What We Did Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, Ken Lomba, President of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, and his wife and son, delivered prime rib and salmon meals to the Deputy Sheriffs and Medical Examiner Investigators.

Ken Lomba has been a Deputy Sheriff for over 20 years, and has been the President of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association for the past 5 years. As President, he has worked tirelessly to support and advocate for the rights and needs of the Deputy Sheriffs in San Francisco.

Christmas Day Deputy Sheriffs

On Christmas Day, Ken Lomba and his family wanted to show their appreciation for the hardworking Deputy Sheriffs and Medical Examiner Investigators who work tirelessly, even on holidays, to keep the community safe. They decided to deliver meals to these dedicated public servants as a way of thanking them for their dedication and service.

The Deputy Sheriffs and Medical Examiner Investigators were grateful for the kind gesture and delicious meals, which provided a much-needed break during their long shifts. It was a small, but meaningful way for the Lomba family to show their appreciation for the hardworking men and women who serve and protect their community.

In a world where the news is often filled with stories of negativity and conflict, it is heartwarming to see acts of kindness and generosity like this. 

Overall, it was a heartwarming and thoughtful gesture that was greatly appreciated by the Deputy Sheriffs and Medical Examiner Investigators on Christmas Day. The Lomba family’s act of kindness was a reminder of the importance of showing appreciation and support for those who work to keep our communities safe. So, this was what we did on Christmas Day.

 

SFDSA Files Lawsuit Against SF Sheriff

At some time prior to July 8, 2022, the City and County of San Francisco Sheriff’s Office decided to create a pilot program in County Jail #3 (“CJ3”) in housing unit 5. The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office had two employees evaluate the functionality of the program and identify any concerns they saw with the changes proposed by the Sheriff’s Office. These deputies found numerous safety concerns that made it difficult to perform the regular safety checks of the inmates in some cases and completely impossible in other cases.

Despite the safety concerns, on July 8, 2022, the changes were implemented.

CJ3 has multiple housing units that are the shape of a circle with inmate cells on the perimeter of the circle. This circle is divided into to sides, the A and B sides. Inmates from A cannot cross over to B and vice versa. On one side of the dividing line is a “Crow’s Nest” or a tower with windows that can look out over portions of both the A and B sides of the housing unit. This Crow’s Nest has previously not been used.

Prior to July 8, 2022, CJ 3 has always had 2 deputies working a general population housing unit. One each on the A and B sides. These deputies worked on the floor with the inmates.

Safety Checks are required to be done every hour. There are state laws, known as Title 15 rules, as well as a San Francisco Sheriff’s Office policy, CODM 4.04, which outline the minimum requirements for these safety checks. The purpose of the checks is to maintain safety and security in the jail for staff, visitors and the inmates. Some of the requirements of these checks include noting the skin color of the inmate, the rise and fall of the chest, movement that indicates life, looking for any signs of illness or distress, inspection of cell doors and windows and a search for any apparent contraband or hazards.

These safety checks were completed by the deputies working on the floor but walking up to each inmate cell door and observing the inmate, the cell and surrounding area. Sometimes, at night, a flashlight would be required to properly check the welfare of the inmates.

On July 8, 2022, this changed. No longer would there be any floor deputies. Now, only one deputy, instead of two, would monitor all the inmates by him/herself, from the Crow’s Nest. In the event of an emergency, the deputy in the Crow’s Nest was not to leave and assist an inmate having a medical emergency, being attacked, or attempting to harm himself, instead, the deputy is now required to call for help. Deputies who are roaming around the rest of the jail would then have to respond and handle the situation, wasting valuable time.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office was unable to remedy all the safety concerns raised by the two employees who evaluated the new Crow’s Nest plan. The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office administration directed Crow’s Nest deputies to utilize binoculars to assist them in seeing the inmates better. While this may help with viewing some of the inmates when the lights are on, they do little to help at night and cannot solve the problem of the inability to see some of the cells at all, with or without binoculars.

The DSA sent a letter to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office on July 18, 2022 and it was resent to the Director of Employee Relations, on July 22, 2022. This letter demanded that the new Crow’s Nest practice stop until the parties can meet and confer over the impacts and effects of it. Numerous impacts and effects were listed in this notice.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office responded on July 26, 2022, refusing to maintain the status quo until the parties were able to meet and confer.

