Independent Police Auditor

THE CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

Known as the “Capital of Silicon Valley,” the City of San José plays a vital economic and cultural role anchoring the world’s leading region of innovation. Encompassing approximately 181 square miles at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, San José is Northern California’s largest city and the 13th largest city in the nation. With nearly one million residents, San José is one of the most diverse large cities in the United States.

San José’s quality of life is unsurpassed.

Surrounded by the Diablo and Santa Cruz mountain ranges and enjoying an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, residents have easy access to the beaches along the California coast including Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Carmel;
Yosemite and Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada; local and Napa Valley wine country, and the rich cultural and recreational life of the entire Bay region. San José is proud of its rich cultural diversity and global connections, and the essential role the City plays in connecting residents and businesses to the nation and the world.

The Office of the Independent Police Auditor (IPA) was established by the San José City Council in 1993 with the enactment of a City ordinance codified in the San José Municipal Code. On November 6, 1996, the voters of San José amended the City Charter to establish the Office of the Independent Police Auditor as a permanent arm of city government.

The mission of the IPA is five-fold: (1) to provide independent oversight of and instill confidence in the complaint process through objective review of police misconduct investigations; (2) to review Police Department investigations of complaints against police officers to determine if the investigation was complete, thorough, objective and fair; (3) to conduct outreach to the San José community; (4) to propose thoughtful policy recommendations to the City Council;

and (5) to strengthen the relationship between the San José Police Department (SJPD) and the community it serves.

The San José IPA is supported by a small team of approximately seven extremely committed staff members, including an Assistant IPA who oversees the day-to-day operations. The Office received a proposed budget allocation of $1.7 million for Fiscal Year .

The IPA conducts objective reviews of police misconduct investigations. The role of the IPA is to provide independent oversight of and instill confidence in the complaint process. Each IPA appointment is for a term ending four (4) years from and after the date of expiration of the immediately preceding term.

Reporting to the City Council, the IPA is charged with the following responsibilities, but not limited to planning, organizing, and supervising the work of the IPA Office in the review of SJPD investigations of complaints against police officers to determine if the investigations were complete, thorough, objective, and fair; supervising the Office’s intakes of complaints from members of the public and engages with the community to instill public confidence in the IPA’s operations;

reviewing all complaints from members of the public that allege excessive or unnecessary force by police officers; supervising the preparation of an annual public report to the City Council; participating in SJPD’s Officer-Involved Shooting Review Panel and In-Custody Death Training Review Panel; and meeting regularly with the Mayor and City Council members.

The IPA will possess unquestionable integrity and objectivity; be able to further the mission of the Office with impartiality and independent conviction within the boundaries defined by the City Charter and under intense pressure and scrutiny; be politically astute but apolitical; have a solid record of…