\nEnglish<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Mayor London Breed has lost sway over a body with the power to discipline officers, set policy and choose leaders for the San Francisco Police Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mayoral appointee Max Carter-Oberstone cast the decisive vote Wednesday in a 4-3 decision to elect himself vice president and Cindy Elias president of the Police Commission<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n He broke from fellow Breed appointees Larry Yee, Jim Bryne and Debra Walker, who seemed ready to support Yee as president and keep Elias vice president.<\/p>\n The vote matters because the commission president controls the agenda for a body that not only imposes serious discipline against officers and sets policy for the department, but has the authority to fire the police chief.<\/p>\n While Breed can also fire the chief on her own, the mayor has historically then chosen a successor from a pool of candidates selected by the commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n The decision comes at a time when SFPD Chief Bill Scott is more vulnerable to public scrutiny.<\/p>\n Until June, Breed and her chief had District Attorney Chesa Boudin to absorb blame for San Francisco\u2019s crime problems. But voters recalled Boudin, and Breed appointed his chief critic, Brooke Jenkins, as successor.<\/p>\n Breed\u2019s spokesperson, Jeff Cretan, confirmed that Carter-Oberstone broke from the mayor with his vote Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the responsibility of the Police Commission to choose its leadership,\u201d Cretan said. \u201cThat being said, the mayor would have preferred to have Larry Yee serve as president.\u201d<\/p>\n Elias, a former public defender and the most tenured member of the commission, is part of a minority bloc appointed by the Board of Supervisors<\/a> that\u2019s typically more willing to challenge Scott\u2014and, by extension, Breed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just last week, Elias and fellow board appointee Kevin Benedicto pushed back against Breed\u2019s proposal<\/a> to significantly expand the use of live surveillance cameras by police.<\/p>\n Elias has led the commission as vice president since the last elected president, Malia Cohen, stepped down in March<\/a> to run for state controller.<\/p>\n This is the first time a board appointee will lead the commission since 2018, when the late Julius Turman stepped down shortly before his death.<\/p>\n Since Breed first appointed him late last year, Carter-Oberstone has been more willing than other mayoral appointees to question Scott. Carter-Oberstone is the driving force behind a hotly contested proposal to ban officers from making certain traffic stops<\/a> in a bid to reduce racial disparities.<\/p>\n
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