TO: HONORABLE MAYOR
AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Paul Joseph
SUBJECT: See Below DATE: September 28, 2026
Approved Date:
10/8/2026
COUNCIL DISTRICT: Citywide
SUBJECT: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the San José Police Department’s response to the recommendations contained in the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report.
SUMMARY AND OUTCOME
At the October 20, 2026 City Council meeting, the Office of the Independent Police Auditor (OIPA) will present its 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report, which contains 12 recommendations concerning San José Police Department (Department) policies, training, practices, and oversight processes. The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the Department’s response to each recommendation.
The Department agrees or partially agrees with most of the recommendations and has already begun implementing several of them. Where the Department agrees with the objective of a recommendation but proposes a different implementation method, the analysis below identifies that limitation or alternative approach.
BACKGROUND
One of the duties of the OIPA is to make recommendations regarding Police Department policies and procedures. The OIPA’s 2025 Year End Report contains 12 recommendations. This memorandum provides the Department’s response to those recommendations and identifies implementation steps already completed or underway, where applicable.
COUNCIL AGENDA: 10/20/26
FILE: 26-1078
ITEM: 4.1(b)
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
ANALYSIS
Recommendation #1: Flock/ALPR Access Only Through Approved Department Systems
The Department should update the Duty Manual to restrict and prohibit FLOCK and ALPR database access via officers’ personal devices.
The Department agrees with this recommendation. On September 8, 2026, the Department issued Department Memo 2026-029, which prohibits Department members from using personal or non-City devices to access law enforcement databases, including Flock and automated license plate reader databases. The memorandum addresses the immediate concern identified in the recommendation while the Department completes the corresponding Duty Manual revision.
The Department is currently drafting that revision to incorporate the restriction into Department policy.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: December 31, 2026.
Recommendation #2: Additional Training on the Limitations of Cell Phone Pings Train officers on the limitations of cell phone ping-radius information and how that information should be communicated, corroborated, and evaluated when making investigative and field-operational decisions.
The Department agrees with this recommendation and is developing additional training to reinforce the proper use, interpretation, and limitations of cell phone ping information.
The training will emphasize that cell phone ping information generally identifies an approximate location rather than a precise address and will provide guidance on how that information should be evaluated, corroborated, and communicated during investigations and field operations.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: February 28, 2027.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
Recommendation #3: Establish Guidelines for Directing Occupants to Exit Vehicles During Routine Traffic Stops
Adopt written guidance that explains when officers may direct occupants to exit a vehicle during a routine traffic stop, the factors informing that discretionary decision, and how the basis should be documented. The policy should ensure the practice is based on articulable circumstances rather than applied automatically.
The Department agrees with the underlying objective of this recommendation and will provide additional training regarding the legal standards governing when occupants may be directed to exit a vehicle during a traffic stop and the appropriate exercise of officer discretion. The training will reinforce that these decisions should be based on the circumstances of the individual stop rather than applied as a routine practice.
The Department intends to address the recommendation through a training bulletin rather than establishing a new Duty Manual section or requiring separate documentation each time an occupant is directed to exit a vehicle. The training will address the applicable legal standards, relevant considerations, and appropriate articulation of the officer’s decision when documentation is warranted.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: December 31, 2026.
Recommendation #4: Establish a Policy That Prohibits Officers from Using Profanity as a De-escalation Technique
The Department should adopt clear, written guidance stating that professional, courteous communication is a core de-escalation practice, expected in all interactions. The policy should explicitly prohibit the use of profanity or disparaging language as a routine control tactic and provide clear standards for evaluating communication-related complaints.
The Department agrees with the importance of professional and courteous communication and does not encourage the use of profanity as a de-escalation technique. The Chief of Police has emphasized that the use of profanity should be very limited and that Department members are expected to communicate professionally when carrying out their duties as described below.
