SEC. 4.109. POLICE COMMISSION.
§ 4.109
The Police Commission consists of seven members: four nominated by the Mayor (including at least one retired judge or attorney) and three by the Board's Rules Committee, all subject to Board confirmation. The Mayor's nominations require a public hearing and vote within 60 days, with automatic confirmation if the Board fails to act by day 61. Initial terms are staggered; all subsequent appointments are four years. The Commission can remove the Chief of Police jointly or separately with the Mayor, and may adopt rules for departmental efficiency within Charter limits.
San Francisco's Police Commission has seven members appointed through a split process: the Mayor picks four (at least one must be a retired judge or lawyer), and the Board of Supervisors' Rules Committee picks three. The Board of Supervisors has to vote to confirm all appointments. If the Mayor nominates someone, the Board has 60 days to vote—if they don't vote by day 61, the person is automatically approved. The first members' terms end in 2004 and are staggered so they don't all expire at once; future appointments last four years. The Commission, working with the Mayor, can fire the Police Chief. The Commission can also create rules to run the Police Department better, but those rules can't override civil service or ethics rules in the Charter.
- Complex:The section contains intricate conditional rules about when appointments become operative depending on whether the Board acts, fails to act, or acts differently for anticipated versus immediate vacancies, requiring careful parsing of multiple time-dependent scenarios.
- Controversial:Police Commission appointments and removal powers are a subject of ongoing public debate in San Francisco regarding police oversight and accountability.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
The Police Commission shall consist of seven members appointed pursuant to this section. The Mayor shall nominate four members to the commission, at least one of whom shall be a retired judge or an attorney with trial experience. The Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors, or any successor committee thereto, shall nominate three other members to the commission. Each nomination shall be subject to confirmation by the Board of Supervisors, and the Mayor's nominations shall be the subject of a public hearing and vote within 60 days. If the Board of Supervisors rejects the Mayor's nomination to fill the seat designated for a retired judge or attorney with trial experience, the Mayor shall nominate a different person with such qualifications. If the Board of Supervisors fails to act on a mayoral nomination within 60 days of the date the nomination is transmitted to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, the nominee shall be deemed confirmed. Appointments to fill a vacancy on the commission shall become operative on the date the Board of Supervisors adopts a motion confirming the nomination, or on the 61st day following the date a mayoral nomination is transmitted to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors if the Board of Supervisors fails to vote on the nomination prior to such date. Confirmations of nominations to fill a vacancy that will be created upon the expiration of a sitting member's term shall become operative upon the expiration of the sitting member's term, or, if the Board of Supervisors fails to act on a mayoral nomination to fill such anticipated vacancy, on the 61st day following the date the nomination was transmitted to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors or on the expiration of the sitting member's term, whichever occurs later. The terms and tenures of all members sitting on the commission as of the effective date of the amendments to this section approved at the November 2003 election shall terminate at 12 noon on April 30, 2004. To stagger the terms of the seven members thereafter, of the first four members nominated by the Mayor, two members shall serve terms of two years and two members shall serve terms of four years, and of the three members nominated by the Rules Committee, one member shall serve a term of one year, one member shall serve a term of two years, and one member shall serve a term of three years. The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall designate such initial terms by lot. All subsequent appointments to the commission shall be for four-year terms.
The tenure of each member shall terminate upon the expiration of the member's term. The Mayor shall transmit a nomination or renomination to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors no later than 60 days prior to the expiration of the term of a member nominated by the Mayor. For vacancies occurring for reasons other than the expiration of a member's term, within 60 days following the creation of such vacancy, the Mayor shall nominate a member to fill such vacancy if the vacancy is for a seat filled by nomination of the Mayor.
The District Attorney, Sheriff and Public Defender may recommend persons to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors for nomination or appointment to the Police Commission.
The Mayor, with the consent of the Board of Supervisors, may remove a member the Mayor has nominated. The Board of Supervisors may remove a member the Rules Committee has nominated.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the Charter, the Chief of Police may be removed by the Commission or the Mayor, acting jointly or separately of each other. In addition to any other powers set forth in this Charter, the Police Commission is empowered to prescribe and enforce any reasonable rules and regulations that it deems necessary to provide for the efficiency of the Department, provided that the civil service and ethics provisions of this Charter shall control in the event of any conflict with rules adopted under this section.
(Amended November 2003)