In the wake of several recent high-profile sexual assault allegations in San Francisco political circles, city leaders held a hearing today to examine how San Francisco city departments have been handling sexual assault cases.
The picture is not rosy.
In 2023, 1,062 sexual assaults were reported to the San Francisco Police Department bu,t in the same year, only 136 sexual assault cases received any resolution, whether that was an arrest, an unfounded result, or a dismissal by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, according to data from the police department.
The performance is similarly disheartening in the Office of Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention, or “SHARP,” a first-of-its-kind bureau that was created in 2018 to look internally into city departments’ handling of sexual harassment and assault cases.
Six years after its launch, the office has only received 72 complaints through its website, and another 187 complaints through community outreach.
“The reality is that sexual assault, rape is an epidemic in this society,” said District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who called for the creation of SHARP and held the hearing today.
The lack of progress at the police department and SHARP is unacceptable, she said. It has led her to the conclusion that, for survivors, “it’s a very rational decision not to report, because it’s unlikely that you’re going to get a response that’s going to lead to anything.”
“We need to do more. We need all city departments. We need all city elected officials. We need the entire San Francisco community to know that SHARP exists.”
She mentioned “the city’s alleged inability” to serve sexual violence survivors. At times, survivors felt that SFPD officers were discouraging them from filing police reports, rape kits went untested for long periods of time, and officers and attorneys failed to follow up with survivors about their cases.
Nevertheless, the supervisors who attended the hearing all agreed that the goal of the hearing was not to assign blame, but to look forward.
“Shame, embarrassment,” said captain Alexa O’Brien, who runs the SFPD’s Special Victims Unit, when asked why only a paltry number of cases were reported to the police. Moreover, even for those that were reported, case information was often missing. The police sometimes had to rely on social media to figure out a suspect’s identification.
“I don’t want a woman to feel like they aren’t going to be heard or believed or understood, because that is not how we treat our victims,” she said. Several members of the audience snorted.
“The hardest part for me is that people … should not have to disclose their trauma in order to get the help that they need,” said Sheryl Evans Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, which oversees SHARP. “It’s unfortunate that people have to share their stories to be validated.”
In response to that, Ronen mentioned an upcoming legislative update to SHARP, which would make the confidentiality language even more robust.
“No survivor is going to come to SHARP and feel comfortable if they don’t feel their choices and their stories can be kept confidential if they want to keep that,” she said.
She also advocated for staffing up SHARP. The department has a budget of $400,000 and was expected to hire three staffers, but only has two currently.
Supervisor Catherine Stefani suggested doing more to advertise SHARP, which “is known to a very small community,” said Ronen. “I don’t think many of my colleagues knew SHARP existed.”
Supervisor Mynar Melgar said that city departments should take the recommendations provided by SHARP more seriously, and be responsible for the implementation of those recommendations. She referred to a recent Mission Local article about the case of DBI engineer Robert Chun, who kept his job at the department despite being federally charged and later pleading guilty to crimes related to operating an international prostitution ring.
All city officials who spoke at the hearing agreed that schools should participate more in educating their students about sexual assault and harassment.
“It starts young,” said SFPD’s O’Brien. “We see these young men grow up and … they become deviant in their behavior because nobody’s really told them that’s wrong.”
The police department has brought the idea to schools, but has met “a lot of resistance from the schools,” said O’Brien. “I guess they have their own programs and their own educational programs that they follow, and they don’t really deviate.”
Monifa Willis, chief of staff at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, mentioned a healthy relationships workshop that they’ve implemented in schools. “How do you want to be treated? What should you expect?” were questions they put forth to teenagers during those workshops.
In new legislation that Ronen plans to introduce as soon as next Tuesday, SHARP will be moved from the Human Rights Commission to the Office of Victim and Witness Rights, an office that was approved by voters in 2022.
“I think that is a much better place for SHARP to grow as an agency and be able to serve its original mandate in a more robust way,” said Ronen.
“The word ‘rape’ is a difficult enough word to say,” said an audience member during public comment section, who said they had been receiving support from SHARP over the past three years.
“I request that the city of San Francisco stop politicizing, and come together,” the audience member said. “The moral injuries of sexual violence are eroding the soul of our city, causing devastation to us all.”
the human rights commission has stunted all potential for SHARP to help. sheryl evans davis is a fox in a henhouse. bring on the change…victims deserve it.
“1,062 sexual assaults were reported to the San Francisco Police Department but in the same year, only 136 sexual assault cases received any resolution, ”
I’d like more info on this stat. Is SF’s solved rate worse than usual, or is this rate common for rape convictions? I really do know, but am sad to see these numbers.
Campers,
I applaud all efforts but please realize that those levers can be pulled for Political reasons by outright man haters.
I taught Special Ed classes from South Carolina to San Francisco and inside institutions but mostly self-contained classrooms and one rule was that as a male teacher, I was never alone in a room with a female student.
If they had detention they served it sitting in a desk in the hall outside of my Home Room or in Regular School Detention.
I’ve had students threaten me with claims and only replied:
“Have you noticed that you’ve never been anywhere alone with me?”
You commented on how some schools had their own programs.
At Potrero Hill Middle School another teacher and I created an entire Student Security Force with 7 Monitors in the Hall at all times and a Student Court and Juries drafted from Registered Voters which meant every student in every Social Studies Class.
Watch out for Man-Haters gaming the system cause I think that’s what’s happened with Jacobo and been about the only one in Town who thinks so.
Thank you for printing this experienced old retired Special Ed teacher’s experience.
h.
Another good reason to Legalize the Sex Trade ?
In some cultures it is customary to take young males coming of age to Brothels.
h.