The Sheriff’s Oversight Board of the City and County of San Francisco met in a rescheduled regular session on Friday, July 24, 2026, with President William Palmer, II presiding.
President Palmer called the meeting to order at 2:18 p.m.
ROLL CALL AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
On the call of the roll. Board Members Cuevas, Dignan, Lozano, Ortiz, Palmer, Rosboro, and Soo were noted present.
A quorum of the Board was present.
Dan Leung, Board Secretary presented the ancestral homeland acknowledgement of the Ramaytush Ohlone, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula.
Board Secretary Leung further thanked SFGovTV for recording and televising the meeting on Cable Channel 26, and moderator Jeannett Egenlauf for moderating today’s remote public comment, and welcomed members of the public to attend board meetings and provide public comment in-person, by email at sdob@sfgov.org, or by US Postal mail addressed to the Office of the Inspector General, 1 South Van Ness Ave, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103; and noted that in person comment was limited to 2 minutes with General Public Comment taken at the end of the meeting.
APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
There were no discussion or requests for corrections from any Board Members on the May 1, 2026, Regular Board Meeting Minutes.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no public comment.
Member Lozano, seconded by Member Dignan, moved to approve the May 1, 2026, Regular Board Meeting Minutes, as presented. The motion carried the following vote following public comment:
Ayes: Cuevas, Dignan, Lozano, Ortiz, Palmer, Rosboro, Soo
Nays: None
APPROVED.
MEETING ATTENDANCE AND BOARD ACCOUNTABILITY
President Palmer stated that board attendance and quorum maintenance are critical to public trust and transitional manual documentation, particularly given the monthly schedule and expanding facility oversight. To accommodate member calendar conflicts, President Palmer encouraged using approved remote participation options and announced that executive officers will meet more frequently to ensure consistent quorums.
There were no comments or discussion from board members.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no public comment.
PRESIDENT PALMER’S STATE OF THE BOARD ADDRESS
President Palmer stated that the board must deliver a unified, evidence-based response to the 2025–2026 Civil Grand Jury report regarding jail overcrowding and understaffing by September 7, 2026. To establish robust, long-term oversight that balances human dignity with staff safety, President Palmer proposed setting immediate jail inspection schedules, securing a seat on the jail crowding committee, and implementing public dashboards for lockouts and service reductions. Finally, the President outlined a five-point term agenda focused on formalized governance transitions, expanded operational capacity for the Office of the Inspector General, and structured community outreach to directly include families and formerly incarcerated voices.
Comments and discussion from Members Ortiz, Lozano, Soo, and Rosboro
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Mikael Ali, Muslim Chaplain at CSP Solano, emphasized the critical need to reform correctional culture by shifting focus from merely identifying systemic deficiencies to implementing actionable solutions with firm administrative buy-in. He stressed that investing in rehabilitation and the long-term transformation of incarcerated individuals is essential to achieving public safety, as the vast majority eventually return home to local communities.
PRESIDENT TRANSITION MANUAL / BOARD MEMBER DOCUMENTATION STANDARDS
President Palmer suggested utilizing modern, user-friendly note-taking technology to streamline record-keeping and simplify data entry for the board's transition manual. Furthermore, Palmer emphasized that annual milestones and agendas should remain flexible and directly guided by community input to foster multi-agency collaboration on solutions brought forth by the public.
Comments and discussion from Members Ortiz, Lozano, and Soo.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no public comment.
SDOB JAIL VISITS
President Palmer inquired about the board's legal right to conduct unannounced site visits to facilities where deputies are assigned. The Deputy City Attorney recommended discussing this inquiry privately to preserve attorney-client privilege, resulting in the board agreeing to defer the matter for private consultation and potential inclusion on a future meeting agenda.
Comments and discussion from Members Lozano, Cuevas, Soo, and Rosboro.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no public comment.
HIRING COMMITTEE SELECTION, PURPOSE, AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES
President Palmer advocated for creating specialized board committees to allow closer examination of underserved issues and to prevent any single individual from acting as the sole voice of the board. Palmer called for volunteers and motions to form a committee dedicated to the hiring process, which would also collaborate on budget expansion proposals to the Mayor.
