Committee continues sheriff staffing hearing, forwards resolution urging DHR to explore matching recruitment bonuses

The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on June 8 held a hearing on staffing levels in the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department and on a companion resolution urging the Department of Human Resources (DHR) to explore ways to match recruitment and retention bonuses offered by competing Northern California law enforcement agencies.

Supervisor Dorsey framed the resolution as a tool to help the city compete in a regional ‘arms race’ for law‑enforcement applicants and proposed two minor amendments for clarity. Sheriff Paul Miyamoto testified the sheriff’s office has 978 sworn positions and 178 unfilled requisitions, which he characterized as roughly a 72 percent staffing level; he described efforts to recruit, community engagement initiatives, a tablet program used to deliver in‑custody programming, and rehabilitation programs including RSVP and Rose to Recovery that are reopening in varying degrees of participation. Commander Nicole Jones of the San Francisco Police Department described SFPD’s "Be the Change" recruitment campaign, continuous testing and one‑day test events, and said the department recently retained a recruitment firm funded in the last budget cycle.

DHR witnesses Artis Graham and Dave Johnson detailed steps to streamline city hiring: civil‑service rule updates for expedited hiring, collaboration with unions and the controller’s office, continuous and virtual testing via the National Testing Network, and combined one‑day testing events to reduce time between application and testing. DHR also acknowledged internal staffing gaps and said its budget request includes additional HR analysts to speed lower‑level processing.

Public commenters described long background times (one recounted a roughly 10‑month background check), concerns about jail conditions and extended lockdowns at San Bruno, and urged faster hiring and retention; the Deputy Sheriffs Association’s president urged contracting outside services to speed background investigations. One caller urged construction of a new jail and more funding; another said county jails have harmed incarcerated people’s mental and physical health. Sheriff Miyamoto responded that programs and capacity exist and that the department is focused on reopening programming while hiring continues.

Chair Supervisor Catherine Stephanie said she would continue the sheriff‑staffing hearing to the call of the chair to gather more written detail and follow‑up responses; that motion passed 3–0. The committee accepted Supervisor Dorsey’s amendments to the resolution and voted to forward the amended resolution to the full Board with a positive recommendation.

What happens next: the sheriff‑staffing hearing will be continued pending additional written responses and data; the recruitment‑policy resolution will go to the full Board for consideration.