The SF Police Commission is supposed to meet three times a month, but they’ve canceled five of their last eight meetings, and there is speculation that Mayor London Breed is engineering absences so the commission can’t meet regularly.

The civilian oversight body known as the San Francisco Police Commission is supposed to meet three times a month. But ever since the March 5 election where a London Breed-sponsored measure to curtail their oversight over the SFPD was approved by SF voters, that body has canceled five of their last eight scheduled meetings, for reasoning described as “Lack of quorum” or “No meeting notice.”

And according to their own city website, the commission has no meetings scheduled in the future. So, it seems, the commission is effectively in limbo.

Is the commission protesting the passage of the mayor’s ballot measure limiting their authority? Could be quite the opposite.

You’d think that the commission would be a Breed-friendly body, considering she gets to nominate four of the seven members, seemingly guaranteeing a majority in her favor on votes. But when a 2022 scandal broke that Mayor Breed was forcing commissioners to sign undated letters of resignation that she could use to threaten to fire them anytime, Breed seemed to lose some of the support of her previously faithful appointees.

That showed in their votes to ban certain types of low-level traffic stops and limit police car chases, both of which ran counter to Breed’s desires.

Now Mission Local reports on suspicions that Breed is encouraging her still-faithful commissioners to not attend meetings, so that the commission cannot achieve a quorum or make any decisions. Sure, that seems like speculation. But consider that two of her appointees vacated their seats on April 30, and per Mission Local, Breed was a month and a half past deadline on submitting replacement candidates, forcing the cancellation of several meetings.

“It is unusual for us to cancel this many [meetings],” commissioner Max Carter-Oberstone told Mission Local.

Breed has submitted those names, and they’ll be considered by an SF Board of Supervisors subcommittee next week before heading to the full board for a vote.

But oddly, one of the candidates Breed nominated is Debra Walker, the same commissioner who stepped down April 30. Was that resignation just a ploy to empty a seat so the commission could not meet quorum? Unless Walker had some unexplained change of heart, it's difficult to explain otherwise.

Breed’s other nominee is retired Alameda County Judge Don Clay, who seems well-respected, and is best known for sending the murder case to trial in the 2009 BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant.

Related: After Two High-Profile Crashes, SF Police Commission Wants Review of Vehicle Pursuit Policy [SFist]

Image: SFGovTV