Report 2021-105 Recommendation 45 Responses

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

Recommendation #45 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 proactively seek and attempt to contact secondary references to obtain more candid information about applicants, such as information about past biased conduct or affiliation with hate groups.

60-Day Agency Response

This recommendation is completed. In March 2022, the Background Unit developed a standardized process for identifying and documenting secondary references. Contacting secondary references is a requisite portion of the background process. Any information provided by the secondary references is documented in the Background Summary. 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 evidence supporting that it had fully addressed this recommendation.

All Recommendations in 2021-105

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.