Gun Laws And 2a
California Police Misconduct Records Released in Public Database
UC Berkeley and Stanford-led project compiles 1.5 million pages from nearly 700 agencies
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✍️By ZRIntel Editorial Team📍Sacramento, CA
A coalition including UC Berkeley, Stanford University, CalMatters, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and KQED has launched the Police Records Access Project, the nations first public database of California police misconduct and use-of-force records. Spanning about 1.5 million pages from 12,000 cases, the database allows searches by agency, misconduct type, and case details. Seven years in development, the project was made possible by transparency laws SB 1421 (2018) and SB 16 (2021), which opened access to such records. The database aims to support journalists, academics, law enforcement agencies, and families seeking accountability. Data includes redacted internal affairs documents but excludes multimedia such as photos, audio, and video. Generative AI tools were used to organize and vet the records. The ACLU Foundation of Southern California will contribute an additional 200,000 records from its own public records efforts. Advocates say the database makes legislative transparency goals a reality, while police can also use it to vet job candidates and study trends.