Judge denies police union injunction against force policy

A San Francisco Superior Court judge Tuesday denied a request by The City’s police union for a preliminary injunction to block a new Police Department use of force policy from going into effect.

The San Francisco Police Officers Association had filed a lawsuit last week seeking to block The City from unilaterally implementing the new policy over the objections of the union, which has opposed a number of items including prohibitions on shooting at moving vehicles and the use of certain control holds.

The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 20 and The City’s Police Commission approved the policy a day later.

This afternoon, Judge Richard Ulmer denied the motion for the injunction, saying he thought it was unlikely the union would prevail in the lawsuit, which seeks to force the city back into arbitration or reopen negotiations on the revised use of force policy.