SAN JOSE’S INDEPENDENT police auditor wants to review every use-of-force case — a level of oversight the county sheriff already accepts. But city officials unanimously rejected the idea at Police Chief Paul Joseph’s request.
Out of 400 total incidents where San Jose police used their weapons or hands on people in 2024, 13 resulted in great bodily injury, according to a new report by Independent Police Auditor (IPA) Eddie Aubrey. It’s the first year his office has reviewed these cases in-depth after scoring expanded oversight authority after voters approved Measure G in 2020. But Aubrey argued numbers don’t tell the full story and wants to review all incidents where police used force on someone — regardless of whether or not civilians were injured. Yet the City Council voted against that Tuesday, arguing it would cost too much and open hundreds of new cases up for review.
The council also killed Aubrey’s request to have the same level of access to officer-involved shootings as the San Jose Police Department’s Internal Affairs division. Aubrey said his office has to wait months to get access to video evidence and post-incident officer interviews. He added internal affairs gets those materials immediately — giving the police a headstart to put their side of the story together.
“I don’t want to give a symbolic presence at the scene if we’re not obtaining the information. It’s about community trust,” Aubrey said at the meeting, noting he can’t in good faith promise residents he’s getting all the information he needs in a timely manner.
District 1 Councilmember Rosemary Kamei said strengthening Aubrey’s office would overly burden his resources — despite Aubrey, a former police officer, saying it would help him work more effectively.
“In this first year, there is a need to have more resources in order to do more. I don’t think it was something that at this time would be a good idea,” Kamei said at the meeting.
District 2 Councilmember Pamela Campos requested to keep the option open through further conversation between Aubrey and Joseph. But Kamei also shot that down, arguing the auditor and police chief don’t need a council vote to continue discussing the idea.
‘Balancing speed and accuracy’
The police chief rejected the idea that Aubrey faces delays in getting information.
“That’s not entirely true. Under SB 1421, a recently-passed state law, we release body-worn camera footage to the public — to everyone in the world after 45 days,” Joseph said. “I always hold a press conference within a day or two of an officer-involved shooting while balancing speed and accuracy, trying to get as much information out to not just the office of the independent police auditor but everyone in this community.”
The IPA’s report said all 13 incidents of great bodily injury fell within the bounds of reasonable use of force — despite concerns about the high rate of police canine injuries and frequent police strikes to sensitive parts of people’s bodies. Aubrey also said staffing shortages hindered the depth of these reviews and assured a more detailed report later this year.
San Jose police and councilmembers say the current model for the IPA’s office balances accountability with efficiency. They claim the idea of expanding the scope to minor uses of force would divert focus from more serious incidents and introduce new strains on an already tight budget forecast.
“San Jose’s current oversight system achieves this balance by providing (the IPA’s office) with timely access to serious incidents and ensuring civilian complaints — regardless of severity — are fully reviewed,” Mayor Matt Mahan and three other councilmembers said in a memo responding to the report. “We share the concerns raised by Chief Paul Joseph and the City Manager’s Office that the OPIA’s Recommendations (…) would introduce operational and investigative risk and impose significant staffing and fiscal impacts.”
But advocates say expanding the auditor’s suggested scope would enhance transparency and community trust — and bring the IPA’s authority in line with the group that monitors the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
“We get to see whatever we want to see with regards to use of force. It’s important to look at low-level uses of force even though the consequences aren’t quite as significant with regards to injury,” Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring for Santa Clara County, told San José Spotlight. “Even in those cases, if deescalation was available and was used effectively, there may have not been a need to go hands-on at all.”
Sean Allen, NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley president and a retired sergeant with the county sheriff’s office, often finds himself at odds with Gennaco’s office about sheriff monitoring. But the proposal to expand San Jose’s police oversight office puts them in agreement.
“It might make police uncomfortable, but the reality is that the independent auditor has to provide independent accuracy. The police can’t police themselves. We can’t trust them to. The auditors have to have access to everything,” Allen told San José Spotlight.
Changing of the guard
Aubrey took over the office in April 2024 during a tumultuous time. He followed Shivaun Nurre, whose five years as the city’s top cop watchdog came to an end in 2023 after a drunken argument with police officers at a public festival. Just months after Nurre left, San Jose’s assistant IPA quit, leaving a scathing letter criticizing the city for ignoring the IPA’s office and its recommendations.
Aubrey’s report studied a variety of components to police accountability.
Use-of-force incidents resulting in great bodily injury — as well as civilian complaints about use of force — have decreased every year since 2021, according to the IPA’s report. However, officer-involved shootings have gone up. K-9 bites — with the exception of 2024 — have become the leading cause of bodily injury to civilians, even though police dog use has gone down every year since 2021, according to the report.
Formal misconduct complaints hit nearly 300 officers in 2024 — a 16.5% increase over 2023. About 29% of officers had at least one complaint filed by a community member. The most common allegation types were procedural violations at 33%, Fourth Amendment violations at 27%, “discourtesy” at 16% and biased policing at 15%, according to the report.
More than 260 misconduct complaints came from the community, with an additional 41 filed by the police department itself. SJPD sustained 26 of the complaints it filed against officers and 34 of the complaints from the community.
Most complaints were filed against officers in their first four years of service. Several officers with at least 16 years experience each received five or more complaints in 2024. A single officer with at least 16 years experience received seven complaints.
The police department only disagreed with three out of the 12 IPA recommendations for policy changes, including the expanded use-of-force review, getting the same level of access as internal affairs and enhancing policies around the off-duty use of department vehicles.
Allen said he would like to see Aubrey’s office break down civilian complaints by racial demographics.
“And when complaints are sustained — they need to show the racial demographics behind that, as well,” Allen said.
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.