Here's a novel concept for San Francisco government: actually evaluating whether the people in charge are doing their jobs.

The city is reportedly moving to formally evaluate both the SFPD police chief and the department's civilian watchdog — a step that, frankly, should have been happening all along. The fact that it took investigative journalism to prompt this kind of basic accountability review tells you everything you need to know about how seriously City Hall takes oversight when nobody's watching.

Let's be clear about what's happening here. San Francisco spends north of $700 million a year on its police department. Residents pay handsomely for a force that is supposed to keep the city safe, and for a watchdog apparatus that is supposed to keep that force honest. The bare minimum taxpayers should expect in return is a rigorous, transparent evaluation of whether leadership is meeting the mark.

Instead, we apparently needed reporters to do the work that the city's own governance structures should be doing automatically. That's not a system working as designed — that's a system that only functions when someone outside of it applies pressure.

As one SF resident put it, "We have layers of oversight overseeing other layers of oversight, and somehow nobody's actually being held accountable."

The broader issue isn't really about any single chief or any single watchdog. It's about a city culture where accountability is treated as an afterthought — something that happens reactively rather than being baked into the process. Every department head in San Francisco should face regular, public performance reviews tied to measurable outcomes. Crime stats, response times, complaint resolution rates, budget efficiency — the metrics exist. Use them.

If this evaluation process leads to real structural changes in how the city monitors its police leadership, great. But forgive us for being skeptical. San Francisco has a long and storied history of commissioning reviews, forming committees, and producing reports that gather dust on shelves at City Hall.

Accountability shouldn't require a journalism intervention. It should be the default.