Within days of its implementation, a fight broke out in one of the cells in the evening and it was not discovered until the next morning. This is evidence of the lack of safety the DSA was concerned with when it demanded the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office cease and desist its new Crow’s Nest practice.

March 28, 2022 RFI.

On March 28, 2022, the DSA requested information necessary and relevant to ascertain the dates, times, and shifts that the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office fell below the minimum staffing required by the MOU. (Exhibit X) Arbitrator Alexander Cohen previously resolved a grievance filed by DSA when the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office previously violated the Minimum Staffing section of the MOU. Arbitrator Cohen issued his ruling in favor of the DSA in 2017 in favor of the DSA. In his decision, he awarded damages to be paid to those members who worked on shifts that were below the minimum staffing required by the MOU. Because the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office continued to fall below the minimum staffing, the DSA filed a new grievance on March 4, 2022. The RFI filed on March 28, 2022 was to gather necessary and relevant information to calculate the damages incurred by the DSA members as the result of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office’s current grievance for again violating the MOU. (Lomba Decl. ¶ 9)

The March 28, 2022 RFI was acknowledged received by the City Attorney’s office and forwarded to the Employee Relations Division (ERD) to respond. No response from ERD was ever received. (Howell Decl. ¶ 6 and 9; Exhibit 3) On May 2, 2022, the DSA followed up with ERD and the City Attorney’s office and demanded production of the RFI by May 9, 2022, which never came. (Howell Decl. ¶ 10 and 11; Exhibit 5)

On May 13, 2022, the DSA filed a First Amended Unfair Labor Practice Charge in PERB Case No. SF-CE-1794-M to have this matter added to that current litigation. On June 7, 2022, after filing the amendment to the PERB Charge, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office produced documents responsive to the March 28, 2022 RFI. Judge Cloughesy declined to amend the Charge and Complaint in that matter to include this RFI issue but gave leave to refile this matter with PERB.

February 16, 2022 RFI.

On February 16, 2022, the DSA requested information necessary and relevant to ascertain the names, dates, and hours of Overtime Pay DSA members were denied. Information was also requested to ascertain the history, deliberation, changes, analysis and communications regarding Administrative Code section 18.13 involving the maximum permissible overtime. This information is necessary for the DSA to enforce the contract at a grievance proceeding and is unable to establish the damages or the individual DSA members affected, without the response to the RFI.

The February 16, 2022 RFI was acknowledge received by the City Attorney’s Office on February 22, 2022, via email. (EXHIBIT XX – email from KNS to Rapoport and back) Having received no responsive documents, the DSA’s counsel sent an email on August 2, 2022 to demand production. (Exhibit XX – Email KNS to)

 


 Contact:

Ken Lomba
SFDSA President
415-696-2428
San Francisco, CA

SF JAIL HEADED FOR DISASTER

San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs have the honor of having served under the only progressive sheriff in California, Michael Hennessy. Our goal was to promote restorative justice, assist offenders into adopting law abiding lives, reduce recidivism, and improve community life.

The current Sheriff’s Department is headed for disaster. Currently, staffing of deputy sheriff’s is at 70% of what is required, and the current Sheriff has slashed programs, increased lockups (prisoners face 23 hours a day in confinement); blown holes in his budget through mandatory overtime, while increasing administration staff, non-essential programs and taken resources away from our core mission, which is running the jails. Sheriff Miyamoto claims there are 176 vacant positions and as a result inmates receive no family visits, inmates are locked in cells for longer, and all regular programs have been cut leaving only a few video/correspondence programs. Even religious services have been cut. No more Catholic services, no more Protestant services, no more Jehovah services, no Muslim services. And addiction services such as AA have been cut.

As a result, the jail’s current policies of increased lock downs and reduced programs have increased the mental health issues of inmates, imperil deputy sheriffs’ safety due to inmates taking out their increased anxieties and tensions on deputies, and cause more staffing issues by encouraging retirements and deputies to leave their jobs.

In the meantime, the Sheriff faces two class action lawsuits because the jails, ignoring Title 24, provides no outdoor access to inmates, so inmates are housed under fluorescent lights, 24/7, 365, and the Sheriff faces accusations of violating inmates’ constitutional right to sleep by forcing breakfast to wake up between 4 am and 4:30 am for breakfast. These lawsuits have the possibility of large judgements against the Sheriff’s Department.

