Report 2021-105 Recommendation 46 Responses

Report 2021-105: Law Enforcement Departments Have Not Adequately Guarded Against Biased Conduct (Release Date: April 2022)

Recommendation #46 To: San Jose 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 José 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.

60-Day Agency Response

This recommendation is completed. In March 2022, the Background Unit developed a standardized process for identifying and documenting an applicant's social media history. In addition, all Background Investigators have attended a 1-hour open-source social media search class. To preserve the integrity of the background process, the procedure will remain confidential, but a copy will be provided to the State Auditor's Office for verification.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

San Jose Police provided its procedure, which requires a broad review of applicant social media activity, including review for content indicative of biases.

All Recommendations in 2021-105

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.