The top dog at the Department of Police Accountability, the city\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But DPA director Paul Henderson is now up for a performance evaluation \u2014 after allegations of a hostile workplace<\/a> last year reported by Mission Local escalated to a fired employee filing a lawsuit<\/a> against the city earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Police commission records show the last time either a police chief or the DPA\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2017, former DPA head Joyce Hicks was reportedly forced into early retirement<\/a> 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<\/a> following a third police killing within six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n The police commission, which will conduct Henderson\u2019s evaluation, oversees both the police department and its watchdog agency. It has the power to remove the police chief and the head of DPA.\u00a0<\/p>\n The scheduling of an evaluation on the commission\u2019s Wednesday agenda does not necessarily mean Henderson \u2014\u00a0who was accused by former staffer Janelle Caywood of favoritism and retaliation, triggering her lawsuit \u2014 is going anywhere. But it likely means his job and department are under scrutiny, according to sources who have served on the commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n Henderson took over the troubled department<\/a> 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 \u2014\u00a0except 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI complained and complained and complained,\u201d they said, but the commission leadership at the time didn\u2019t take the concerns seriously. Months later, DPA staff raised issues to the commission president, who finally did an evaluation. By then, it was \u201can easy vote.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mission Local reported<\/a> that multiple staff members at DPA raised concerns about Henderson\u2019s leadership last year before Caywood was fired<\/a> in August, and said she planned to sue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Police Commission president C. Don Clay said he called for Wednesday\u2019s evaluation in response to the allegations in Caywood\u2019s lawsuit<\/a> that was filed on March 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBased upon what we\u2019ve seen so far \u2026 our lawyer will brief us,\u201d Clay said of the allegations, which include \u201cunlawful conduct,\u201d racism and misspent funds. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to do our due diligence, do a fact-finding and find out what happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n