The new DA Brooke Jenkins’ promise to increase prosecution i.e., of fentanyl pushers, as stated in her press interviews, means an increase in incarceration and we don’t have the deputy staff to properly run the jail.

To meet the needs of San Francisco, the Mayor and the Sheriff must adequately staff deputy sheriff’s, at minimum increase the staffing to the 2019 level, with additional hiring of 82 more deputy sheriffs. Recruiting and retention should be a priority and it hasn’t been. A revolving door at the jail serves the needs of no one. Properly staff our jails. Return all programs, particularly addiction treatment and anger management programs.

PROOF:
Exhibit A – staffing report for June 2022 (606 deputies, 23 senior deputies = 629, and 71 sergeants) versus July 2019 (712 sheriff’s deputies and 49 senior deputies = 759, and 57 sergeants). This shows more expensive officers increase at the expense of the line deputies who do the work.
Exhibit B – Consultant staffing analysis: Deputy vacancies are even higher than what Sheriff Miyamoto claims

La Asociación de Alguaciles Adjuntos de San Francisco exige una investigación del Gran Jurado Civil contra la Oficina del Alguacil

El personal en las Cárceles de San Francisco se ha vuelto peligrosamente inseguro con reclusos que atacan a reclusos, enfermeras, ayudantes del alguacil y empleados civiles. La Oficina del Sheriff de San Francisco y la Ciudad y el Condado de San Francisco han faltado personal a las cárceles a un nivel peligrosamente bajo, no han priorizado la financiación para contratar agentes, ni siquiera han priorizado la retención de los agentes actuales.

En un correo electrónico del presidente de la Asociación de Alguaciles Adjuntos de San Francisco, Ken Lomba, al alguacil Miyamoto, el presidente Lomba declaró que la SFDSA ha estado abogando por la contratación y advirtiendo a la gerencia de la oficina del alguacil sobre los problemas de personal durante más de una década. Dos años y medio de los que Miyamoto fue Sheriff. El presidente Lomba dijo que el aumento de la carga de trabajo debido a la falta intencional de contratación se ha convertido en “trabajo de explotación”. La Asociación de Alguaciles Adjuntos de San Francisco ha presentado una Queja Civil ante el Gran Jurado exigiendo que se investigue a la Oficina del Alguacil y a la Ciudad y el Condado de San Francisco.

Desde 2014 ha habido 3 informes separados del Gran Jurado Civil de San Francisco advirtiendo sobre los efectos de ir por debajo de los niveles mínimos de personal y acelerar la contratación en lugar de horas extras forzadas. Incluso hubo una advertencia de una posible violación del Título 15 en el futuro si nada cambia. Desafortunadamente, la Oficina del Sheriff no ha podido contratar a la cantidad adecuada de agentes para crear un entorno de trabajo seguro tanto para los agentes como para los reclusos. Los niveles mínimos de personal han empeorado y, en definitiva, los diputados están agotados.

En los informes anteriores, el Gran Jurado encontró que debido a la disminución del número total de agentes empleados por la Ciudad y el Condado de San Francisco, el exceso de horas extras y la escasez de cuerpos no permitieron que los importantes programas de reclusos existentes y mucho menos aumentaran el número de reclusos. programas recomendados. Además, la capacitación recomendada para los diputados no pudo llevarse a cabo o fue inadecuada para tratar la salud mental y el abuso de sustancias, así como muchos otros problemas que experimenta la población alojada.

En última instancia, este Gran Jurado recomendó en tres ocasiones distintas en 2014, 2016 y 2017 “acelerar la contratación para reducir las horas extra”. Las recomendaciones del Gran Jurado nunca se han seguido y la situación se ha vuelto insostenible ya que el número de diputados es menor ahora que cuando este Gran Jurado hizo estas fuertes recomendaciones.

LAS CÁRCELES DE CCSF ESTÁN AHORA CAYENDO POR DEBAJO DEL PERSONAL MÍNIMO REGULARMENTE

Hace solo unos días, el 9 de junio de 2022, el alguacil Miyamoto emitió un memorando a todo el personal de la cárcel de la ciudad y el condado de San Francisco identificando sus intenciones de operar por debajo del personal mínimo durante un período de los próximos 8 a 9 meses. La Ciudad y el Condado de San Francisco ha reconocido claramente la inutilidad de dar la apariencia de alcanzar la dotación mínima de personal y ahora ha admitido que no puede ejercer su deber de hacerlo.

