San Francisco police leaders promised Thursday to change how the department handles sexual assault cases, after a three-hour hearing at City Hall that drew close to 100 people.
The joint session of the Board of Supervisors' Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee and the Commission on the Status of Women was called by Supervisor Myrna Melgar. It followed a July investigation by The San Francisco Standard that found police routinely shelved sexual assault cases. The department cleared about 14% of rape cases last year, roughly half the national rate, according to the Standard and Mission Local.
What police promised
Special Victims Unit Captain William Toomey said that by the end of the year, investigators will have to fill out a standardized checklist of steps taken and leads remaining before a case can be moved to "inactive," and supervisors will review those checklists. Monthly case reviews are also set to start by year's end. The department also pledged more training, both for the unit's investigators and for patrol officers, who are often the first to meet survivors, and to keep in regular contact with survivors while cases are open, Mission Local reported.
"We've heard the concerns raised about SVU, and I take them seriously," Chief Derrick Lew said, according to the Standard.
Where the disagreement is
Ivy Lee, who leads the city's victims' rights office, presented her own recommendations, including an annual independent review of closed and inactive cases and a shift toward investigations that test a suspect's account. Police agreed to outside review of their files only if the city finds it would not violate privacy laws, Mission Local reported, and the Standard noted the department's plan did not mention the suspect-focused approach.
Much of the debate centered on when a case should go to the district attorney. Lee argued that under state law a credible account from a survivor that they did not consent is enough for probable cause. Supervisor Bilal Mahmood pressed the point, noting that a suspect had been identified in most cases left open but inactive. Toomey answered that police must first review whether that information is correct.
Department figures cited at the hearing put the share of 2025 sexual assault cases sitting open but inactive at around three in four; Mission Local reported 72% and CBS reported 78% of rape cases. The unit currently has 31 investigators, CBS said.
Committee chair Danny Sauter said he heard no good explanation for the low solve rate and that officials need to work with police to change it quickly.