PRESS RELEASE, May 3, 2021

FOLLOWING CALLS FROM ADVOCATES, SF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH TO ANNOUNCE REDUCTION OF SHERIFFS AND INVESTMENT IN COMMUNITY SAFETY ALTERNATIVES:

San Francisco, CA - After a year spent re-evaluating security staffing, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) Director of Security Basil Price will be submitting a new Healthcare Security Staffing Proposal that calls for a reduction in sheriff’s presence at healthcare facilities and an investment in community safety alternatives. The proposed changes come in response to evidence that sheriff’s deputies and cadets disproportionately engage in excessive use of force against Black patients seeking care at DPH facilities, and to a year of actions and conversations organized by DPH Must Divest, a coalition of community members and healthcare workers calling for replacement of sheriffs with community-based alternatives. The new proposal will be presented at the San Francisco Health Commission meeting on Tuesday May 4, 2021 at 4PM PST, and members from the DPH Must Divest coalition will be joining to add public comment. 

The Healthcare Security Staffing Proposal will include significant changes to the existing security structure and create the opportunity for alternatives to policing in healthcare facilities: 

• A work order reduction of 22.3 full-time equivalent (FTE) Deputy Sheriff Positions across SFHN sites

• An increase in 44.1 FTE in other positions including the Behavioral Emergency Response Team (Licensed Psych Techs and Registered Nurses), Care Experience Navigators and Community Healthcare Security Workers 

• Contracting a community-based organization to provide safety services at SFDPH clinics

Overall, DPH Must Divest applauds this significant investment by SFDPH in patient and healthcare worker safety. Norman Archer, a UCSF medical student and member of the coalition, says, “We are excited to see that the administration has taken up many of the alternatives that DPH Must Divest has proposed - this is an opportunity for the city to move from a security model rooted in policing to a safety model grounded in care.”

In solidarity with labor partners, DPH Must Divest remains critical of staffing details around the Contracted Safety Services for SFDPH clinics, believing that these positions can and should be public union jobs. As Martha Baer, a nurse at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) and member of SEIU 1021, reflects, “Contracted employees cannot be held accountable to the same standards as a DPH employee. Union representation ensures that community safety teams are well-compensated and have workplace protections. Our patients need continuity. Our safety teams will build relationships with them. The high turnover rate of non-union jobs doesn’t allow that.” 

Organizers at DPH Must Divest remain committed to their ultimate goal of replacing sheriff’s deputies and cadets across SFDPH sites with non-law enforcement alternatives. Dr. Erinma Ukoha, an OB/GYN physician at SFGH, shares, “While we are critical of the expansion of cadets, we are excited to see the investment in community safety teams with the hopes that these systems will outgrow and replace the Sheriffs next year. SFDPH has the opportunity to become a leader in ending the public health crisis of law enforcement violence against our Black and Brown patients and community members. Another way is possible.”

What: DPH Must Divest Responds to Announcement of SFDPH Healthcare Security Staffing Proposal 

When: Tuesday May 4, 2021 4-7pm

Where to view: 

https://sfgovtv.org/DPHLiveStream https://sfdph.webex.com/sfdph/onstage/g.php?MTID=e914586062f3c4d3a6dc0927a0d57080e