San Jose police use of force cases continue to rise

Police use of force incidents and misconduct allegations continued to rise in San Jose last year, according to a recently released report from the Office of the Independent Police Auditor, the city’s police watchdog agency.

The annual report includes statistics on police misconduct for 2025 as well as reform recommendations from Interim Police Auditor Dwight White, who assumed the role after the previous auditor, Eddie Aubrey, retired suddenly in September without providing a public explanation.

Among the report’s headline statistics, it found that use of force incidents involving San Jose Police Department officers rose by roughy 5% in 2025 compared to the previous year, reaching 598 total incidents. This marks the fourth consecutive year of increases, after a sharp decline in 2021 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the report identified 20 critical incidents in 2025, including three police shootings, one in-custody death and 16 incidents involving serious injuries. The 2025 figure marks an increase from the prior year, when 15 such incidents took place.

Misconduct allegations filed against officers also increased to 1,034 in 2025, a rise of 39% from 2024, the report found. The most common types of allegations were those related to violations of police procedures, discourteous or unprofessional behavior, discriminatory policing and complaints about arrests and detentions.

White noted that an increase in allegations does not necessarily suggest there has been an increase in actual misconduct.

“Nevertheless, the trends do help us identify areas where additional training, clearer policies or better communication may be beneficial to the public,” White told the San Jose City Council during a Tuesday presentation of the findings.

In most cases, 58%, officers were exonerated of allegations following an investigation, according to the report. In 11% of cases, an investigation determined that a violation likely occurred, a finding that results in disciplinary action. The IPA conducted 330 reviews of Internal Affairs investigations, and its appeals resulted in revised findings in three cases.

Criminal justice reform advocates offered a more blunt assessment of the report’s findings, describing the increasing use of force cases as concerning.

“Those patterns are showing to us clear issues in terms of the experience level of officers and how the leadership is teaching, training and mentoring people,” Sean Allen, president of NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley and a former county correctional officer, told San José Spotlight.

The Office of the Independent Police Auditor, established in 1993, is intended to provide a civilian check on SJPD’s internal investigations of officer misconduct, ensuring such investigations are complete, thorough and fair. In recent years, the agency has become a flashpoint in San Jose’s police reform battles, amid complaints that the office’s limited investigative authority hampers its ability to provide meaningful oversight.

The IPA report also includes 12 reform proposals for SJPD, ranging from recommendations that the department adopt stricter controls governing police interactions to measures intended to ensure policy updates are distributed to officers in a timely manner.

Police Chief Paul Joseph said the department agrees with the goals laid out in the recommendations, though in some cases he argued for alternative means of reaching them.

“Many of these we’ve already either enacted ourselves or are in the process of implementing,” Joseph said at the meeting. “We’re always trying to be better. We appreciate the IPA’s partnership in making us better and holding us accountable.”

Echoing a recent reform push advanced by councilmembers, the report also recommends new rules prohibiting officers from using personal devices to access data from the city’s network of automated license plate readers. The change, which Joseph said the department has already taken steps to enact, comes in response to the news last month that SJPD fired an officer after learning he used the data to help a family member track a woman involved in a domestic violence dispute.

The report also renews longstanding calls to grant the auditor’s office more investigatory power. In reviews of police incidents involving injuries or gunfire, the report asks that SJPD provide auditors full access to all investigative materials — such as body camera recordings, photographs and interviews — within 30 days of completion of the department’s investigation.

Joseph said he supports the request, adding that it is among the recommendations the department has already taken steps to address.

San Jose officials have still provided no public explanation for Aubrey’s abrupt September departure, which he announced a week after the Mercury News reported the city had placed him on leave.

Following Tuesday’s IPA presentation, Mayor Matt Mahan applauded the watchdog agency’s work and said greater transparency of police conduct helps promote public safety.

“If people don’t trust the department and City Hall more broadly, they’re less likely to report crime, share evidence or serve as witnesses,” Mahan said. “That makes us all less safe.”

Contact Keith Menconi at [email protected] or @KeithMenconi on X.