La ciudad y el condado de San Francisco compiten ferozmente con los condados vecinos, Alameda y San Mateo, por el personal penitenciario. Alameda ha estado bajo un decreto de consentimiento para contratar más personal penitenciario. Sería una pena que la ciudad y el condado de San Francisco estuvieran bajo una supervisión gubernamental similar. La ciudad y el condado de San Francisco pueden acelerar la contratación de personal, pero no lo han convertido en una prioridad, a expensas del personal penitenciario exhausto y con exceso de trabajo.

La Queja del Gran Jurado Civil contra la Oficina del Alguacil y la Ciudad y el Condado de San Francisco se presentó el 20 de junio de 2022. Este Gran Jurado debe exigir respuestas de la Oficina del Alguacil de San Francisco sobre por qué no ha cumplido con sus 3 recomendaciones separadas desde 2014.

Vea la queja aquí, Queja del gran jurado civil contra el alguacil de SF

Contacto:

Ken Lomba, Presidente de SFDSA
415-696-2428
San Francisco, CA

Website: https://sanfranciscodsa.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SanFranciscoDSA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanFranciscoDeputySheriffsAssociation

舊金山縣警長協會要求民事大陪審團對警長辦公室進行調查

由於囚犯攻擊囚犯、護士、警長代表和文職僱員,舊金山監獄的工作人員已經變得非常不安全。舊金山警長辦公室和舊金山市縣的監獄人手不足,已經到了危險的低水平,他們沒有優先考慮為僱傭警員提供資金,他們甚至沒有優先考慮留住現任警員。

在舊金山縣治安官協會主席 Ken Lomba 給宮本警長的一封電子郵件中,Lomba 總統表示,十多年來,舊金山縣治安官協會一直在倡導招聘並警告治安官辦公室管理層人員配備問題。宮本在其中擔任警長兩年半。隆巴總統說,由於故意缺乏招聘而增加的工作負擔已經變成了“血汗工廠勞動”。舊金山縣治安官協會已提交民事大陪審團投訴,要求對治安官辦公室和舊金山市和縣進行調查。

自 2014 年以來,SF Civil 大陪審團發布了 3 份單獨的報告,警告稱低於最低人員配置水平和加快招聘而不是強制加班的影響。如果沒有任何變化,甚至會警告未來可能違反第 15 條。不幸的是,警長辦公室未能聘請適當數量的警員來為警員和囚犯創造安全的工作環境。最低人員配備水平變得更糟,而且底線是:代表們已經筋疲力盡了。

在過去的報告中,大陪審團發現,由於舊金山市和縣僱用的代表總數減少,過度加班和屍體短缺導致現有的重要囚犯計劃無法實現,更不用說增加囚犯了推薦的節目。此外,為代表推薦的培訓無法進行或不足以處理心理健康和藥物濫用以及居住人口經歷的許多其他問題。

最終,這個大陪審團在 2014 年、2016 年和 2017 年的三個不同場合建議“加快招聘以減少加班”。大陪審團的建議從未得到遵循,而且由於代表人數現在比大陪審團提出這些強烈建議時的人數少,情況變得難以為繼。

最終,這個大陪審團在 2014 年、2016 年和 2017 年的三個不同場合建議“加快招聘以減少加班”。大陪審團的建議從未得到遵循,而且由於代表人數現在比大陪審團提出這些強烈建議時的人數少,情況變得難以為繼。

舊金山監獄現在定期低於最低人員配置

就在幾天前,也就是 2022 年 6 月 9 日,宮本警長向舊金山市和縣的所有監獄工作人員發布了一份備忘錄,明確了他在未來 8 到 9 個月內的意圖——低於最低限度的工作人員!舊金山市和縣已經清楚地認識到,假裝達到最低人員配置是徒勞的,現在承認它無法履行其職責。

