Independent Police Auditor praises Petaluma model, flags data and pursuit policy refinements

The Petaluma Independent Police Auditor presented its 2025 annual report to the Public Safety Advisory Committee on April 22, saying the city’s oversight model has been strengthened by permanently codifying the IPA role in the Petaluma Municipal Code and by routine review of uses of force, pursuits and complaints. "The report covers a period of January 1 through 12/31/2025," Jeff Schlanger said as he opened the summary of findings.

The IPA reported it reviewed 141 incidents in 2025, including 53 uses of force, 33 displays of force, 22 pursuits and 33 complaint investigations. Schlanger said the IPA issued 24 recommendations or agreed-upon courses of action from those reviews. "In many cases, supervisors have identified and remediated these issues before our review," Schlanger said, and the report noted several commendable examples of officer and supervisory performance.

The report found no reviewed use or display of force to be out of policy, but it recommended targeted improvements including clearer transparency statements, handcuffing and transport protocols, body-worn camera compliance, and enhancements to supervisory review quality. Denise Lewis, who presented the monthly statistics, called out March figures: "For use of force, there were 6 new uses of force in March with 12 pending that review," and described the mix of display-only incidents and those involving physical restraint.

The IPA also reviewed pursuits and urged policy refinements. Schlanger recommended equipping all vehicles with dash cameras, improving body-worn camera activation practices, and prohibiting pursuits initiated for low-level traffic infractions including certain e-bike situations. Chief Miller acknowledged a pilot dash-cam program and cautioned on costs: "We have piloted and implemented 1 dash cam this year... they're about $15,000 per camera," he said, noting the department is pursuing grant funding for wider deployment.

On data transparency, the IPA reviewed RIPA (stop) reporting and found no constitutional violations for 2025 but identified underreporting in certain stop categories. IPA staff and the police acknowledged gaps in officers’ reporting and described ongoing training and supervisory validation to address omissions; they said body-worn camera footage is being used to correct incomplete records when possible. Committee members pressed for clearer methodology and for an entity to do deeper causal analysis of RIPA trends; Schlanger and the chief said there is not currently a single city body performing that causal inference work, though anomalies would prompt deeper review.

The report also noted one fatal pursuit from 2025; Schlanger said the criminal investigation remains pending, and the IPA’s administrative review is on hold until that investigation concludes.

The committee took questions from members about training materials and demonstrations for the RAP/wrap restraint device; IPA and department staff agreed to provide non-live training videos or accessible demonstrations to the committee. The meeting closed with a mix of follow-up requests — including a possible national-comparison data appendix — and the IPA agreed to consider whether comparative benchmarks could be added to future reports.

Next procedural step: the IPA annual report will proceed to the city council in June as part of the department’s reporting schedule, and committee members asked staff to return with requested clarifications and potential additions to the written report.