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Alameda police auditor: traffic stops up 89% in 2025; sustained misconduct rates fall
Summary
Police auditor Lee Grossman told the Alameda City Council that internal affairs investigations and traffic stops rose in 2025 but sustained misconduct rates decreased; staffing remains below authorized levels and the department is pursuing CALEA accreditation.
Lee Grossman, Alameda’s police auditor, presented a data overview to the City Council on Feb. 17 that showed both a sharp rise in police activity and signs of increased oversight.
Grossman said internal affairs cases rose “approximately 70% in 2025 compared to 2024” and traffic stops increased by 89% last year. She told council members the increase in investigations does not appear to mean a higher rate of misconduct: “There does not appear to be an increase in misconduct. In fact, sustained rates for internal affairs investigations have decreased this year compared to previous years,” Grossman said.
The auditor reported a mixed pattern on use of force: a 67% decrease in incidents involving weapon displays (pointing a firearm or Taser) but a 54% increase in low-level uses of force, with control holds the most common tactic. “In 2025, 76 percent of all use of force incidents involved a control hold,” Grossman said, adding that not all agencies define reportable force the same way.
Grossman told the council the department recorded about 68,000 calls for service in 2025 and that felony arrests rose by 56% while misdemeanor arrests rose 28%, with theft and shoplifting driving much of the change. She said most traffic stops result in either a citation or a warning and that only about 36% of citation/warning recipients listed Alameda addresses — a point she used to caution against relying on census benchmarks for stop-rate disparity analysis.
The presentation included staffing and training metrics: sworn staffing is “frozen at 72” officers, which Grossman described as roughly 25% below the department’s authorized complement of 88 officers. She called attention to robust training—Alameda officers average about 100 hours per year—and reported the department is pursuing CALEA accreditation, with policy and documentation work ongoing.
Council members asked clarifying questions about vacancy calculations, the definition of use-of-force categories, pursuit reviews and benchmarking choices. Grossman said the 25% vacancy figure is calculated as authorized positions versus current filled positions and that pursuit reviews include multi-level supervisory checks.
The council accepted the informational presentation unanimously. The auditor recommended continued attention to measurement choices and to using multiple benchmarks when evaluating racial disparities in stops and outcomes.
