Public Advocates launched this class action civil rights lawsuit in April 1973 on behalf of eleven named plaintiffs who were persons of color and women, charging the SFPD with discriminatory practices and standards in the hiring, promotion and assignment of police officers. After six years of battles, the case was won through a broad consent agreement eliminating the use of discriminatory exams, height and weight limitations and other discriminatory and class-biased screening and selection devices. Public Advocates spent the next three decades enforcing the consent decree and fending off challenges. We won on several appeals to The Ninth Circuit court. Three prominent plaintiffs became chief of police in San Francisco, Fred Lau, Earl Sanders and Heather Fong.