Police Chief Rejected Every Sustained Misconduct Finding in 2025

Berkeley's civilian police oversight system hit a wall this year: the Police Accountability Board sustained 13 allegations of officer misconduct, and the Police Chief agreed with none of them. A special City Council worksession Tuesday dove deep into the annual report, surfacing a records-access lawsuit, racial disparities in use of force, and an unexpectedly reassuring finding on stop data — all while the city prepares to hire a permanent accountability director and finalize long-awaited regulations.

• Police Chief agreed with zero of 13 sustained misconduct findings, producing a 0% agreement rate that multiple councilmembers called alarming
• Multi-method bias analysis of 4,540 police stops finds no evidence of systemic racial bias, with consistent patterns across time of day and similar search yields across racial groups
• Unhoused residents stopped 937 times — more than the entire estimated unhoused population of 880 — prompting calls for a controlled study
• PAB chair reveals former director sued the city for records the city opposed producing, impairing investigations
• Black residents account for 48% of use-of-force subjects, though Level 1 grabs and control holds remain the most common force type

The basics: Berkeley's Police Accountability Board, created by voter-approved charter amendment, investigates complaints against officers and makes findings. The Police Chief then decides whether to agree. In 2025, the board sustained 13 allegations across four cases. The chief agreed with none.