Hearing Tuesday: EFF Testifies Against SFPD for Violating Transparency Policies

San Francisco – On Tuesday, June 15, at 5:30 pm PT, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will testify against the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) at the city’s Sunshine Ordinance Task Force hearing. EFF has registered a complaint against the SFPD for withholding records about a controversial investigation and the use of facial recognition.

In September of last year, SFPD arrested a man suspected of illegally discharging a gun, and a report in the San Francisco Chronicle raised concerns that the arrest came after running the man’s photo through a facial-recognition database. If the SFPD was involved in using facial recognition, that could potentially be a violation of San Francisco’s Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) ordinance.

EFF filed a public records’ request with the SFPD about the investigation and the arrest, but the department released only previously available public statements. EFF appealed to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, after which point SFPD produced many more relevant documents. EFF filed a complaint with the task force about SFPD’s original, misleading record release.

At Tuesday’s hearing, EFF Investigative Researcher Beryl Lipton will ask the task force to uphold EFF’s complaint about the SFPD, arguing that San Francisco’s transparency policies won’t work well unless public agencies are held to account when trying to skirt their responsibilities.

WHAT:
San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force hearing

WHO:
Beryl Lipton
EFF Investigative Researcher

WHEN:
Tuesday, June 15
5:30 pm

LISTEN/CALL IN LINE:
1-415-906-4659
Meeting ID: 100 327 123#

For more information on the hearing:
https://sfgov.org/sunshine/sites/default/files/complaint_061521_agenda.pdf