A gun violence prevention advocate is Mayor Daniel Lurie’s choice to replace a recently ousted police commissioner, The Standard has learned.
Mattie Scott, whose son George C. Scott was shot and killed in 1996 at a San Francisco high school graduation party, would sit on the commission tasked with setting policy for the San Francisco Police Department and holding disciplinary hearings for officer misconduct.
Lurie’s nomination comes after he ejected Max Carter-Oberstone, a strong supporter of police reform, from the commission. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 9-2 in favor of ousting Carter-Oberstone. While Lurie indicated that the move was related to Carter-Oberstone’s relationships with City Hall officials, the former commissioner and criminal justice reform activists claimed the mayor’s intention was to tighten control on the commission.
The mayor’s office declined to comment. The Board of Supervisors must confirm Scott’s nomination. On Tuesday, the board approved former federal prosecutor Wilson Leung for another vacant seat on the commission.
In an interview, Scott, 72, said she has “been in this work for justice” since childhood, having grown up in the South and learning of her father’s experience being targeted by police. A San Francisco resident since 1965, Scott is the founder of Healing 4 Our Families & Our Nation, which supports victims of gun violence. She has worked with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi on matters related to gun violence prevention.
While Scott said she intends to push for police reform while on the commission, she acknowledged the city’s need for more officers. This echoes Lurie, who ran on hiring officers and formed an independent committee to raise money for a ballot measure initiative that would increase the powers of law enforcement.
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“We need law enforcement,” Scott said. “When we lost George Floyd, people wanted to defund the police. Defunding the police is not the answer. We need more police who are trained well.”
One of her goals is to push for more officers to be embedded in the communities they serve. “You need to understand the demographics of the people you’re policing,” she said.
The nomination comes amid speculation that Lurie intends to replace SFPD Chief Bill Scott (no relation). If he is fired, the commissioners would submit to Lurie three candidates for chief.
The Rev. Amos C. Brown of Third Baptist Church described Mattie Scott as “a people’s person,” adding that she has “experienced the pain of having lost her son, whom I baptized at Third Baptist Church.” When asked whether Scott would support Carter-Oberstone’s push for police reform, Brown said she strongly supports “commonsense community policing.”
“She’s tops,” he added.
Brian Hofer, a police reform advocate who led a rally in support of former commissioner Carter-Oberstone, wrote in a statement that Scott “appears qualified” for the oversight board role.
“I hope that she will act in an independent manner and be unafraid to hold the police accountable if they stray outside the lines,” he wrote.
Jonah Owen Lamb contributed reporting.