The Facts

William Palmer, president of the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board, remains in office while police investigate a woman’s allegation that he gave her drugs and coerced her into sex during a mental-health crisis; he has not been arrested or charged, according to Michael Barba at the Chronicle.

Michael Barba at the Chronicle found four other women had accused Palmer of violence; he denied those accusations. Supervisor Stephen Sherrill asked the Inspector General to investigate possible official misconduct, the legal basis for removing him.

The Context

Palmer served 31 years in prison for kidnapping for robbery when he was 17, and was released in 2019. The Board appointed him in 2021 after receiving an endorsement from organizations including GLIDE, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project, and Young Community Developers, and the Young Women’s Freedom Center.

Palmer was reappointed unanimously in 2023. Because he is a Board appointee, removing him under the current Charter process requires formal misconduct charges, an Ethics Commission hearing, and support from three-fourths of the Board of Supervisors.

Proposition F would let each appointing authority remove most of its own commissioners without cause.

The GrowSF Take

Palmer has been arrested, accused of violence by five women, and spent months in jail while serving on the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board. He's clearly unfit to serve yet cannot be easily removed. We can, and should, fix that this November by voting yes on Prop F.