舊金山市和縣與其鄰近的阿拉米達縣和聖馬特奧縣正在激烈競爭監獄工作人員。阿拉米達已經根據一項同意法令僱用更多的監獄工作人員。舊金山市和縣受到類似的政府監督將是一種恥辱。舊金山市和縣可以加快招聘工作人員,但並未將其作為優先事項,代價是過度勞累和筋疲力盡的監獄工作人員。

民事大陪審團針對治安官辦公室和舊金山市縣的投訴於 2022 年 6 月 20 日提交。該大陪審團應要求舊金山治安官辦公室就其未能遵守其 3 項單獨建議的原因作出答复自 2014 年以來。

在此處查看投訴,針對舊金山警長的民事大陪審團投訴

接觸:

舊金山縣治安官協會主席肯·隆巴
415-696-2428
加利福尼亞州舊金山

網站:https://sanfranciscodsa.com
推特:https://twitter.com/SanFranciscoDSA
臉書:https://www.facebook.com/SanFranciscoDeputySheriffsAssociation

San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association notified SF Mayor to Force SF Sheriff’ s Office to Increase Hiring

The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association wrote a letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed and requested that she intervene to force the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office to increase hiring.

SFDSA President Ken Lomba stated, “We have been advocating for hiring over the last 5 years with Sheriff’s Administration. In the last two years the Sheriff’s Office has taken salary savings to an all time high, exhausting our deputy sheriff members.”

San Francisco Sheriff Miyamoto has told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that he will expedite the hiring of 75 Deputy Sheriffs this year. Sixty new deputies and fifteen academy trained and/or laterals. The problem with this is more than 75 deputies will have resigned and retired by the end of this fiscal year which will put the Sheriff’s Office in a further negative.

To operate the San Francisco Jails, it requires 423 deputy sheriffs. Currently the jail staffing is minus approximately 130 deputy sheriffs. This is not the only staffing shortage at the San Francisco Sheriffs’ Office, the Field Operations Division which is primarily patrol and government building law enforcement is approximately 50 deputy sheriffs short. At the same time the managers and supervisors from sergeant to sheriff are nearly 100% staffed. During Sheriff Miyamoto’s term the amount of supervisors’ positions have increased, and field operation positions have increased. Both of those increases had negatively impacted the staffing within the San Francisco Jails.

The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association asked Mayor London Breed to intervene to increase deputy sheriffs in the San Francisco Jails.

San Francisco Mayor Needs to Force SF Sheriff’s Office to Increase Hiring

San Francisco, California, June 24, 2022 — The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association wrote a letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed and requested that she intervene to force the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office to increase hiring.

 SFDSA President Ken Lomba stated, “We have been advocating for hiring over that last 5 years with Sheriff’s Administration. In the last two years the Sheriff’s Office has taken salary savings to an all time high, exhausting our deputy sheriff members. Instead of hiring at appropriate levels the Sheriff’s Office prefers to force more overtime!”

San Francisco Sheriff Miyamoto has told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that he will expedite the hiring of 75 Deputy Sheriffs this year.  Sixty new deputies and fifteen academy trained and/or laterals.  The problem with this is more than 75 deputies will have resigned and retired by the end of this fiscal year which will put the Sheriff’s Office in a further negative.  

Since 2014 there have been 3 separate reports from the SF Civil Grand Jury warning about the effects of going below minimum staffing levels and to expedite hiring instead of forced overtime. There was even a warning of a possible violation of Title 15 in the future if nothing changes. Unfortunately, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has failed to hire the proper number of deputies to create a safe working environment for both our deputies and inmates. The staffing levels have gotten worse, and bottom line: our deputies are exhausted.  Without the appropriate amount of deputy sheriffs at the jails this will affect the amount of family, friend and legal visits that can be conducted, it will affect the amount of recreation time for inmates, being understaffed will even affect and slow the intake and booking abilities of the Sheriff’s Office. 

Lawsuits are mounting for not allowing the currently incarcerated to have exercise time, walk time, sunshine time and now lawsuits over sleep deprivation.  The San Francisco Jails are an unsafe environment due to understaffing.  The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association is extremely concerned about the safety of the inmates, nurses, civilian employees and our deputy sheriff members.  The San Francisco Jails are not immune to crime, in past history there has been a variety of crimes from fights to stabbings, illegal drugs, drug sales, robbery, sexual assaults and more.  Matter of fact, there was a staffing crisis in the 90’s, multiple lawsuits were filed, when inmates were sexually assaulted, sodomized for approximately 30 days and physically attacked.  In this SFweekly article it describes several lawsuits for unsafe conditions where inmates were sexual assaulted, sodomized and physically attacked.  In each court ruling the judge demanded an increase in deputy sheriffs, yet the Sheriff Office has fallen into a past practice of unsafe understaffing which places inmates and employees in danger.

