OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Berkeley City Council Special Meeting on 2025 Police Accountability Annual Report - July 14, 2026

City Council — Tuesday, July 14, 2026
BodyBerkeley, California
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, July 14, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:45:22

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Hello everyone, good evening.

0:02

I'm calling to order a special meeting of the Berkeley City Council.

0:05

Today is Tuesday, July 14th, 2026, and it is 4.03 p.m.

0:10

Can we start us off with a roll?

0:12

Okay.

0:12

Uh calling the roll.

0:15

Councilmember Kessarwani is currently absent.

0:18

Councilmember Taplin present.

0:21

Present.

0:21

Councilmember Bartlett is currently absent.

0:24

Councilmember Trega.

0:26

Present.

0:27

And Vice Mayor O'Keefe is present.

0:32

And Councilmember Blackaby.

0:34

Here.

0:35

Councilmember Lunapara.

0:36

Here.

0:37

Humbert present.

0:39

And Mayor Yishi.

0:40

Here.

0:40

Okay.

0:41

Mark you is present.

0:42

Okay, thank you very much.

0:43

Sorry.

0:43

Okay.

0:44

Okay.

0:45

Thank you very much.

0:46

So today is a work session, and the only item on our agenda is the 2025 Police Accountability Board and Office of the Director of Police Accountability Annual Report.

0:56

So I will pass it over to our interim director of police accountability.

1:02

Returning temporary, as you like to say.

1:04

So thank you so much for being here with us this evening, both of you.

1:08

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor and members of the city council.

1:13

Um I was just introduced.

1:16

Your returning interim director of police accountability, Kathy Lee.

1:20

With me is policy analyst Jose Murillo.

1:24

Uh Chair Josh Cayetano of our board uh was flying back from a um an a court argument in San Diego.

1:33

So he may or may not be able to be here by the end to help answer questions.

1:40

Um but it is our prep pleasure and privilege to present to you the police accountability board and office of the director of police accountability annual report for 2025.

1:53

Uh this presentation is mandated by the city charter, section 125, subsection 16.

2:05

So just as a refresher, the purpose of the police accountability board is to promote public trust through independent objective civilian oversight of the Berkeley Police Department, provide community participation in setting and reviewing police department police policies, practices, and procedures, and to provide a means for prompt, impartial and fair investigation of complaints brought by the public against sworn employees of the Berkeley Police Department.

2:36

And the function of the director of police accountability or the office of the director is to investigate complaints filed against sworn employees of the BPD to reach an independent finding as to the facts and recommend corrective action where warranted.

2:55

The director of police accountability may also serve as and does serve as the secretary to the police accountability board and assists the board in carrying out its duties.

3:08

So very quick overview of our presentation today.

3:19

We'll move into the police accountability board's policy work.

3:23

And then we'll be examining vehicle and pedestrian stops by our police department as well as other activities and see if we note trends and patterns.

3:38

So on to the complaint process.

3:50

Staff reviews the complaint to determine if prima facie misconduct is alleged.

3:56

If so, then staff prepares a notice of complaint and allegations and sends it to the officers.

4:04

The investigation proceeds, and the steps include interviewing uh the complainant, the subject officer or officer's witnesses, which includes civilian witnesses and uh witness officers.

4:18

Uh gathers documents, requests uh reports and other information from the Berkeley Police Department, uh request and review body worn camera footage and gathers other evidence.

4:32

At the conclusion of the investigation, the staff will prepare a written findings and recommendations report and presents it to the PAB in closed session.

4:44

As to each allegation, staff will make a recommended finding of either sustained, not sustained, unfounded, or exonerated, and I'll talk a little bit more about uh what those findings mean in a bit.

5:02

The PAB can either agree or disagree with those findings, and then can decide if it wants to conduct a hearing, or if it simply wishes to send its recommendations on to the chief without a hearing.

