Judge refuses to halt SFPD’s new use-of-force policy

A judge on Tuesday rejected the San Francisco police union’s request to delay the rollout of a contested use-of-force policy recently updated by the city’s Police Commission.

In declining to grant a temporary restraining order halting the policy, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer said the union had little chance of winning a lawsuit it filed against the city seeking more latitude for officers under the new guidelines. The suit takes aim at measures in the new policy that the union said would impede officer safety and should be subject to negotiation.

The changes to the Police Department’s use-of-force policy follow citywide concerns about aggressive policing and come amid changes within police departments across the nation after a number of high-profile officer shootings.

Katie Porter, the city’s chief labor attorney, said the Police Officers Association had been given ample opportunity for input, including six months of open public forums followed by another six months of closed-door negotiations, and more discussion would only have dragged out a deal that’s already done in the city’s eyes.

A judge said the police union had little chance of winning a lawsuit it filed against the city after the city declared an impasse in talks over policing procedures in October. A judge said the police union had little chance of winning a lawsuit it filed against the city after the city declared an impasse in talks over policing procedures in October. Photo: Codi Mills, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Codi Mills, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close Judge refuses to halt SFPD’s new use-of-force policy 1 / 28 Back to Gallery

“At the end of the day, the (union) wants more flexibility, and more force options than the commission decided to include in the policy, and ultimately that’s a commission decision,” Porter said.

In the lawsuit, Police Officers Association officials argue that officers would be endangered by new prohibitions on carotid restraint neck holds and shooting at moving vehicles.

Bans on both measures took effect Tuesday, as the Police Department completed the formality of issuing the commission-approved policy in the morning, even though litigation is expected to continue.

Outside the courtroom, union President Martin Halloran said his organization would continue to pursue “all legal avenues” to fight the new policy.

Halloran and the union’s attorney, Gregg Adam, have contended that a ban on shooting at cars inhibits the ability of police officers to stop a terrorist from driving a vehicle down a crowded San Francisco street and hurting people, reminiscent of incidents in Nice, France, in July, and this month in Berlin.

“This would prevent an officer from taking appropriate action, from stopping such an attack, from stopping such bloodshed,” Halloran said. “That could very well lead them to a higher level of force, which is what the (union) does not want to see.”

Porter acknowledged that the document “can’t contemplate every circumstance that might arise,” but called it sufficient for day-to-day police work. “Exceptional circumstances” — such as an officer shooting into a truck to stop a terrorist — will be “taken into account” when it comes to discipline, she said.

The union said the prohibition on employing neck holds was supposed to wait for the Police Department to acquire Tasers, suggested in a Department of Justice report that made hundreds of recommendations to reform the department.

Union officials also said the city reneged on informal agreements hashed out during negotiations designed to avoid litigation and reach consensus.

The updated use-of-force policy is in many ways a response to last year’s fatal shooting of Mario Woods, who was gunned down by five police officers in San Francisco’s Bayview in an encounter that drew widespread concern about policing.

While city attorneys defended the Dec. 2, 2015, shooting as necessary after officers failed to subdue the 26-year-old with pepper spray and beanbag rounds, critics said the 27 rounds fired by police were excessive and indicative of broader problems.

For the first time since 1995, the Police Commission reopened the use-of-force policy, bringing together law enforcement watchdogs, police and the union to come up with new procedures to help reduce the use of lethal force.

Asked how police officers would adhere to the new policy, Halloran didn’t skip a beat, however begrudgingly.

“They will adhere to it,” he said.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michael_bodley