Public records about use of force and misconduct by California law enforcement officers — some 1.5 million pages obtained from nearly 500 law enforcement agencies — are now searchable by the public for the first time thanks to a new database built by UC Berkeley and Stanford University and published by the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, LAist, KQED and CalMatters.

The database — the first of its kind in the nation — will vastly expand public access to internal affairs records that disclose how law enforcement agencies throughout the state handle misconduct allegations as well as uses of police force that result in death or serious injury. The database, funded by the State of California, currently has records from nearly 12,000 cases, including thousands involving police shootings. Every record in the database was released by a law enforcement agency after being redacted in compliance with California’s public records laws. As a result, journalists and members of the public will now be able to search statewide for particular types of misconduct and use-of-force. Police chiefs will be able to use the data to aid in hiring decisions. Researchers will be able to identify trends and patterns.

Less than two months after the launch of the database, an estimated 500,000 searches were conducted and several stories have been published using the data.

Find stories about or access the database here: 

• • Media Release: A new database on police use of force and misconduct in California makes public 1.5 million pages of once-secret police records.
  • Police misconduct cases and investigations into police shootings in California now available online, Los Angeles Times
  • Thousands of Once-Secret Police Records Are Now Public. Here’s How You Can Use Them, KQED
  • California police misconduct records now available in public database, CalMatters
  • Thousands of once-secret California police files made public in searchable database, The San Francisco Chronicle
  • California Journalists Make Secret Police Records Public
  • No Data, No Problem, Journalists Collaborate with the Crowd
  • Police Records Access Project, LAist