5:20

The chief of police receives the report and can either agree or disagree as to each allegation.

5:30

Whenever there's disagreement, it's up to the director of police accountability to decide whether he or she wishes to appeal that decision to the city manager.

5:43

And the city manager's decision is final in the case of an appeal.

5:48

But if there's no appeal, then the police chief's decision will be final in that matter.

5:55

In terms of the numbers, in 2025, the office of the ODPA received 43 complaints, and that was from 27 unique complainants.

6:20

Because the first two numbers talk about the intake for 2025.

6:26

The allegations investigated is really the output, the allegations that were investigated and actually presented and a finding made.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████76%
Procedural█████9%
Surveillance Technology████6%
Public Comment██3%
Personnel Matters█2%
Community Engagement█2%
Homelessness█2%
Summary of Proceedings

Berkeley City Council Special Meeting on 2025 Police Accountability Annual Report - July 14, 2026

A special meeting of the Berkeley City Council was called to order at 4:03 PM on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, to receive and discuss the 2025 Police Accountability Board (PAB) and Office of the Director of Police Accountability (ODPA) Annual Report. The presentation was led by Interim Director Kathy Lee and Policy Analyst Jose Murillo, with Chair Josh Cayetano joining virtually. Councilmembers present: Taplin, Trega, O'Keefe, Blackaby, Lunapara, Humbert, and Mayor Yishi. Absent: Kessarwani and Bartlett. The meeting lasted approximately two hours and included Q&A, public comment, and council member remarks.

Presentation Highlights

  • Interim Director Kathy Lee outlined the complaint process: intake, investigation, findings (sustained, not sustained, unfounded, exonerated), and appeals to the city manager.
  • In 2025, the ODPA received 43 complaints from 27 unique complainants. Of 69 allegations investigated and closed, 13 were sustained by the PAB, but the police chief agreed with none of the sustained findings. Agreement rates were higher for other categories.
  • 22 cases were administratively closed, many due to staffing shortages (budgeted for two investigators but lost one during a hiring freeze).
  • Policy Analyst Jose Murillo presented the board's policy work, including reviews of surveillance technology, vehicle pursuits, and a partnership with UC Berkeley's Criminal Law and Justice Center.
  • Stop data analysis: 4,540 stops in 2025. Black/African American individuals were stopped at higher rates relative to population benchmarks. Unhoused individuals were stopped 937 times compared to a point-in-time count of 880. The analysis included temporal, residency, and housing status factors.
  • Use of force: 276 incidents, 1,276 individual force applications. 48.3% involved Black/African American subjects. 62% of incidents led to arrest.
  • Training: 6,872.5 hours of training, 54.4% POST-certified.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Carol: Commented on encampment clearances, noting that notices given five weeks in advance (e.g., April 29 for a June 2 clearance) do not provide sufficient certainty for residents; suggested closer-to-date notice. Also questioned why unhoused individuals are stopped more often and mentioned a part-time CIT coordinator.
  • Andrea Pritchett: Expressed concern about CIT training frequency and the early warning system for officer misconduct. Noted that unhoused people are least likely to file complaints and stated her own complaint was not seriously handled. Encouraged council to ask probing questions for those who cannot.

