Daugherty v. City & Cnty. of S.F.

*935 Under the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (POBRA) ( Gov. Code, § 3300 et seq. ), 1 no punitive action may be taken against a public safety officer for any alleged act, omission, or other misconduct unless the investigation is completed within one year of "the public agency's discovery by a person authorized to initiate an investigation of the allegation of an act, omission, or other misconduct," subject to certain statutory exceptions. (§ 3304, subd. (d)(1).) One such exception provides that the one-year time period is tolled while the act, omission, or other alleged misconduct is also the "subject" of a pending criminal investigation or prosecution. ( Id ., subd. (d)(2)(A).)

This case arises out of a criminal corruption investigation of officers in the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). The investigation began in 2011 and was led by the United States Attorney's Office *781 (USAO), with the assistance of select members of the criminal unit of SFPD's Internal Affairs Division (IAD-Crim). During the course of the investigation, search warrants of the cellphone records of former SFPD Sergeant Ian Furminger-the central figure in the corruption…