The top dog at the Department of Police Accountability, the city’s police watchdog agency, is rarely, if ever, evaluated for job performance, records show. The same applies for the top cop at the San Francisco Police Department. 

But DPA director Paul Henderson is now up for a performance evaluation — after allegations of a hostile workplace last year reported by Mission Local escalated to a fired employee filing a lawsuit against the city earlier this month. 

Police commission records show the last time either a police chief or the DPA’s executive director were subjected to general evaluation was nearly a decade ago, in 2016 and 2017, respectively. In both cases, the evaluations were prompted by controversy and both bosses were pushed out of their seats within a matter of weeks following those reviews. 

In 2017, former DPA head Joyce Hicks was reportedly forced into early retirement after losing the confidence of her employees led to her performance review. A year prior, then-SFPD chief Greg Suhr was reviewed after a series of controversies within his department, and was forced to resign following a third police killing within six months. 

The police commission, which will conduct Henderson’s evaluation, oversees both the police department and its watchdog agency. It has the power to remove the police chief and the head of DPA. 

The scheduling of an evaluation on the commission’s Wednesday agenda does not necessarily mean Henderson — who was accused by former staffer Janelle Caywood of favoritism and retaliation, triggering her lawsuit — is going anywhere. But it likely means his job and department are under scrutiny, according to sources who have served on the commission. 

Henderson took over the troubled department in 2017 and has been credited with improving its outcomes. Former police commissioners told Mission Local that could not remember a time when Henderson or his predecessor had ever been evaluated — except when Hicks was reviewed just before her abrupt resignation. Some said they faced resistance when they called for evaluations of the police chief or DPA director in the past. 

One former commissioner, who was serving at the time Hicks was removed as DPA director, said that they had complained about her performance and called for her evaluation long before her departure. 

“I complained and complained and complained,” they said, but the commission leadership at the time didn’t take the concerns seriously. Months later, DPA staff raised issues to the commission president, who finally did an evaluation. By then, it was “an easy vote.” 

Mission Local reported that multiple staff members at DPA raised concerns about Henderson’s leadership last year before Caywood was fired in August, and said she planned to sue. 

Police Commission president C. Don Clay said he called for Wednesday’s evaluation in response to the allegations in Caywood’s lawsuit that was filed on March 17. 

“Based upon what we’ve seen so far … our lawyer will brief us,” Clay said of the allegations, which include “unlawful conduct,” racism and misspent funds. “We’re going to have to do our due diligence, do a fact-finding and find out what happened.” 

Clay told Mission Local in August that he had concerns about growing discontent at DPA and planned to investigate, but it is unclear what happened since then. He suggested this week that the commission had been awaiting “more information” but declined to elaborate. 

Jesús Gabriel Yañez, a former commissioner during Henderson’s tenure, said he faced resistance when he called for evaluations of former Police Chief Bill Scott. 

As for Henderson, Yañez didn’t remember the issue being raised. 

“I guess everyone assumed everything was going smoothly with DPA,” he said, noting the department produced good reports and won awards. “As far as what was happening on the day-to-day, you could feel the tensions.”