This month we have much to celebrate! We are honored to receive Harvard University's Innovations in American Government Award, including a substantial grant that will allow the program to significantly expand. While Five Keys Executive Director Steve Good and I accepted the award on behalf of the department, recognition also belongs to former Sheriff Mike Hennessey for his vision, to our sworn and civilian staff for their commitment to our mission, and to the thousands of inmates who accepted the challenge to improve their lives through education. Earlier this year, we partnered with City College to provide more advanced education and vocational opportunities. We believe that this is time well spent while inmates serve their sentences - and hope that they will never again see the inside of our jail.

We also must celebrate the first-time ever certification of our department's Field Officer Training Program by California's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).  This enables properly trained and certified sheriff deputies to patrol the streets, as in other counties. Considering that this was never accomplished in the history of the SF Sheriff's Department, nor POST, since their beginning in 1959, a major milestone has been achieved -- an effort more than two years in the making. Now it will come down to City Hall's political will and smart public safety coordination to turn this opportunity into a reality. As national and local recognition grows for community policing, the availability of additional officers is a valuable City resource. This training certification also provides our sworn staff with opportunities for professional growth and career advancement.

We are taking important steps to accord transgender inmates their legal rights and to recognize their needs. Transgender women will soon participate in the women's Five Keys Charter High school, substance abuse, and other reentry programs in order to best facilitate their return to the community -- as afforded to all of our inmates -- while they undergo their transition. Secondly, we will begin staff training to eventually allow transgender individuals to be housed with their self-identified gender. This is not a policy to simply let inmates pick where they want to stay. The safety of staff and inmates remains our first priority. Transgender individuals receive extensive screening and counseling to ensure that appropriate placements are made and that the dignity of all inmates is respected.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the fine work of our warrant division in coordinating with their colleagues in the U.S. Marshal's Service to locate and apprehend a fugitive from Texas. Our staff continues to work diligently everyday to ensure public safety.