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6h ago

California Debuts Searchable Database of Police Misconduct Files

The Police Records Access Project database centralizes decades of internal affairs documents on use-of-force incidents to empower public scrutiny.

A new database of police misconduct and use-of-force records allows searches by name, agency or keyword.
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Overview

  • On August 4, 2025, the Police Records Access Project launched a fully searchable database offering public access to more than 1.5 million pages of internal affairs records from nearly 12,000 cases across 400 law enforcement and oversight agencies.
  • The tool results from a multidisciplinary collaboration led by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Data Science, Stanford’s Big Local News and UC Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program alongside about 40 newsrooms.
  • Journalists leveraged the California Public Records Act and landmark transparency laws Senate Bill 1421 and Senate Bill 16 to collect and vet documents once held in siloed agency archives.
  • The database is hosted by the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, KQED and CalMatters and features name, agency and keyword search functions with continuous updates as new files are released.
  • Financial support from the State of California, the Sony Foundation and Roc Nation enabled the large-scale redaction and technical integration overseen by legal and civil rights advocacy groups.