Discussion Items

  • Councilmember Humbert: Asked about staffing levels, the complaint process, and the timeline for policy reviews. Noted a 100% disagreement rate on sustained findings and asked for breakdown of allegation types. Pointed out that most sustained allegations were for lesser issues, not serious categories like use of force or false arrest. Questioned a discrepancy in city manager decision counts.
  • Councilmember Blackaby: Discussed operational challenges for PAB to review council items within 19-day windows. Suggested combining not sustained/unfounded/exonerated to show higher agreement. Noted stop data temporal analysis shows no clear bias and search yield rates are stable. Encouraged broader outreach (e.g., LinkedIn).
  • Councilmember O'Keefe: Asked about access to records from BPD; Interim Director Lee noted delays due to BPD staffing, but extensions were granted. Chair Cayetano added that the former director had to sue the city for records and some were never produced, impairing findings. Asked about a wish list for additional data to collect.
  • Councilmember Lunapara: Asked about POST-certified training and use-of-force incidents not leading to arrest. Wanted data separating institutionalization from non-arrest. Also asked about a sustained allegation regarding body-worn cameras where the chief agreed but no formal discipline was issued; Chief Lewis explained discipline is case-by-case and confidential.
  • Councilmember Trega (via comments): Expressed interest in better communication of policy complaint reports to council, balanced clearance rates, and understanding disagreements between PAB and BPD on sustained allegations.
  • Mayor Yishi: Thanked staff and noted the importance of celebrating successes while addressing areas for improvement. Acknowledged the heavy workload of volunteer PAB members and the need for sufficient review time.

Key Outcomes

  • The council received the report and discussed it thoroughly. No formal votes were taken on the report itself, as it was a work session.
  • Council members expressed optimism about upcoming permanent regulations and a full board after recent appointments.
  • Several council members requested future reports include trend data, comparisons with other jurisdictions, and clearer breakdowns of sustained allegation types.
  • The council acknowledged the need to improve coordination between council agenda timing and PAB review capacity.
  • The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:15 PM after a unanimous roll-call vote to adjourn.

Meeting Transcript

Hello everyone, good evening. I'm calling to order a special meeting of the Berkeley City Council. Today is Tuesday, July 14th, 2026, and it is 4.03 p.m. Can we start us off with a roll? Okay. Uh calling the roll. Councilmember Kessarwani is currently absent. Councilmember Taplin present. Present. Councilmember Bartlett is currently absent. Councilmember Trega. Present. And Vice Mayor O'Keefe is present. And Councilmember Blackaby. Here. Councilmember Lunapara. Here. Humbert present. And Mayor Yishi. Here. Okay. Mark you is present. Okay, thank you very much. Sorry. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. So today is a work session, and the only item on our agenda is the 2025 Police Accountability Board and Office of the Director of Police Accountability Annual Report. So I will pass it over to our interim director of police accountability. Returning temporary, as you like to say. So thank you so much for being here with us this evening, both of you. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor and members of the city council. Um I was just introduced. Your returning interim director of police accountability, Kathy Lee. With me is policy analyst Jose Murillo. Uh Chair Josh Cayetano of our board uh was flying back from a um an a court argument in San Diego. So he may or may not be able to be here by the end to help answer questions. Um but it is our prep pleasure and privilege to present to you the police accountability board and office of the director of police accountability annual report for 2025. Uh this presentation is mandated by the city charter, section 125, subsection 16. So just as a refresher, the purpose of the police accountability board is to promote public trust through independent objective civilian oversight of the Berkeley Police Department, provide community participation in setting and reviewing police department police policies, practices, and procedures, and to provide a means for prompt, impartial and fair investigation of complaints brought by the public against sworn employees of the Berkeley Police Department. And the function of the director of police accountability or the office of the director is to investigate complaints filed against sworn employees of the BPD to reach an independent finding as to the facts and recommend corrective action where warranted. The director of police accountability may also serve as and does serve as the secretary to the police accountability board and assists the board in carrying out its duties. So very quick overview of our presentation today. We'll move into the police accountability board's policy work. And then we'll be examining vehicle and pedestrian stops by our police department as well as other activities and see if we note trends and patterns. So on to the complaint process. Staff reviews the complaint to determine if prima facie misconduct is alleged. If so, then staff prepares a notice of complaint and allegations and sends it to the officers. The investigation proceeds, and the steps include interviewing uh the complainant, the subject officer or officer's witnesses, which includes civilian witnesses and uh witness officers. Uh gathers documents, requests uh reports and other information from the Berkeley Police Department, uh request and review body worn camera footage and gathers other evidence.

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