The annual Independent Police Auditor (IPA) report shows that 333 public conduct complaints were filed against San Jose police officers in 2021, containing 1,000 misconduct allegations; a complaint can include multiple allegations: The complaint total represented a 24% increase from 2020.

Throughout the report, Nurre, San Jose’s independent police auditor, and her staff repeatedly found while auditing contentious misconduct investigations that subject officers were not interviewed before a case was closed. In some instances, interviews finally happened, but only after the auditor’s office objected.

The city’s appointed civilian police watchdog says she wants to see more thorough investigations into public conduct complaints against San Jose police officers, contending in an annual report that the department too frequently cleared officers without talking to them and is overly deferential even in cases where violations are confirmed.

“I just have concerns about investigations being thorough and objective,” Shivaun Nurre, San Jose’s independent police auditor, said in an interview. “You have uses of force and no officer interviews, and it happened with social protest cases as well. (The department) can be a bit more probing, rather than accepting an explanation from an officer.” More on this story here.