Rules Committee advances Dorsey’s police staffing charter amendment after hours-long debate and public comment

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, chair of the Rules Committee, opened the discussion on Oct. 23 by presenting a proposed charter amendment to reestablish minimum sworn staffing targets for the San Francisco Police Department and to create a temporary police full staffing fund.

The measure would phase in graduated staffing minimums over five years, reaching a baseline tied to the department’s forthcoming 2023 Proposition E staffing report. "We are about 600 full duty officers short of where we should be," Dorsey said, framing the amendment as a voter-directed way to restore the department’s capacity.

Police Chief Bill Scott summarized operational impacts of the staffing shortfall, including longer response times and a heavier reliance on overtime. "Even with calls going down... we're already at 25,000 of those types of [crisis intervention] calls year to date," Chief Scott said, using recent SFPD data to explain workload pressures and the department's recruitment needs.

Commander Nicole Jones reviewed the staffing analyses that informed the proposed baseline, tracing the work from PERF (2008) through the Matrix Consulting reports and Proposition E requirements. Jones said the department’s updated workload-based analysis recommends a 2,074 sworn-officer baseline. Deputy Chief Peter Walsh described recruiting bottlenecks — from background investigations to academy throughput — and provided cost estimates for academy classes and training.

The chair outlined four amendments to the charter language: adopt the new 2,074 baseline from the Proposition E report, permit board review of police commission reductions to the minimum, clarify the fund’s exclusive use for full staffing, and allow private philanthropic donations to the fund and for the fund to continue beyond five years at the board’s discretion. The committee adopted those technical changes on a roll-call motion that passed with Vice Chair Shimon Walton recorded as voting no.

Public comment ran more than an hour. Supporters, including neighborhood groups and business representatives, said the amendment is needed to restore public confidence and enable policing strategies such as foot beats and retail-theft interdictions. Opponents, including activists and some service providers, warned that guaranteed minimums could drive cuts to other city services without a dedicated revenue source and urged investment in crisis-response alternatives. Speakers cited controller estimates of potential long-term costs and urged the committee to identify a funding source.

Supervisors pressed SFPD on details during follow-up questioning: the department said the recruitment/advertising budget has historically included a $250,000 item to fund outreach and that full-duty deployable officers number 1,475 while total sworn (including modified duty and academy recruits) is about 1,871. The department said roughly 396 officers are on disability or modified duty.

After debate, the committee voted to continue the amended charter amendment to the Rules Committee meeting on Oct. 30, 2023, allowing members to refine funding language and other technical details before sending a final recommendation to the full Board of Supervisors.

Next steps: the item will return to Rules on Oct. 30 for further amendments and a possible recommendation to the full board.