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POST reports thousands of serious‑misconduct allegations and growing descertification work; hearings scheduled
Summary
POST said it has received roughly 49,000 serious‑misconduct allegations to date and is handling about 2,500 agency reports per quarter; bureau staff described closure rates, notice-of-intent statistics and several upcoming administrative hearings.
The Professional Conduct Central Bureau told the advisory committee March 3 that intake of serious‑misconduct reports remains high and that POST’s caseload includes allegations of excessive force, bias and abuse of power.
"We have over 49,000 serious misconduct allegations thus far," Bureau Chief Christine Ford said in a presentation that summarized reporting, prioritization and closure statistics under SB2. Ford said POST is taking in roughly 2,500 agency misconduct reports per quarter and has processed about 3,300 public complaints.
Ford outlined case-processing metrics: POST has closed about 43% of public complaints, 28% are under active review at POST, and 29% are awaiting additional documentation from agencies. Among closures classified as “no further action,” Ford said about 79% did not meet the statutory definition of serious misconduct, 17% were time‑barred, and 4% could not be proven to the clear‑and‑convincing evidentiary standard.
She also described enforcement outcomes: POST has issued immediate temporary suspensions (ITs), notices of intent to revoke, and revocations; many notices of intent lead to default decisions when officers do not respond. Ford said contested administrative adjudications can be expensive: she cited one contested case that cost roughly $42,000 through the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Ford listed five administrative hearings scheduled for 2026, naming respondents and alleged categories of misconduct, including a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department dishonesty case and multiple bias cases involving Torrance Police Department officers. She noted that certain case details and hearing schedules are public and can be disclosed.
Why it matters: the caseload and closure statistics show the operational scale of SB2 reporting and POST’s resource pressures; the bureau emphasized prioritization (P1/P2/P3) and cautioned against over-generalizing from small samples.
What’s next: Ford said POST will continue prioritizing cases, work with agencies on reporting completeness, and provide hearings updates. Committee members asked for more disaggregation of the 79% “no further action” cases by allegation type.
