Renne's first blunder

LOUISE RENNE, the new president of the Police Commission, set a terrible tone for the new panel May 5 when she suggested that the number of commission meetings be cut in half. Many of the meetings, she said, seemed to lack substance – so instead of improving the commission's oversight of the San Francisco Police Department, she wants to back away even more.

Of course the Police Commission meetings have lacked substance over the past few years. So have the meetings of many of the commissions appointed by former mayor Willie Brown.

But this new commission, created under a reform measure passed by the voters in November 2003, needs to do business very differently. For starters, Renne is the wrong president – she represents the bad old days, and she ought to be replaced. Second, the commission needs to add substance to the meetings by demanding meaningful, public reports from the chief – and asking real questions about the department's operations.

With the latest incident of a questionable police shooting, the commission should break with the past and hold an immediate public hearing – then direct the chief to make public, to the extent legally possible, all investigative reports and documents on the case, including the initial incident reports, the coroner's report, and the police radio and phone logs. None of that material is protected by the Peace Officers Bill of Rights, and none of it would harm the ongoing investigation if it became public.