Report 2021-105 Recommendation 35 Responses
Report 2021-105: Law Enforcement Departments Have Not Adequately Guarded Against Biased Conduct (Release Date: April 2022)
Recommendation #35 To: San Bernardino Police Department
To better assess whether peace officer applicants have the ability to work with diverse members of their communities and whether they possess detectable disqualifying biases, by no later than October 2022 San Bernardino Police should begin using documented procedures that adhere to best practices to identify and review applicants' public social media profiles for content indicative of disqualifying biases, such as hate group affiliation.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2023
The Department continues to exceed POST standards and best practices regarding systematic review of all social media sites possessed by peace officer applicants.
- Completion Date: July 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending
San Bernardino Police has not provided procedures for its background investigators to follow when conducting social media reviews.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
1-Year Agency Response
The Department exceeds POST standards and best practices by systematically reviewing all social media sites possessed by peace officer applicants. To assist in identifying all social media accounts, the Department developed a document used by applicants to identify all of there social media sites and usernames. This provides Background Investigators with a thorough understanding of the applicant's public and private social media presence. The primary intent in this practice is to determine an applicant's judgement, potential bias, the character of their chosen community, and any disqualifying group affiliation. The Investigator then provides an analysis of their findings specific to this inquiry.
- Completion Date: July 2022
- Response Date: April 2023
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
The documentation that San Bernardino Police provided did not contain a set of procedures for reviewing applicants' public social media profiles.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
6-Month Agency Response
The Department follows POST standards established in the POST Background Investigations Manual to check all applicants' social media for disqualifying bias. In addition, the Department has established procedures to document findings in the Background Investigation Summary prepared for each candidate.
- Completion Date: July 2022
- Response Date: October 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
San Bernardino Police has not yet provided updated background investigation procedures for our review, so we could not verify its implementation of this recommendation.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
60-Day Agency Response
The Department reviews all applicants' social media for disqualifying bias. The Department will develop documented procedures by the next reporting period.
- Estimated Completion Date: October 2022
- Response Date: June 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2021-105
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.