A statewide database of once-secret public records of misconduct and use of force by California law enforcement officers launched this week.
The Police Records Access Project encompasses 12,000 cases over about 1.5 million pages obtained from nearly 500 law enforcement agencies. It was created with state funding and can be accessed for free via the websites of news outlets including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED and CalMatters.
Anyone with an internet connection can use the database built by UC Berkeley and Stanford University. The creators claim it is the first of its kind nationwide, providing a centralized, searchable platform to improve transparency and accountability around law enforcement statewide.
“The people of Vallejo, who have long suffered under a violent police department and the secrecy that protected the Vallejo Police Department, will now have access to thousands of documents that corroborate what they have long been saying,” said Yoel Haile, director of the criminal law and immigration project at the ACLU of Northern California, in an email.
“This has been a huge collaborative effort,” said Lisa Pickoff-White, a co-founder of the project who directs research for UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program.
It took over 100 journalists and advocates over seven years to get public agencies all over the state to give up the formerly secret records, which became available thanks to changes in state law, at least one of which was introduced by former Bay Area state Sen. Nancy Skinner and sponsored by advocacy groups including the ACLU.
“The new database of police use of force and misconduct cases is a collaboration of many partners, including the ACLUs of Northern and Southern California which filed and litigated Public Records Act requests to make these records accessible after we helped pass SB 1421,” said Haile.
The laws made it possible for the public to view internal files related to cases of certain types of misconduct such as sexual harassment or excessive force, as well as deadly force or serious bodily injury, regardless of whether the officers were found to have acted appropriately.
“Every agency produces records differently and that’s been a challenge in this project,” Pickoff-White said. “That’s one reason we wanted to release the search to the public, to help people find what they can.”
There is no cost for using the tool, and users are not asked to provide any information to search the records.
After accessing the page via any of the media outlets’ sites, for example, CalMatters at calmatters.org/justice/2025/08/police-misconduct-records-database/, a search box appears. Users can type a keyword such as “Willie McCoy” into the box, though there are filters that can help refine the search.
“Especially if it’s a shooting or death, look to see if the District Attorney or medical examiner or coroner has released a report,” Pickoff-White said. This would be done by adding “District Attorney,” for example, to the right-hand side of the search bar.
“You can also select by county, if you are not sure which law enforcement agency was involved,” the research director said.
John Burris, a civil rights attorney born and raised in Vallejo who has conducted use-of-force lawsuits against Vallejo police, said, “The more light shined on the matter, the better for everyone.”
Burris said, “Police have had great leeway to have their records held in secrecy, to the detriment of the general population. It’s also to the detriment of cities when officers leave a department and their record is not revealed. Now that it’s readily available, all police departments can find out about possible misconduct of officers before hiring them.
“Police have always had a free ride in working out deals in which their background is covered up,” the attorney added. “Good officers have nothing to fear and bad officers should fear – and we hope they leave the profession before they hurt or kill anyone else.”
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