On August 11, 2023, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and allied organizations sent the following letter to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins:
We demand that District Attorney Brooke Jenkins definitively drop all charges against the 113 children and youth arrested near Dolores Park on July 8, and agree to immediately seal and destroy their arrest records and identifying information.
The San Francisco Police Department deployed more than 100 officers to kettle, trap, and arrest predominantly Black and Brown children and young people, most ages 12-18; failed to notify their worried parents; handcuffed them with painful zip ties; and detained the terrorized children outdoors in the cold without access to bathrooms, water, or food, for up to eight hours, releasing the last child after 4am. Those 18 and up were detained even longer. The vast majority of the youth were arrested nowhere near the location or time that police gave dispersal announcements, and never had a chance to leave before being trapped between police lines. The purpose of the abusive detention appears to have been to obtain mugshots and
thumbprints to use against the children in future investigations.
The arrests and police conduct were unlawful and violated the youths’ constitutional rights. While the DA has “discharged” the citations, Jenkins’ statement affirms that the police are using the information they obtained unlawfully to continue their investigation, essentially conducting a dragnet. We demand that all investigations into these children and youth be dropped immediately and their illegally seized identifying information destroyed.
Sincerely,
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
American Friends Service Committee
ANSWER Coalition - San Francisco
Arab Resource & Organizing Center
Cassondra Curiel, President of United Educators of San Francisco
Catalyst Project
Freedom Archives
Haiti Action Committee
Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club
Human Rights Working Group of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco
National Lawyers Guild, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club
Showing Up for Racial Justice San Francisco