The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association has asked Mayor London Breed to intervene to increase deputy sheriffs in the San Francisco Jails.  Will Mayor London Breed answer the call to increase the safety of our jails?

SFDSA Demands Civil Grand Jury Investigation Against the Sheriff’s Office

San Francisco, CA, June 21, 2022 – – Staffing in the San Francisco Jails has become dangerously unsafe with inmates attacking inmates, nurses, sheriff deputies and civilian employees.  The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and City and County of San Francisco have understaffed the jails to a dangerously low level, they have not prioritized funding to hire deputies, they have not even prioritized retention of current deputies. 

In an email from SFDSA President Ken Lomba to Sheriff Miyamoto, President Lomba stated that the SFDSA has been advocating for hiring and warning Sheriff’s Office Management about the staffing problems for over a decade. Two and a half years of which Miyamoto was Sheriff.  President Lomba said that the increased burden of work due to intentional lack of hiring has turned into “sweatshop labor.”  The SFDSA has filed a Civil Grand Jury Complaint demanding the Sheriff’s Office and the City and County of San Francisco be investigated.

Since 2014 there have been 3 separate reports from the SF Civil Grand Jury warning about the effects of going below minimum staffing levels and to expedite hiring instead of forced overtime. There was even a warning of a possible violation of Title 15 in the future if nothing changes. Unfortunately, the Sheriff’s Office has failed to hire the proper number of deputies to create a safe working environment for both the deputies and inmates. The minimum staffing levels have gotten worse, and bottom line: the deputies are exhausted.  

In the past reports, the Grand Jury found that because of the dwindling number of total deputies employed by the City and County of San Francisco, the excessive overtime and shortage of bodies did not allow for the important inmate programs in existence let alone increase the inmate programs that were recommended. Furthermore, the recommended training for deputies could not take place or was inadequate to deal with the mental health and substance abuse as well as many other issues the housed population experiences.

Ultimately, this Grand Jury recommended on three separate occasions in 2014, 2016, and 2017 to “expedite hiring to reduce overtime.” The Grand Jury’s recommendations have never been followed and the situation has become untenable as the number of deputies is lower now than it was when this Grand Jury made these strong recommendations.

CCSF JAILS ARE NOW FALLING BELOW MINIMUM STAFFING REGULARLY

Just days ago, on June 9, 2022, Sheriff Miyamoto issued a memo to all City and County of San Francisco jail staff identifying his intentions of – operating below minimum staffing – for a period of the next 8-9 months! The City and County of San Francisco has clearly recognized the futility of giving the appearance of reaching minimum staffing and has now admitted that it cannot exercise its duty to do so. 

The City and County of San Francisco is in fierce competition with its neighboring counties, Alameda and San Mateo, for jail staff. Alameda has been under a consent decree to hire more jail staff. It would be a shame for the City and County of San Francisco to be under similar governmental oversight. The City and County of San Francisco can expedite the hiring of staff but has not made it a priority, at the expense of the overworked and exhausted jails staff.

The Civil Grand Jury Complaint against the Sheriff’s Office and the City and County of San Francisco was filed on June 20th, 2022.  This Grand Jury should demand answers from the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office as to why it has failed to comply with its 3 separate recommendations since 2014.

View the complaint here, Civil Grand Jury Complaint Against SF Sheriff

Contact:

SFDSA President Ken Lomba
415-696-2428
San Francisco, CA

Website: https://sanfranciscodsa.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SanFranciscoDSA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanFranciscoDeputySheriffsAssociation

SF Police Chief Scott Says Staffing Shortage But Still Assigns SF Police to SFO

San Francisco Police Chief Scott has been all over the newspaper advocating he has a police staffing shortage.  But is he doing everything to balance his staffing to improve public safety in San Francisco.  