The Department believes its existing policies provide an appropriate framework for addressing inappropriate profanity and discourteous communication. The cases cited by the OIPA illustrate that the existing Courtesy policy can be applied to this conduct. The current Courtesy policy prohibits members from using coarse, profane, or derogatory language with a very narrow exception for “when necessary to establish control during a
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
violent or dangerous situation.” The policy also requires Department members to “be courteous and professional to the public,” to “be tactful,” and to “control their tempers and exercise the utmost patience and discretion even in the face of extreme provocation.” These restrictions were sufficient to justify Sustained Courtesy allegations against the involved officers in each of the cited cases. Accordingly, the Department does not believe an additional policy prohibition is necessary.
Response: Partially Agree.
Projected date of completion: N/A.
Recommendation #5: Notify Community Members When Police Officers Lose or Damage Their Property
Adopt a written policy requiring police officers to notify a community member when the Department determines that the person’s property has been lost or damaged and to explain the available claims or follow-up process.
The Department agrees with this recommendation and supports providing timely notification when Department personnel become aware that a community member’s property has been lost or damaged. The Department also agrees that appropriate claims or follow-up information should be provided when applicable.
The Department will develop policy language addressing this notification requirement.
The new Duty Manual policy will make clear that the obligation applies when the officer knows, or is otherwise made aware, that the property has been lost or damaged, recognizing that personnel cannot reasonably provide notification regarding circumstances of which they are unaware.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: January 31, 2027.
Recommendation #6: K9 Handlers to Make Reasonable Efforts to Inspect for and Document Property Damage After a Canine Deployment
Adopt a policy requirement that a K9 handler make reasonable efforts to inspect areas of likely contact after a canine deployment involving possible contact with property and document any damage found under existing reporting rules.
The Department agrees with this recommendation. The Department will develop unit guidance requiring K9 handlers to make reasonable efforts to inspect for property damage when circumstances during a canine deployment provide a reasonable basis to believe that the canine may have caused damage. Any damage identified will be documented in accordance with existing reporting requirements.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
The guidance will account for the circumstances of the deployment, including that canines may routinely come into contact with objects or areas during a search and may not remain continuously within the handler’s view. Accordingly, an inspection will not be required based solely on the possibility that a canine contacted property during a deployment.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: January 31, 2027.
Recommendation #7: Timely Update Duty Manual When Changes to the Law Are Made
Establish an internal process for promptly reviewing and updating the Duty Manual, training bulletins, and other legal guidance when relevant laws or controlling legal standards change.
The Department agrees with this recommendation. The Department currently monitors legislative and legal developments that may require changes to policy, training, or other written guidance and works to make those revisions within applicable effective dates and implementation deadlines.
The Department will continue to refine its internal review process to ensure relevant legal changes are identified, evaluated, and incorporated into Department guidance in a timely manner.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: December 31, 2026.
Recommendation #8: Timely Production and Full Evidentiary Access for Great Bodily Injury and Officer-Involved Shooting Investigations Adopt a written, accountable process requiring SJPD to provide the IPA with every completed great bodily injury use-of-force investigation and officer-involved incident investigation within 30 days from the EFRC’s or the Chief’s final decision.
The process should provide the IPA full access, as permitted by law, to the evidence necessary for substantive review, including reports, body-worn camera and other video recordings, photographs, interviews, and other materials collected or relied upon during the investigation. Access should not be limited to documentary summaries.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
The Department agrees with this recommendation and has begun implementing process changes intended to support timely production of completed Great Bodily Injury and officer-involved shooting investigations and access to the associated evidentiary record, consistent with the City Charter and applicable law.
As part of this effort, on August 21, 2026, the Department issued Department Memo 2026-027 and began using Blue Team technology for Executive Force Review Committee investigations. The Department will continue developing a written process addressing the timely transmission of completed investigations and access to supporting evidence within the scope authorized by law.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: December 31, 2026.
Recommendation #9: Regular Review of Department Email and Acknowledgment of Action-Required Communications
Adopt a written expectation that officers review their Department email during each scheduled shift, when operationally practicable, and establish acknowledgment tracking for communications requiring employee action, including training bulletins, mandatory-training notices, significant policy updates, Department orders, and time-sensitive supervisory directives.
