods and strengthened reporting requirements for employees and contractors.

More at the link.

 

[bluesneakers]

Mario Woods, black man killed by police, 'had 20 gunshot wounds'

Coroner’s report also showed that six of the wounds were in his back and that the 26-year-old had several drugs in his system when he died in San Francisco

27 shell casings recovered at the scene.

A young black man killed by San Francisco police had 20 gunshot wounds, including six in the back, according to an autopsy report released on Thursday.

The San Francisco coroner’s report showed that Mario Woods, 26, also had drugs in his system...

Woods had two gunshot wounds in his buttocks and others to his head, legs, abdomen and hands. Some of the wounds could have been from the same bullet, the autopsy said.

The family’s attorney, John Burris, told the Guardian that the autopsy report confirmed his view that the shooting was unlawful, comparing it to the Chicago police killing of Laquan McDonald.

“It’s unconscionable that a person can be shot that many times in the back,” Burris said. “When you shoot someone in the back, that means he’s not threatening you.”

 

[bluesneakers]

Feds fault San Francisco police for violence against minorities and recommend 272 reforms

A six-month study by the U.S. Justice Department released Wednesday found that the department disproportionately used force on people of color, and stopped and searched them more often than it did white people.

Federal officials reviewed 548 use-of-force cases between May 2013 and May 2016, finding 37% of the people whom city police used force against were African American, a larger percentage than for any other ethnic group. Nine of the 11 people who were killed during use-of-force incidents in that time frame were people of color.

Mayor Ed Lee requested the report after Mario Woods, a black man suspected of assault, was shot at least 21 times by police in 2015 while holding a knife.

 

[bluesneakers]

U.S. Justice Department urges changes in SFPD after fatal shootings

A six-month investigation of the San Francisco Police Department by the U.S. Justice Department, prompted by the killing of Mario Woods and other fatal police shootings, concludes that the department does a poor job of tracking and investigating officers’ use of force, has ineffective antibias training and shields its disciplinary process from public view.

“We found a department with concerning deficiencies in every operational area assessed: use of force; bias; community policing practices; accountability measures; and recruitment, hiring and promotion practices,” Ronald Davis, director of the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, wrote in the report’s executive summary.

Among the report’s findings and recommendations:

•The department needs to improve its tracking of officers’ use of force. Its current system is outdated — some records are kept on paper, making it difficult to identify troubling trends.

•The city should “strongly consider” giving officers electronic stun guns as an alternative to using lethal force, which the Police Department has suggested several times, without success.

•Although the Police Department disciplined officers who swapped racist and homophobic text messages, it failed to “take action to ensure this was not an institutionalized problem.” Among other recommendations, the report urged that the department regularly check officers’ “electronic communication devices to determine whether they are being used to communicate bias.”

•The department should report “data regarding complaints against department members, their outcome, and trends in complaints and misconduct.” The reason: Justice Department-led interviews of residents found “a consistently stated belief, especially in the African American and Hispanic communities, that officers are not held accountable for misconduct.”