Chief Scott stated the San Francisco Police Department is short 400 police officers and that if he increases police in San Francisco it will reduce crime.  What about all the police officers he has assigned to the San Francisco Airport which is located over 10 miles South of San Francisco in San Mateo County?  Why doesn’t he return some of them to SF?  As flights increase at SFO, the airport will demand more police.  Will Chief Scott continue to send his experienced police officers to SFO?  This is such an inefficient practice.

Chief Scott can contact San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and create a joint effort at the SFO with both SF Police Officers and SF Deputy Sheriffs.  This would relieve the stress on SFPD for staffing the airport.  The airport can be supplemented with both police and sheriffs.  By doing this, Chief Scott can focus on his mission and responsibility which is the City of San Francisco.

Chief Scott wants more police but will he continue the same old practice of assigning his most experienced and trained police officers over 10 miles away at the SFO in a different county or will he do something efficient and bring in the SF Sheriffs to assist him with the airport staffing needs so his police officers can work in San Francisco?

We have a better way.  Send in the Sheriffs.  Please read this research report on “Bringing San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs to the San Francisco Airport: An Opportunity For An Efficient And Practical Change.”


 

 

Forced Overtime at San Francisco Sheriff’s Office

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has a history of conducting salary savings.  Salary savings is a scheme to reduce hiring and offer overtime to existing employees.  In small cases it may be okay since the department can offer overtime to volunteers but over the years the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has taken it to an extreme ordering our deputy sheriff members mandated overtime involuntarily.

For the purposes of this article, “salary savings” will be defined as the practice of keeping open positions unfilled so as to reduce budgetary outlays. In the practice, current employees are asked and often mandated to work overtime hours to cover the gaps created by non-hiring. As numerous articles and internal documents will show, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has engaged in salary savings for at least the last decade. While this has resulted in higher wages due to overtime payments, it has more significantly resulted in force attrition and individual exhaustion. This practice is not sustainable.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has at times requested and at times mandated that its deputies work excessive hours of overtime to cover staffing shortages. As the Controller’s Annual Overtime Report (FY 2017-18) states, “[t]he distribution of overtime in the Department is highly skewed.” It has rewarded some, those willing to work extravagant amounts of time, with salaries far exceeding their base and it has also hastened the retirement of those who value their days off and their health. Meanwhile, until very recently, the Department has not incurred new pensions or benefit costs and has not had to train new employees sufficient to fill its roster. As numerous documents have shown, by encouraging and demanding overtime and by failing to hire new deputies, the Department has engaged in salary savings for at least the last decade.

Fast forward to present time, the Sheriff’s Office has gone further with this practice and implemented more salary savings.  As of a January 2021, the Sheriff’s Office had approx. 203 vacant full time employee openings.  It most likely is even higher now.  The Sheriff Office now mandates more overtime and blocks volunteers, in most cases, from working overtime forcing more deputy sheriffs to work involuntarily and in most cases forced to work with last minute notice.  You can only imagine how disruptive this is to the deputy sheriffs’ lives and health.

SF Deputy SheriffIn February 2021, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office prepared their budget request, within that request they only asked for funding for 44 deputy sheriff positions.  This number is extremely low with deputies retiring and leaving to other agencies as well as the existing approx. -203 full time employee vacancies.

In August 2020 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 19 out of 20 of the City’s Top Biggest Overtime Earners were deputy sheriffs.  That brought a lot of attention to the Sheriff’s Office and could expose the salary savings scheme to the voters.  So what they did next should shock you!  Instead of hiring more deputies to reduce the overtime, they are now forcing more deputies to work overtime.  They are restricting volunteers and forcing more involuntarily.  Is this a San Francisco value?

The staffing shortage not only effects the safety of employees and public but it also affects the currently incarcerated people.  Lawsuits are mounting for not allowing the currently incarcerated to have exercise time, walk time, sunshine time and now law suits over sleep deprivation.  The next lawsuit will most likely be a federal class action lawsuit over the lack of staff and conditions in the jail for violating the rights of the currently incarcerated.

While businesses continue to struggle and unemployment exceeds six percent the City gained a budget surplus of $125 Million this fiscal year 2020-2021.  So it makes you wonder why the Sheriff’s Office is so timid with it’s budget requests with such a staffing deficit.  

Download our white paper on San Francisco Sheriff’s Office Salary Savings.