San Francisco Department of Police Accountability

2025 Year-in-Review Dashboard

2025 Annual Allegations by Category

Annual SFPD Investigation Outcomes - 2025

Distribution of how all allegations were resolved throughout 2025:

Top Sustained Allegation Categories

DPA Highlights & Achievements

In 2025, DPA achieved several notable milestones beyond its core investigative and oversight work — hosting a national conference on emerging technologies in law enforcement oversight and facilitating learning opportunities for over 30 undergraduate and law students.

Regional Conference

In summer 2025, DPA — as a founding member of the California Civilian Oversight Alliance (CCOA) — partnered with the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) to co-host a landmark regional two-day conference in San Francisco on the evolving role of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in law enforcement and oversight. The event drew over 100 oversight and law enforcement leaders and technology experts from across the country. Key topics included:

• The use of drones and advanced technologies in law enforcement monitoring and investigations
• Development and deployment of AI tools in policing and oversight
• Ethical considerations and safeguards for responsible implementation

San Francisco Police Commission Vice-President Kevin Benedicto, SFPD's Real-Time Information Center (RTIC) leadership, and the City's Strategic Implementation of AI and Emerging Technologies team participated and contributed to the event.

DPA's 2025 Law & Justice Reform Internship Program

DPA's Law & Justice Reform Internship Program continued to grow in 2025, engaging students year-round across three semesters.

In the spring, three interns contributed directly to casework, assisting with body-worn camera footage summaries, reviewing incident reports and Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) records, and drafting sustained reports. The summer cohort brought together 22 interns from universities and law schools across the country, including nine students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and seven law clerks. Interns were placed in eight city agencies, including the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, SFPD Legal, the Department of the Environment, the Office of Cannabis, the Board of Supervisors, and the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. The cohort's final policy project focused on an update to DGO 8.10, SFPD's guidelines for First Amendment activities, addressing five key areas: defining vague terms, modernizing surveillance technology guidance, improving oversight mechanisms, expanding training requirements, and strengthening tracking and reporting.

In the fall, five interns—three undergraduates and two tech interns—continued DPA's year-round commitment to developing the next generation of public servants through hands-on casework and research.

Government Code Section 3304(d) Compliance

Community Access & Complaint Referral

In 2025, DPA collaborated with the City's 311 Customer Service Center, the Mayor’s Office, and the Mayor’s Office of Victim Rights to strengthen complaint referral procedures and ensure community members can file a complaint 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As part of this effort, DPA developed and provided a training guide for 311 staff to ensure they understand DPA's complaint process and can accurately direct members of the public seeking to file a complaint.

DPA Divisions – 2025 Year in Review

Investigations Division

Investigations are a key part of DPA's commitment to accountability. Investigators thoroughly examine incidents using a collaborative team model where senior investigators, attorneys, and line investigators work together to examine evidence—allowing investigators to support one another while maintaining DPA's commitment to impartiality. DPA had a 22% increase in new complaints compared to last year yet successfully met the challenges of the growing caseload. Through dedicated effort, DPA closed nearly 10% more cases while maintaining 100% compliance with all statutory and Charter-mandated timelines. As of December 19, 2025, DPA opened 887 cases and closed 938 cases, including completing three officer-involved shooting investigations.

Ongoing negotiations with SFPD on corrective actions, policy development, training, and best investigation practices have contributed to an incremental year-over-year decline in sustained violations—reflecting meaningful improvements in policing. Additionally, at the request of the San Francisco Sheriff and pursuant to a letter of agreement, DPA provides independent investigations into select serious complaints involving sheriff's deputies.

Legal Division

DPA's Legal Division plays a critical role in overseeing legal issues throughout the investigative process, negotiating disciplinary dispositions, representing DPA at Chief's Hearings and Police Commission trials, developing training in partnership with SFPD, contributing to policy development, and reviewing public records disclosures as mandated by Senate Bills 1421 and 16. The Legal Division is organized into two specialized teams — the Public Records Team and the Policy Team — whose work is summarized in the sub-sections that follow.

