SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, June 15, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin instituted a new policy that bans charges or the prosecution of cases that primarily depend on the testimony of officers who have histories of misconduct.
Lawyers in the Trial Integrity Unity (TIU) of the DA’s Office will keep an ongoing list of officers who have a record of using excessive force, racial bias, dishonesty, or discrimination based on race, nationality, sexual orientation, or gender.
Any officer who is on the TIU’s list will not be able to bring forward charges that solely depend on that officer’s own word unless Boudin gives his approval. Instead, the charge will have to be corroborated by another source—either another officer’s testimony or verifiable evidence.
Boudin explained the rationale for the June 15 directive in a statement: “We have seen across the country repeated instances of police violence inflicted upon people of color and the Black community—often by officers with prior known misconduct, yet whose words prosecutors continued to trust in filing charges. This directive ensures that members of the public are not wrongly or unfairly accused by officers whom we know have displayed the kind of misconduct that permanently damages their credibility or the trust we place in them.”
This is not the first policy that the DA’s office has enacted this month with similar goals. On June 9, a policy was announced that will compensate victims and witnesses of police violence for funeral expenses, medical bills, counseling, and other services. Further, on June 2, Boudin and Supervisor Shamann Walton came forward with a proposal to ban the hiring of police officers with any history of misconduct.
The San Francisco News awaits details regarding the position of the San Francisco Police Department on these new policies.
