After 13 years, the woman tasked with oversight of the Sacramento police and fire departments is retiring.
Francine Tournour has been with the city since 2006, and has been director of the Office of Public Safety and Accountability since 2008. In that time, she has reviewed hundreds of complaints and critical incidents, from police shootings to employee misconduct.
Tournour says changes are taking place at City Hall, including reforms within the police department, which means it’s a good moment to step away.
"It had to be the right time, the right management to make those changes,” she said. “In the past, I don't know that the organization was ready for it. But with the current management, there are a lot of changes taking place. Although it may be frustrating in the past, I'm happy to see it happening now."
The Office of Public Safety and Accountability is advisory, so her advice is not always taken. But Tournour says she's satisfied with her efforts, and is grateful for the relationship her office has had with the police department under Chief Daniel Hahn.
After the Stephon Clark shooting, Hahn asked the state to review the case — and she was pleased to see that the California attorney general’s recommendations reiterated what was in her office’s report.
“It did somewhat give me some validation that I was doing work in the right direction to try and make change within the department," Tournour said.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg called the city “very fortunate” to have had Tournour leading the department.
“She consistently earned the respect of both law enforcement and the community,” he said. “We wish her the best and have our work ahead of us to fill her shoes.”
Kiran Savage-Sangwan, who is chairperson of the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission, which was created after the Clark shooting, says Tournour was a resource for the commission. But she added that Tournour’s office and the commission's lack of authority makes change difficult.
"I think that there is a question for the city about what is the interest in significant reforms to our police department and our policing strategy,” Savage-Sangwan said. “To the extent that question remains unanswered before the mayor and the city council, that could have made her job difficult. I know it makes our job difficult."
Tournour’s office was created 20 years ago to address public complaints against the police department. The fire department came under the office's review in 2004, after firefighters were discovered to have climbed the ranks in the department using diploma mills.
City Manager Howard Chan praised Tournour for a “tremendous job” running the office and called her departure “a real loss for the city.”
Tournour’s last day is set for September 24. She says she's happy to leave the stress of the job and plans to work in the private sector.
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