The legal team's participation included two working groups, and DPA investigations resulted in two Department Notices issued to immediately close policy gaps impacting crime victims.

Policy Team

In 2025, DPA's policy team continued to review and collaborate on revisions to SFPD’s policies, incorporating current law, training, technology, and lessons learned. This included participation in working groups for the following Department General Orders (DGO): DGO 5.20 on Language Access Services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Persons, DGO 5.23 Interactions with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals, 6.16 on Sexual Assaults and DGO 6.09 on Domestic Violence. In revisions to the Domestic Violence DGO, the Department simplified the DGO by narrowing the scope and transferring some sections to an updated Domestic Violence manual. DPA was provided with the opportunity to review the updated manual to ensure the many deleted sections were included in the manual. The Domestic Violence manual will be issued to SFPD staff along with the new DGO.

On DGO 5.23 responding to the needs of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, DPA initially recommended that the DGO be expanded to include other groups which may require accessibility. While this was not included in the revised DGO, SFPD indicated they would be open to initiating new DGOs in the future based on the identification of need for other groups requiring disability access. The working group for DGO 5.20 Limited English Proficiency (LEP) continued throughout the year. Significant changes from the working group draft and the proposed draft presented to the Police Commission caused the Commission to request that SFPD reengage with the community to create a draft with better compromise. DPA continues to work with SFPD and the community to help create a DGO that is useful and acceptable to both officers and community members.

In addition to participation in working groups, the policy team has continued to track policy failures from our sustained cases, allowing us to look at trends SFPD can address across different DGOs. This included takeaways on DGO 6.16 for sexual assault cases, where DPA recommended updating a Bureau Order on fugitive apprehension to prioritize SVU cases. The policy team also worked on revisions to SFPD’s draft Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) policy, as well as the use of social media in investigations. DPA also reviewed several additional DGOs including DGO 6.05 – Death cases; DGO 6.15 – Property Processing and DGO 8.11 – Investigations of Officer Involved Shootings and Firearms Discharges. DPA provided recommendations to those DGOs.

Audit Division

The Audit Division continued conducting independent, objective audits of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to promote effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability.

In May, DPA received its third consecutive Knighton Award from the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) for the completeness and accuracy of SFPD stop data reported under RIPA. ALGA judges praised the report for its thorough documentation, strong use of visuals, and well-structured presentation.

In December, DPA issued an audit on SFPD’s use of force. This audit evaluated the effectiveness of SFPD’s processes for monitoring use of force incidents, including supervisors’ evaluations for policy compliance and how SFPD uses data to inform training. DPA made 14 recommendations to strengthen SFPD’s use-of-force oversight.

Mediation Division

DPA's mediation program offers an alternative to formal investigation for complaints where direct dialogue between the complainant and the involved officer is more likely to produce a meaningful resolution than a finding of misconduct. With the consent of both parties, trained volunteer mediators facilitate a confidential conversation in which the complainant and officer describe their experience of the encounter and work toward shared understanding. Mediation does not result in discipline and is generally reserved for complaints involving communication, demeanor, or other interpersonal concerns rather than serious misconduct. By creating space for direct dialogue, the program promotes accountability while strengthening the relationship between SFPD members and the communities they serve. In 2025, the Mediation Division completed 18 sessions.

Throughout the year, we interviewed and on-boarded many new volunteer mediators and included them as shadow observers in mediation sessions as they became familiar with our program. In January, our mediation director and one of our long-time volunteers completed SFPD’s 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training Course.

DPA also responded to and initiated an investigation into one in-custody death.

Following rising community concerns about strip searches at County Jail #2 on May 22, 2025, and at the request of the Sheriff's Office, DPA launched a special independent investigation. To strengthen this effort, DPA joined an interagency collaboration with the Human Rights Commission and the Department on the Status of Women, applying a multidisciplinary approach to human and gender rights issues.

For the first time since initiating this work nearly eight years ago, the Mayor's Office approved two dedicated investigator positions for Sheriff's investigations. In December, DPA began the recruitment process and onboarded these two investigators in March 2026, improving DPA's capacity to take on more cases.