A statewide database of once-secret public data of misconduct and use of power by California legislation enforcement officers launched this week.
Anybody with an web connection can use the database constructed by UC Berkeley and Stanford College. The creators declare it’s the first of its variety nationwide, offering a centralized, searchable platform to enhance transparency and accountability round legislation enforcement statewide.
“This has been a huge collaborative effort,” stated Lisa Pickoff-White, a co-founder of the challenge who directs analysis for UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program.
It took over 100 journalists and advocates over seven years to get public companies everywhere in the state to surrender the previously secret data, which turned accessible due to adjustments in state legislation, at the least one in every of which was launched by former Bay Space state Sen. Nancy Skinner and sponsored by advocacy teams together with the ACLU.
“The new database of police use of force and misconduct cases is a collaboration of many partners, including the ACLUs of Northern and Southern California which filed and litigated Public Records Act requests to make these records accessible after we helped pass SB 1421,” stated Haile.
The legal guidelines made it doable for the general public to view inside information associated to instances of sure sorts of misconduct comparable to sexual harassment or extreme power, in addition to lethal power or critical bodily harm, no matter whether or not the officers had been discovered to have acted appropriately.
“Every agency produces records differently and that’s been a challenge in this project,” Pickoff-White stated. “That’s one reason we wanted to release the search to the public, to help people find what they can.”
There is no such thing as a value for utilizing the device, and customers will not be requested to supply any data to look the data.
After accessing the web page through any of the media shops’ websites, for instance, CalMatters at calmatters.org/justice/2025/08/police-misconduct-records-database/, a search field seems. Customers can sort a key phrase comparable to “Willie McCoy” into the field, although there are filters that may assist refine the search.
“Especially if it’s a shooting or death, look to see if the District Attorney or medical examiner or coroner has released a report,” Pickoff-White stated. This might be executed by including “District Attorney,” for instance, to the right-hand facet of the search bar.
“You can also select by county, if you are not sure which law enforcement agency was involved,” the analysis director stated.
John Burris, a civil rights lawyer born and raised in Vallejo who has carried out use-of-force lawsuits towards Vallejo police, stated, “The more light shined on the matter, the better for everyone.”
Burris stated, “Police have had nice leeway to have their data held in secrecy, to the detriment of the overall inhabitants. It’s additionally to the detriment of cities when officers go away a division and their file just isn’t revealed. Now that it’s available, all police departments can discover out about doable misconduct of officers earlier than hiring them.
“Police have always had a free ride in working out deals in which their background is covered up,” the lawyer added. “Good officers have nothing to fear and bad officers should fear – and we hope they leave the profession before they hurt or kill anyone else.”