Comments and discussion from Board Members Lozano, Soo, Ortiz, Cuevas, Rosboro, and Dignan.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Mikael Ali advocated for transitioning from a punitive to a rehabilitative correctional model, emphasizing that education is a low-cost, high-return investment that unlocks personal potential and reduces recidivism. He cited the business success of a formerly incarcerated individual and the Islamic community's strong rehabilitation record as examples of how education reforms cultures and changes lives.
Jessica Pascoe voiced strong support for funding an Inspector General position to enhance community safety and requested clarification regarding the specific roles managed by the hiring committee. Additionally, Pascoe recommended hiring specialized personnel to mitigate sheriff staffing shortages and prevent officer burnout, noting that adequate staffing directly reduces the risk of adverse operational events.
SCHOOL OUTREACH COMMITTEE AND STUDENT CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Agenda item tabled and deferred to a future meeting due to time constraints.
MEDIA POINT PERSON / MEDIA COMMITTEE / SDOB PLATFORMS
Agenda item tabled and deferred to a future meeting due to time constraints.
SDOB 2025 Q4 AND 2025 ANNUAL REPORT
Agenda item tabled and deferred to a future meeting due to time constraints.
SDOB VARSITY JACKETS FOR PUBLIC EVENTS
Agenda item tabled and deferred to a future meeting due to time constraints.
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
President Palmer led the discussion on future agenda items with input from Members Lozano, Soo, Ortiz, Cuevas, Rosboro, and Dignan.
Future agenda items include:
- Future agenda item list from prior meetings.
- Strip search policies and data: Reviewing existing policies, findings from independent investigations (Sheriff’s Office and Department of Police Accountability), types of contraband recovered, and potential chilling effects on legal counsel visitations.
- Comprehensive policy updates: Receiving staggered informational presentations from the Sheriff’s Office regarding specific departmental rules and operations.
- Jail programing and survey updates: Highlighting newly active programs and reviewing recent survey result updates.
- Jail program leads panel: Inviting experienced jail program leads to present and discuss operational challenges inside the facilities.
- Fiscal and staffing updates: Implementing periodic updates regarding the status of the agency budget and the current hiring pause.
- Jail health and past presenters: Reinviting past speakers, specifically from Jail Health Services and the Commission Streamline Task Force, to deliver operational updates.
- 2025–2026 Civil Grand Jury report: Discussing the Sheriff's formal response to the report and deliberating on the board's collective response strategy.
- Public Defender staffing and court operations: Receiving updates on Public Defender understaffing, conflict counsel case volume, and exploring the logistics of conducting court arraignments directly at the San Bruno jail facility (CJ3) to reduce deputy transit burdens.
- Language and legal access: Evaluating the availability and quality of language access and meaningful legal services for non-English speaking incarcerated individuals.
- Actionable board motions: Structuring the next meeting to introduce formal motions and seconds on previously discussed issues rather than general discussions.
- Board public relations and logistics: Reviewing a pending press release pending legal counsel review and scheduling an updated board group photo to align with the new fiscal year.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Jessica Pascoe requested a future agenda item to discuss the Sheriff's Department's training protocols, investigation procedures, and methods for cross-departmental collaboration.
GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
Mikael Ali highlighted the systemic flaw of unwritten parole board presumptions requiring an admission of guilt or remorse, even from individuals maintaining factual innocence. He emphasized the importance of humanizing incarcerated populations, recognizing their inherent value, and utilizing education to provide genuine hope for personal transformation.
Jessica Pascoe requested that future board agendas prioritize mental health services and trauma counseling for correctional officers, particularly following adverse events. She also advocated for improved emergency response triaging during facility overdoses and called for greater public transparency regarding department procedures for use-of-force incidents and in-custody deaths.
ADJOURNMENT
Having continued agenda line items 7, 8, 9, and 10 due to time constraints and there being no further business to discuss, the Board adjourned at the hour of 5:04p.m.
N.B. The Minutes of this meeting set forth all actions taken by the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board on the matters stated. Approved by the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board on August 7, 2026.
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Dan Leung, Board Secretary
Full video recording may be accessed at: https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/52921?view_id=223&redirect=true