TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND FROM: Mayor Matt Mahan
CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Rosemary Kamei
Councilmember Carl Salas
Councilmember Michael Mulcahy
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: June 13, 2025
Approved:
Subject: 2024 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report Recommendation:
1. Accept the 2024 Independent Police Auditor (OIPA) Year End Report but reject Recommendations #2 and #12.
2. Accept the San Jose Police Department’s Response to the 2024 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report.
Discussion:
Delivering on our commitment to improving public safety for our residents requires both accountability and operational effectiveness. Civilian oversight plays a critical role in building and maintaining public trust, but it must be structured in a way that preserves the integrity of criminal investigations and makes prudent use of our limited public resources.
San Jose’s current oversight system achieves this balance by providing the OIPA with timely access to serious incidents and ensuring civilian complaints – regardless of severity – are fully reviewed. We share the concerns raised by Chief Paul Joseph and the City Manager’s Office that the OPIA’s Recommendations #2 and #12 would introduce operational and investigative risk and impose significant staffing and fiscal impacts.
Our recommended approach reflects a continued commitment to meaningful accountable oversight while prioritizing public safety, investigative integrity, and responsible use of public resources.
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.
COUNCIL AGENDA: 6/17/2025
FILE: 25-539
ITEM: 4.1