Committee adds traffic-stop audit to City Auditor's FY26-27 work plan; scope to include AB 2773 and pretextual-stop indicators

The Budget & Audit Committee on June 16 approved a change to the City Auditor's fiscal year 2026'027 work plan to add an audit of police traffic stops that will examine compliance with California Assembly Bill 2773, complaint management, supervisory monitoring and whether available evidence identifies indicators of potentially pretextual stops.

The City Auditor said the office will assess whether traffic stops are conducted in accordance with applicable laws and department policies and review whether the Police Department updated internal controls, training and data processes after AB 2773's enactment. The auditor noted potential legal limits to accessing certain department documents and said staff are coordinating with the City Attorney.

Council direction: committee members prioritized the traffic-stop audit and asked the auditor to include the Vice Mayor's listed scope elements in the final audit plan. The vice mayor requested that if the auditor encounters legal hurdles to acquiring records the office should report to the mayor and council in closed session as permitted by the City Attorney.

Timing and next steps: the auditor told the committee the traffic-stop audit will be added to the FY26-27 plan and that initiation may be delayed depending on coordination with other planned audits (forensic audit requested by the city manager, police overtime review, pedestrian safety, and a financial management review). The committee voted to send the amended work plan to the full Council.

The committee did not take further action on police operations at the meeting; the auditor will return with a scoping plan and timeline and will coordinate with the City Attorney as necessary to resolve any legal limitations on document access.