POST reports hundreds of agencies underreporting serious-misconduct filings; average agency finding takes eight months
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Summary
POST staff told the advisory board that 611 agencies must report serious-misconduct allegations, roughly 24% had provided no reports or disproportionate reporting, and agency final dispositions averaged about eight months from initial submission; staff said letters will be sent to nonreporting agencies.
POST's professional conduct staff presented updated reporting and public-complaint statistics at the Oct. 9 advisory board hearing, saying a sustained effort is under way to reconcile agency filings under Senate Bill 2.
POST staff said 611 law enforcement agencies are required to report serious-misconduct allegations and that about 24% of agencies had no reports on file or had submitted amounts that appeared disproportionate relative to agency size. Staff noted that approximately half of that 24% are very small agencies with 10 or fewer peace officers, where the absence of reported incidents may reflect agency size rather than noncompliance.
Christine Ford, bureau chief overseeing the consolidated Southern Bureau, and Sarah Wallace, Intake and Disposition Bureau chief, briefed the board on operational indicators. The division reported roughly 2,500 agency reports per quarter and said it has received more than 35,000 report updates (agency supplements); POST also said it had about 45,000 unique serious-misconduct allegations across roughly 21,000 officers since SB 2 began reporting.
Key operational numbers cited by POST staff:
- Average time from an agency's initial report to receipt of a final agency finding: about eight months. - Many submissions are "open" investigations when first reported; the majority of current reports are still under investigation at the agency level. - POST's intake shows growing public-complaint volume; staff said roughly 2,500 officers had received public complaints to date and that public complaints have increased since the prior report. - POST has received 10 public complaints that resulted in certification action so far; that count had not increased since the July meeting. - POST reported approximately 643 disciplinary actions imposed by the division to date and more than 300 immediate temporary suspensions (ITS) issued cumulatively; many ITSs are tied to arrest or indictment and can be held while criminal proceedings run their course.
POST officials told the board they have completed a retroactive review of many earlier cases, but that the agency continues to prioritize work on priority-one cases and to audit agencies that appear not to be reporting proportionately. Staff said letters would be sent to agencies that had not reported or whose reports appeared out of proportion to agency size.
Board members asked about the definition of closure categories (for example, "unfounded" vs. "not sustained"), about whether POST audits include agencies that report zero incidents, and about whether regulatory changes could require agencies to file a periodic "zero incidents" certification. POST staff said adding such a regulatory requirement would likely require rulemaking or legislation but that the division would begin with mandatory written acknowledgments from agency heads to explain proportionate or zero reporting.
POST officials said the rise in public complaints is partly due to outreach and increased awareness of the complaint portal; staff said they will present more granular analytics about public-complaint timeliness and whether public complaints triggered agency action or were sent to POST only after agency reporting at the next board meeting.
