Hanley Chan, introduced to the board as the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office’s first Buddhist chaplain, described his role as providing spiritual support and community engagement for people in custody and for department personnel.

"To be the first, it's not just about me. It's about opening doors for others," Chan said. He described a background in military service and community ties to San Francisco and said he intends to provide mindfulness and diversion resources inside jails and in community outreach.

Chief Counsel Roni(e) Singh then briefed the board on Sheriff’s Legal work, including prisoner legal services and policy updates. Singh said the sheriff’s office is unusual in California because it maintains in-house legal counsel for the department and described day-to-day duties that range from civil litigation and Brady disclosure reviews to administrative discipline and policy drafting.

Singh highlighted prisoner legal services staff and said the unit assists detained people with pro se filings and other legal needs; she noted that the office has processed hundreds of claims this year. On policy, Singh said the department uses Lexipol for policy distribution and update management and that Kelly Collins leads policy work inside Sheriff’s Legal.

On military-equipment rules the counsel stressed compliance and community engagement. "We will be submitting the new report before December 13," Singh said of the Military Equipment Use Policy (MEUP) filing deadline; she added the department expects to request drone authority and reiterated that inventory, deployment and community vetting are constrained by state law.

Singh described the discipline process and the legal standards that apply. She explained that administrative discipline uses a preponderance standard and that sustained misconduct may result in administrative action up to termination; Singh referenced SB 2 in the discussion of decertification for serious officer misconduct.

Why it matters: The chaplain appointment and legal-division briefing address two oversight functions: custodial care programming and the legal controls that shape how the department uses equipment, handles complaints and updates policy. Board members asked for more detail on body-worn footage, transparency and possible inside-jail use of cameras for hearings.

Provenance
"topicintro": "Calling line item 5: Hanley Chan introduced as the first Buddhist chaplain and Roni(e) Singh presented Sheriff's Legal functions and the military equipment use policy timetable.",
"topfinish": "Singh outlined the MEUP process, noted likely drone requests, described prisoner legal services and policy work under Lexipol, and said policy updates and training will continue; board members asked follow-up questions about transparency and cameras in custody."

Ending: Board members expressed interest in additional briefings on policy updates, the strip-search policy under review, and possible demonstrations of new tablet or visitation improvements tied to chaplaincy and programming.