The police auditor is an independent agency that investigates and evaluates reports of police misconduct. Since 2020, the role has been held by the OIR Group, a private firm that also monitors the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. 

Independent Police Auditor Michael Gennaco said Santa Cruz Police leaders have agreed with 90% of the auditor’s past recommendations, and has “moved very, very far forward” in its handling of complaints. “There is still obviously room for improvement,” Gennaco said at a Santa Cruz City Council meeting Tuesday.

Some recommendations in the report included:

• Use software to track internal investigations. 
• More thoroughly investigate all allegations of misconduct. 
• Improve training for supervisors. 

The recommendations are based on a review of 20 internal investigations into alleged officer misconduct. 

Case 1

One case detailed the widely reported arrest of Teran Whitley, a Black resident stopped by police while cycling on the Westside of Santa Cruz on April 10, 2024. Whitley’s name was not included in the auditor’s report. 

According to the auditor’s report, officers were looking for a man who had brandished a knife when they stopped a cyclist who police said matched the man’s description. The cyclist refused to sit down, officers tried to handcuff him, he resisted and was tackled to the ground, the report stated. An onlooker filed a complaint of excessive force. Santa Cruz police said it was not substantiated. 

After a request from the police auditor to investigate further, police leaders did so and concluded that the use of force was reasonable. The independent auditor’s office hasn’t determined whether it agrees with that conclusion.

Santa Cruz Police’s internal investigation into the incident ended outside of the period covered in the auditor’s report. The police auditor expects to investigate it further and include it in next year’s report.

Case 2

Police stopped a woman on suspicion of reckless driving. She drove away and officers followed her home. After she parked and began honking her horn, they surrounded the vehicle, pointed guns and yelled commands to exit the car, according to the report. When she didn’t get out, an officer broke a car window, pulled the woman from the car, tackled her to the ground and handcuffed her, the report stated. The woman was taken to a hospital and then arrested, police said. 

An internal police department review concluded that the officers could not have defused the situation. But the police auditor wrote that the “level of threat posed by the driver appeared low and disproportionate” to the officers’ actions. 

Police policy changes

Several people reported that their property had been confiscated by police and not returned. Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante said that as the police clear homeless camps, storing and returning homeless peoples’ property has been a challenge. 

Escalante added that many of the issues identified in the report are being addressed. For example, the department has purchased software to track internal investigations. He said the relationship with the auditor has been “helpful for not only our department, but for the city and for the profession” of policing. 

“We don’t always agree on things, but the profession is ever evolving, and it is important to continue to adapt to a new way of policing,” Escalante said. 

The report also said a Santa Cruz police officer with a yearslong record of misconduct improperly used a Taser and crashed a police car. The officer, who was not named in the report, was later fired.

Lee Brokaw said he worried that the officer fired for misconduct would end up working at another law enforcement agency. Brokaw is the chair of the Police Accountability & Transparency Committee of the Santa Cruz County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I think that there should be a real effort looking at the case of whether he’s being passed off to another agency, or whether he should lose the right to perform law enforcement activities in the state,” Brokaw said.

The city council voted unanimously to require in future auditors reports a summary of trends in complaints and the police department’s plan to act on recommendations.

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