The Department agrees with the importance of ensuring that personnel remain aware of and comply with Department orders, policies, directives, and training requirements.
Department members are responsible for complying with these requirements, which may be communicated through Department email as well as briefings, administrative screens, staff or team meetings, and other supervisory communications.
The Department will issue a training bulletin reminding personnel of the importance of regularly reviewing Department email, to the extent possible, during their scheduled shifts. The bulletin will also remind personnel that they are responsible for complying with applicable Department orders, policies, directives, and training requirements communicated by email.
The Department also agrees that acknowledgment tracking may provide an additional means of confirming receipt of communications requiring employee action. However, the Department does not currently have an identified technological solution or funding source for a comprehensive acknowledgment-tracking system. The Department will evaluate available options and their operational and fiscal feasibility.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: December 31, 2026.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
Recommendation #10: Biannual Status Updates to City Council on Open IPA Recommendations from 2020
Direct the IPA to give biannual status updates to City Council on all open IPA recommendations from 2020 to present.
The Department supports transparency regarding the status of IPA recommendations and does not object to the IPA providing periodic updates to City Council. The Department has consistently provided status information to the IPA when requested and will continue to do so to make it feasible for the IPA to provide biannual reports.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: N/A - The Department currently provides status information to the IPA in response to specific inquiries.
Recommendation #11: Provide Explanations and Written Follow-up from Significant Police Actions
Direct the Department to adopt and train on a Department-wide standard requiring officers, when safe and practicable, to explain in plain language the purpose of significant police actions, subject to lawful limits on disclosure and to provide written follow-up information when police activity results in forced entry, property damage, or property seizure.
The Department agrees with the importance of providing community members with a reasonable explanation of significant police actions when circumstances permit. Officers should make reasonable efforts to explain the purpose of those actions in plain language, subject to applicable law, officer safety, investigative needs, confidentiality requirements, and the circumstances of the encounter.
The Department intends to address this recommendation by reinforcing the expectation that officers provide an appropriate on-scene explanation when safe and practicable.
This will be accomplished through command-staff training or a published training bulletin.
The Department does not believe a separate written follow-up requirement is necessary in every instance, such as when providing additional written information could compromise an active investigation or disclose sensitive investigative details, even if disclosure is legally permissible. When written follow-up is appropriate based on the circumstances, the Department will provide guidance regarding the information that should be provided and the appropriate method of follow-up.
Response: Partially Agree.
Projected date of completion: February 28, 2027.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
Recommendation #12: Revise Vehicle Impound Policy to Align with 4th Amendment and Community Caretaking Standards
The IPA recommends revising Duty Manual Section L 5210: Seizures of Vehicles, to explicitly require officers to determine and document whether a vehicle impoundment serves a legitimate community caretaking purpose before authorizing a tow.
The Department agrees with this recommendation and is currently revising Duty Manual section L 5210, Seizures of Vehicles. The revision will address the legal standards governing vehicle impoundments, including applicable community caretaking considerations and the documentation necessary to support the basis for the impoundment.
Response: Agree.
Projected date of completion: December 31, 2026.
EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
The Department will track implementation of the recommendations described in this memorandum and the associated policy, training, technology, and process changes and coordinate the close out of these items with the IPA directly.
COORDINATION
This memorandum has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office and the City Manager’s Office.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
This memorandum will be posted on the City Council Agenda website for the October 20, 2026 City Council meeting.
BOARD, COMMISSION, COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION AND INPUT
No board, commission, or committee recommendation or input is associated with this action.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 28, 2026
Subject: Police Department Response to the Policy Recommendations from the 2025 Independent Police Auditor Year End Report
CEQA
Not a Project, File No. PP17-009, Staff Reports, Assessments, Annual Reports, and Informational Memos that involve no approvals of any City action.
PUBLIC SUBSIDY REPORTING
This item does not include a public subsidy as defined in section 53083 or 53083.1 of the California Government Code or the City’s Open Government Resolution.
Paul Joseph
Chief of Police
For questions, please contact Lieutenant Nathaniel Bennett, San José Police Department, Research and Development Unit, at [email protected].